This post was originally written in December 2016.
1 The snake was the craftiest of the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God really said that you may not eat from all the trees in the garden?
he said. The snake, that is. It is very easy to read later ideas into the text here, but there is nothing in the Genesis account to indicate that the snake was some sort of appearance of Satan. In fact, the Primary History (Pentateuch plus Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) makes no mention of Satan at all. And when the word satan in reference to an angel or divine being occurs, there is no indication that the Hebrew Bible thought of the satan as the cosmic arch-enemy of God. So to read the Genesis account as being about Satan tempting the first humans is anachronistic.
God. This may at first look like a break in the pattern beginning in Genesis 2:4 and following, in which God is referred to as Yahweh God rather than simply God. But look more closely — it is the snake and the woman in this story who use the term God. The narrator’s voice continues to use Yahweh God.
from all the trees. As many interpreters have noted, the snake opens with a misquote of God’s command.
2 And the woman said to the snake, We can eat from the orchard’s fruit trees. 3 But from the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said, Do not eat of it, and do not touch it, or else you will die.
the tree which is in the middle of the garden. Compare this to 2:9, in which two trees are described as being in the middle of the garden. In his notes on 2:9, Dillmann mentions, but rejects, the possibility that 2:9 originally mentioned only the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and that the words and the tree of life were a later addition.
and do not touch it. It looks, at least, like the woman now ‘corrects’ the record with another misquote of God’s command from chapter 2, in which God only forbade eating the fruit. No mention there of touching.
4 The snake said to the woman, You will not die, 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
like God. Or, like gods.
your eyes will be opened. Unlike God’s promise that eating the fruit would result in immediate death, the snakes promise actually (in a way) comes to pass.
6 And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, that that is appeared desirable for making one wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed together fig leaves and made loincloths for themselves.
8 And they heard the voice of Yahweh God walking about in the orchard in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
voice: or sound. The KJV has voice, while NIV and ESV have sound.
cool of the day: (Hebrew, lrwḥ hywm) literally, wind of the day. Dillmann explains in terms that would make Edward Said roll over in his grave:
Toward the blowing of the day–i.e. “toward evening, when in the East a cooling wind rises, and the Oriental goes out (ch. xxiv. 63), whereas during the heat of the day he remains in his dwelling” (ch. xviii. 1).
9 And Yahweh God called to the man. He said to him, Where are you?
10 He said, I heard your voice in the orchard, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.
your voice: or, the sound of you, as in 8.
11 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? That tree that I told you not to eat from: did you eat from it?
12 The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from that tree, and I ate.
13 And Yahweh God said to the woman, What have you done?
And the woman said, The snake tricked me, and I ate.
to the woman. If you disregard the Masoretic pointing, and pronounce the final h at the end of the word, you could read this word as to his wife, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. It would add unnecessary awkwardness.