Genesis 3:11–13 (ESV)

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Compared to Adam, Eve sounds like St. Francis of Assisi. Adam sounds like a 5-year-old boy trying to talk his way out of a broken cookie jar lying on the kitchen floor.

Eve actually gives a pretty straight answer—and a humble one at that. This adds to the contrast between Adam’s sin and Eve’s. Yes, Eve has fallen into sin too, but given that Adam was with her the whole time, her error was partly in trusting Adam and the serpent—who were both dreadfully untrustworthy.

But there’s another clue here that’s easy to miss, yet important to understanding what just happened. How did Eve figure out that the serpent had deceived her? Nobody told her that the serpent’s words were deceptive. Besides, her eyes were opened exactly as the serpent predicted they’d be. So far, it just looks like the serpent was right.

But as soon as Eve’s eyes were opened, she knew that something was wrong. Suddenly, she knew that she was naked and this made her afraid. And, just as suddenly, she felt shame—an emotion she knew nothing about just moments ago.

Now, fear and shame overwhelm her. She has defied a direct command from God, and, since she now knows good and evil, she knows that what she did was evil.

The serpent’s deception wasn’t mainly in the details; it was in the general idea that it’s feasible to disobey God’s command to not eat the fruit. Feasible—yes, but now Eve realizes that it’s terribly wrong.

So now Eve’s trust in the serpent’s words, “You will not surely die,” is shot. Yikes. She’s filled with stomach-turning dread.

But Eve is now smarter than before.

She knows that what the serpent said was deceitful.

The fall was a disaster like no other. The sum total of the misery caused by the fall is unfathomable.

nd at the heart of the whole thing is pride.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. — Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)

Adam and Eve weren’t content with paradise. They wanted the one thing God withheld from them.

That’s pride.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.