"Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Gen 3:1-6 NIV)
To say that the snake is more subtle than other animals suggests possession of the animal by Satan. Satan was speaking through the animal. Satan went after the woman who was not directly commanded by God (2:17). Satan asks subtlety “When did God say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” In other words, God didn’t say a negative directly to you, so it must be okay. Satan was trying to sow doubt in Eve’s mind. Satan conveniently ignored 2:17 hoping the information was not passed on to Eve.
In Genesis 3:6, the woman saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes. This is in stark contrast to the picture of Jesus in Isaiah 53, who was seen as undesirable. The fruit also “was good”. This was the same phrase used by God in each day of the creation (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21 and 25).
This language is eerily reminiscent of what the devil told Jesus during the second temptation of Jesus (in Luke 4, third temptation in Matthew 4). Actually, this phrase, because of its connection with food parallels the first temptation of Jesus, that of turning a stone into food. Both Jesus and the woman were tempted with food, but Jesus didn’t choose to listen to the devil. Instead, Jesus quoted scripture—-Deuteronomy 8:3. The best way to beat the devil is to quote scripture. The phrase "the tree is desirable for gaining insight” is an appeal to pride, the third of Jesus’ temptations in Luke 4 (second in Matthew 4).
Satan was not content with the decision of the woman. He turned the sin into seduction of the one who had not sinned. The woman was deceived, but the man did a deliberate act—perhaps because he loved the woman more than God. God never coerces and respects choice. This is true for the fall and also true for salvation (John 3:16). The decision by the woman led to a chain of events just as it did in the sin of David (2 Samuel 11) when he first sinned sexually then had her husband murdered.
Pray: "Dear God, teach us how to recognize temptation and flee from sin when we recognize it."