Most of us have been taught that the serpent in the garden deceived the woman by lying to her. What I will demonstrate here is that the serpent did not lie to her. In fact, he told her the complete truth.
And the serpent deceived the woman with the truth. The serpent said, Did God say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden? The woman says, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
The first thing to notice here is that already we have a problem. The woman has changed, for one reason or another, the words that God had given to Adam. What God said back in Genesis 2 verse 17 was, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. then the serpent says you will not die for god knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good and evil notice that the defining factor of the word God in this verse is knowing good and evil. The English word God is not an exact translation of the Hebrew word Elohim, which means one of power and authority, one who knows.
knows good and evil. When we read Genesis 3 verse 22, God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. The serpent didn't lie. Even God said they will be like one of us and provides the definition of an Elohim, knowing good and evil. The verse continues, and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.
The serpent didn't lie when he said you will not die, as even God said that Adam and the woman would live forever. At this point, we need to examine the phrase, you will die, in the Hebrew, because the English doesn't completely convey what is going on in the Hebrew text. According to the Revised Standard Version, In Genesis 2, verse 17, God said, you will die. In Genesis 3, verse 3, the woman repeats what God said in Genesis 2, verse 17. You will die.
In Genesis 3 verse 4, the serpent says, you will not die. Based on these verses, the serpent did lie. But, this is not what is in the Hebrew text. It's a little trickier. In Genesis 2 verse 17, God said, And this can be translated as, you will surely die.
In Genesis 3 verse 17, Genesis 3 verse 3, the woman says, This can be translated as, you must die. The woman got it wrong. While this may sound similar to what God said in Genesis 2.17 in the English, these are two distinct and different meanings in the Hebrew.
The Hebrew, mot tamut, or you will surely die, implies that they are going to die, which we know they did because they ate of the fruit, then they were killed. were kicked out of the garden and then they died. So death was a consequence of eating the fruit. However, tumutun, or you must die, more implies an immediate death.
In other words, if you eat of this fruit, you will die. So God is saying that if you eat of the fruit, you will die sometime at some point. The woman is saying if we eat of the fruit, we are going to immediately die.
Almost like as if it's poison. Then in Genesis 3 verse 4, the serpent combines what God said and what the woman said and said, And this can be translated as, You must not surely die. again this may sound similar in the english but in hebrew these are very distinct and different statements the serpent is correct god did not say you must surely die the serpent never told a lie but he did deceive the woman with the truth