Though this was a real serpent, yet he that spoke was no other than the devil; from hence, perhaps, called the old serpent, because he took possession of the serpent when he came to beguile our first parents. The devil envied the happiness of man, who was made, as some think, to supply the place of the fallen angels. GOD made man upright, and with full power to stand if he would: He was just, therefore, in suffering him to be tempted. If he fell, he had no one to blame except himself. But how must satan effect his fall? He cannot do it by his power, he attempts it therefore by policy: he takes possession of a serpent, which was more subtile than all the beasts of the field, which the LORD GOD had made; so that men who are full of subtilty, but have no piety, are only machines for the devil to work upon, just as he pleases.
“And he said unto the woman.” Here is an instance of his subtilty. He says unto the woman, the weaker vessel, and when she was alone from her husband, and therefore was more liable to be overcome; “Yea, hath GOD said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” These words are certainly spoken in answer to something which the devil either saw or heard. In all probability, the woman was now near the tree of knowledge of good and evil; (for we shall find her, by and by, plucking an apple from it) perhaps she might be looking at, and wondering what there was in that tree more than the others, that she and her husband should be forbidden to taste of it. Satan seeing this, and coveting to draw her into a parley with him, (for if the devil can persuade us not to resist, but to commune with him, he hath gained a great point) he says, “Yea, hath GOD said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?” The first thing he does is to persuade her, if possible, to entertain hard thoughts of GOD; this is his general way of dealing with GOD’s children: “Yea, hath GOD said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? What! hath GOD planted a garden, and placed you in the midst of it, only to teaze and perplex you? hath he planted a garden, and yet forbid you making use of any of the fruits of it at all?” It was impossible for him to ask a more insnaring question, in order to gain his end: for _Eve_ was here seemingly obliged to answer, and vindicate GOD’s goodness. And therefore,――
Verse 2, 3. The woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, GOD hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
The former part of the answer was good, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, GOD has not forbid us eating of every tree of the garden. No; we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden (and, it should seem, even of the tree of life, which was as a sacrament to man in a state of innocence) there is only one tree in the midst of the garden, of which GOD hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Here she begins to warp, and sin begins to conceive in her heart. Already she has contracted some of the serpent’s poison, by talking with him, which she ought not to have done at all. For she might easily suppose, that it could be no good being, that could put such a question unto her, and insinuate such dishonourable thoughts of GOD. She should therefore have fled from him, and not stood to have parleyed with him at all. Immediately the ill effects of it appear, she begins to soften the divine threatning. GOD had said, “the day thou eatest thereof, _thou shalt surely die_;” or, dying thou shalt die. But _Eve_ says, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, _lest ye die_.” We may be assured we are fallen into, and begin to fall by temptation, when we begin to think GOD will not be as good as his word, in respect to the execution of his threatnings denounced against sin. Satan knew this, and therefore artfully
“Said unto the woman, (verse 4.) Ye shall not surely die,” in an insinuating manner, “Ye shall not surely die. Surely, GOD will not be so cruel as to damn you only for eating an apple, it cannot be.” Alas! how many does Satan lead captive at his will, by flattering them, that they shall not surely die; that hell-torments will not be eternal; that GOD is all mercy; that he therefore will not punish a few years sin with an eternity of misery? But _Eve_ found GOD as good as his word; and so will all they who go on in sin, under a false hope that they shall not surely die.
We may also understand the words spoken positively, and this is agreeable to what follows; You shall not surely die; “It is all a delusion, a mere bugbear, to keep you in a servile subjection.”
For (verse 5.) “GOD doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then shall your eyes be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”