An Apple and a Talking Snake: Man’s Tradition or God’s Word

The events that happened in the Garden of Eden have nothing to do with a talking snake and Eve eating an apple. Those are false teachings that begin in Sunday School, even though it’s not written in God’s Word. Many people never learn the truth of what actually happened.

Can you imagine how happy this makes Satan? By hiding the truth of the beginning, he knows you will never fully understand the rest of God’s Word. This lack of understanding can cause doubt, confusion, and undermines God’s love for all of us. I wonder how many people turn away from God altogether, and dismiss the entire Bible as false because they don’t believe the snake and apple narrative, perhaps thinking If the beginning is wrong then why trust the rest of the Bible?

Yes, at its most basic level, the Garden of Eden is about Adam, Eve, and how sin entered the world, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a story of seduction and how Satan tried to destroy God’s plan of salvation by ensuring that Christ was never born (and this will not be the last time that Satan tries this). It’s also how Satan planted his own seed (children, i.e. Kenites) into the world.

So, if the traditional story is not true, what actually did happen in the Garden of Eden?

In order to find out we need to do what God told us in 2 Timothy 2:15: study and rightly divide the word of God. In doing so, it’s necessary to take some words back to their original language (Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic), thereby allowing us to determine for ourselves the accurate translation of the words we’re looking up (a Strong’s concordance allows us to do this).

Just as with our own language, many Hebrew and Greek words have more than one meaning. Transcribers of the Bible had to determine which definition was correct, and since humans are infallible and make mistakes, it’s up to us to check things out. So, let’s do that now:

When I say the word ‘tree’ you most likely think of the trees that grow in the forests, your backyard, etc., but did you know that in the Bible there are many instances of God referring to people as trees? In fact, in Hosea 14:8 God equates himself to a fir tree; an evergreen (which represents eternal life).

In Ezekiel 31:3 our Father likens the Assyria (Satan), to a cedar tree:

Remember the two witnesses who will be here in the last days, before Jesus returns? In Revelations 11:3-4 God likens these two witnesses to olive trees:

In Isaiah 61:3, God refers to his People as trees of righteousness:

In Mark 8:22-24, after Jesus healed the blind man he was asked what he saw. He answered, “I see men as trees, walking:”

It may seem strange that people are referred to as trees, but in a way we still do this today. As God tells us in his word, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Even now, we refer to our arms and legs as limbs, and our torso as our trunk. With this in mind, let’s continue with our study.

Here is where people make the mistake of thinking that an actual snake talked to Eve. Satan has many names, and serpent is one of them (Revelation 12:9 and 20:2). Snakes were created along with the other life forms on day six, and of course they do not talk, but Satan does and he is sly; the father of lies. Subtil is H6175 in your Strong’s Concordance and means cunning. He knows scripture and uses it to aid in his deception, only he twists it to fit his own narrative. Notice in this verse he misquoted what God told Adam and Eve. God did not say that “…you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.” Look at what God actually said in Gen 2:16-17:

This is how Satan manipulates people: he quotes God, but to some degree, changes what God actually says. He even did this when trying to tempt Jesus. Of course it didn’t work with Christ, but as you will see, his lies did work with Eve.

Recalling our discussion of trees earlier, this is a good time to point out the Hebrew word and definition of tree, thereby giving you more insight of this and the following verses. Take note of the root words from which tree comes from.

Tree in the Hebrew is ets, H6086 in your Strong’s Concordance. The word from which ets is derived is atsah, H6095. Also note that the word atseh (H6096) comes from H6095.

Okay, back to Genesis to see how Eve answered Satan’s question.

God created the fruit producing trees (ets) for them to eat from, so of course they were allowed to do so. Nothing new under the sun, we still eat from them today.

God points out a very specific tree, located in the middle of the garden. Why? Because it’s The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and it is not a literal tree (ets) with literal fruit. God told them to leave this particular tree alone because it represents Satan himself; indeed it is Satan. God said do not eat the fruit of this tree. Eat (H397, aw-kal’), in this context, does not mean to physically consume, but rather to spiritually receive. Similar to how Jeremiah didn’t actually eat God’s Word in the book of Jeremiah:

All throughout the Bible there are verses where the word eat is used figuratively, and does not mean to physically consume food. Here are some of those verses for you to check out: Matthew 4:4, Ezekiel 2:7-10, Psalm 119:103, John 6:48-58, proverbs 1:29-31, 4:17, 18:21, 31:27, Rev 10:9.

‘Fruit’ is what trees (both literal and figurative) produce. God tells us It can be either good or bad, depending on the tree.

A few other verses to check out on your own: Matthew 7:15-20, Galatians 5:22-23, John 15:5.

Recall, again, what God said in Hosea 14:8. God declares “I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.”

We should be getting our fruit from our Heavenly Father; from his word. His fruit leads to salvation and eternal life. God does not want us eating (receiving, digesting, absorbing) our fruit (knowledge) from Satan because it’s nothing but false doctrine: corrupt, deceptive, evil lies that lead us to death.

In addition to telling Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (i.e. do not listen to Satan) he also said not to touch it (him). Let’s examine the word touch:

As shown, touch (naga) has different meanings, depending on the context in which it’s used. In this case it means to lie with a woman, which will become clear as we continue this study.

Satan isn’t even trying to be sly here. He’s contradicting what God said with this blatant lie. Satan is the father of lies.

Think about the message behind the words. Satan is lying, of course, but he’s also casting doubt about God’s intentions, trustworthiness, and even his love for Eve. He’s enticing her with secret knowledge; implying that God is keeping it from her so that she will not be enlightened like God himself.

Notice how Satan said (if you partake of the fruit of my tree) “…your eyes shall be opened…,”As you’ll see in the following verse, this is only half true. Do you remember the discussion we had on trees? The word from which a regular tree (ets) comes from is âtsâh, which means ‘properly to fasten (or make firm), i.e. to close (the eyes): — shut’.

Keep that in mind as we move on and see what Eve does.

use your Strong’s concordance and look up the Hebrew words/definitions for pleasant and desired. Remember this tree we’re talking about is Satan, and he was created the perfect cherubim. He was beautiful, charismatic, and wise. Eve fell for his lies because She was seduced by him, and they had sexual relations. If you’ve never been taught this truth, it may be jarring to hear, but it’s true; it’s God’s Word when you throw away man’s tradition (i.e. eating an apple, which is not even mentioned in the entire book of Genesis) and define the original words, euphemisms, and symbology used.

Adam is not off the hook either, as he did the same thing. Some people speculate that since Satan is a supernatural and spiritual being, he could have been disguised as a female for Adam. It’s not written, so we do not know. It’s my opinion that he appeared the exact same to both Adam and Eve, since it’s not documented that he changed his appearance. It only says that Eve “…gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.” I believe that Eve gave herself to Adam at the same time she did Satan. Either way, he participated and was just as guilty as Eve of disobeying God.

Is this sexual act mentioned anywhere else in God’s Word? Absolutely, and we’re going to go there now and document it.

Throughout the Bible the church (body of believers), is symbolically referred to as the bride of Christ. This imagery of us as Christ’s bride is beautiful and allows us to understand the love that our Heavenly Father has for us, and the love we are to have for him. Christ promises to come back for us, and we are to be faithful, prepare, and wait for our bridegroom (our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ).

Paul is talking to the church, and the subject is spiritual virginity. This is referring to the end times, when Christ returns. Before that happens Satan will come pretending to be Jesus, and Paul does not want them deceived into believing Satan is Jesus and worshipping him instead of being faithful and waiting for Christ (i.e. losing their virginity, spiritually speaking). You can read of this in Mark and Matthew as well.

The word beguiled is the Greek word exapatao (G1818), and it has only one meaning: to seduce wholly. To seduce means to entice one into having sex, and the word wholly means entirely or fully. Paul is saying that Eve was mentally, spiritually, and physically seduced by Satan. They had a sexual relationship.

Now let’s go back to Genesis, but jump ahead to verse 13 for just a minute:

The Hebrew word translated beguiled is nasha:

Eve was beguiled (seduced) by Satan.

Now let’s get back to where we left off earlier in Genesis:

Satan said it would open their eyes, which is only partially true. It did indeed open their eyes, but not in the way he said it would (they were not like God). Up until that point they were both innocent. But when they disobeyed and chose Satan over God, it closed their spiritual eyes to truth and the ways of God, and at the same time it opened their worldly eyes to sin and the ways of man.

They sewed fig leaves together to cover their private parts because they realized that they were naked, and were ashamed of what had transpired.

They hid because they had disobeyed God and were afraid and ashamed of what they had done.

Of course God knew exactly what took place. He was confronting Adam about it.

Adam is blaming not only Eve, but implying even God himself is responsible: You gave her to me! Of course, it won’t work. Adam is responsible for his own actions.

As we discussed earlier, Mother Eve was seduced and she’s admitting this to God.

This is a figure of speech, a statement of degradation. God had already created snakes along with the other animals, and snakes don’t literally eat dust. He’s telling Satan that he will never rise above anyone or anything. He’s the lowest of low and that’s where he’s staying, never to be redeemed.

For the next couple of verses think about why God is talking about conception, seedlines, and childbirth. If Eve’s sin involved eating an apple, why does her punishment have everything to do with a sexual act, and nothing to do with literally eating fruit? To me, God’s punishment is very telling.

Let’s look at a couple words from this verse:

God is saying there will be mutual hatred and hostility between Satan and Eve, as well as Satan’s children and Eve’s children. Yes, Satan has children on earth. Jesus taught this in Matthew 13, which we’ll go read it in a minute. As you’ll learn in Genesis 4, the sexual act between Satan and Eve, and Adam and Eve, resulted in a pregnancy whereby she gave birth to twins with different fathers: Cain (Satan’s son) and Abel (Adam’s son).

“…it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

This is the first prophesy in God’s Word, part of which has already occurred. Christ’s heels were bruised when he was crucified by Satan’s offspring. But in the end, when Jesus returns, Eve’s offspring (ultimately Christ) will crush Satan, and after the Millennium God will destroy him forever.

Now we need to take another side trip to see what Jesus taught about Satan having children on earth. Jesus had just spoken a parable to a large group of people. His disciples did not understand the parable, so they asked him about it. This is Jesus explaining exactly what he meant. Also note that Jesus said if we do not understand this parable we will not understand any of them. So it’s very important to absorb this lesson, taught directly from Jesus. You can read the parable itself in Matthew 13:24-30.

The Greek word for seed is sperma, G4690 in your Strong’s:

To be clear, we’re talking about the events that happened in the Garden of Eden and progeny (children). Two different seedlines were planted: the good seed (the children of the kingdom, i.e. God’s children) were sowed when God formed Adam and Eve.

The bad seed (the children of the wicked one: tares, kenites, i.e. Satan’s children) were sowed when Satan seduced and impregnated Eve.

There is no room for confusion in this explanation that Jesus Christ Himself taught. It doesn’t get any more straightforward than this. Okay, Let’s go back to Genesis and pick up where we left off:

The words greatly and multiply are both translated from the same Hebrew word, râbâh (H7235). Take a minute to look it up, but rabah means to increase, and is said two times in a row for emphasis. I think it’s revealing in light of the fact that she will give birth to twins (two different seed-lines) from the seduction that she is being punished for.

Let’s go ahead and examine the words sorrow real quick:

God is saying to Eve that her pregnancy and labor pains will be multiplied.

Adam was not deceived by Satan like Eve was (1 Timothy 2:14). He knew what he was doing and chose to do it anyway. His sin was that he listened to his wife instead of obeying God.

Adam and Eve were placed in a perfect paradise, afterall God created it. It would have been beautiful, with the perfect climate and growing conditions. No weeds, pests, or anything to inhibit the growth of the Garden that God himself planted, before he placed them there (Gen 2:8). Adam was to tend and keep the Garden, and Eve was to be his helpmate (Gen 2:15-18), but as the ground was not yet cursed, the work would be something enjoyable instead of laborious. Food was abundant and easily grown.

Because of their disobedience, God drove them out of the garden and into a world of hardship. Life would no longer be easy. Adam would now have to work hard to produce crops of food from the ground. He would have to till the ground, plant, water, weed, harvest, etc. And he would have to do these things until he died (returned to dust).

In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that in the day he ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil he would die. And so he did, as 2 Peter 3:8 tells us “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Adam lived to be 930 years old (Gen 5:5).

Why did Satan seduce Eve to start with? He knew that Christ would come through Eve’s offspring, so he was trying to destroy the seedline through which Christ would come, and replace that seedline with his own. He didn’t succeed, of course. Is Eve the mother of all humans on earth? No, she’s not, but she is called the mother of all living because if you’re not in Christ (i.e. accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) then you’re not living; you will not have eternal life. God makes clear in John 3:16 and many other verses, that salvation and eternal life are for whomsoever will. God loves us and wishes we would all come to repentance and be saved, indeed we will all be given that opportunity before the great white throne judgment occurs, at the end of the millennium.

I believe (and this is only my opinion, as it’s not explicitly written), that blood was shed to give Adam and Eve the clothes made of skin. This would be the first animal sacrifice for the temporary atonement of their sins, and would continue throughout history until the ultimate, perfect, and final sacrifice: The Lamb of God (Jesus Christ). The shedding of Christ’s blood at the crucifixion offers redemption; the permanent atonement of our sins every time we pray and ask God for that forgiveness.

They certainly did not become as God was, in the way that Satan had said they would. Adam and Eve had their worldly eyes opened. They lost their innocence and became aware of good and evil.

The Tree of Life was also in the midst of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9). When you take of the Tree of Life, that being Jesus Christ, you have eternal life.

And so they were made to leave the perfect utopian paradise that God had created for them. They would go on to fulfill their purpose in God’s perfect plan. Adam would till the ground and produce food, with Eve being his helpmate. Eve would give birth to Cain (Satan’s son) and Abel (Adam’s son). The two seedlines would indeed have enmity between them: Cain will end up killing his brother Abel.

Let’s go a few verses into Genesis chapter 4 to read about the birth of Cain.

In verse 2, the Hebrew word for ‘again’ is ‘yacaph,’ and should have been translated ‘continued.’ Let’s take a look:

So, properly translated: Eve gave birth to Cain, and she continued in labor and gave birth to Abel, meaning she had fraternal twins with two different fathers. This is rare, but still happens today. Remember earlier in our study when God told Eve that he would multiply her labor pains and conception? He did exactly what he said he would.

Why did Eve say “I have gotten a man from the Lord” after giving birth to Cain?

First: all souls come from, and belong to, God; including Satan and his offspring. Remember, Satan was created, along with all of us, by our Heavenly Father. (Ezekiel 18:4, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Colossians 1:15-17)

Second: it’s just my opinion, but I don’t think Eve knew that Cain was Satan’s son. She was innocent in that way.

Before we end this study I want to point out a few other verses in the Bible to further prove that Satan is the father of Cain:

If you look in Genesis 5 you will find Adam’s genealogy, but Cain is missing. Instead, he has his own genealogy listed in Genesis 4. Important to note: Abel is not mentioned in Adam’s Genealogy because he was killed before he had any children to record.

In Genesis 4 we learn that Cain and Abel bring their offerings to God at the same time. Why? Because they both came to the age of accountability at the same time.

We are told in 1 John 3:12 that Cain is of the wicked one, i.e. Satan:

The word ‘of’ denotes origin. Check it out in your Strong’s.

In John 8:39-44 Christ is speaking to a group of people. Often when he taught, the religious leaders and scribes would be there trying to trip him up (of course it never worked). Some of them are attempting to convince Jesus that they are descendants of Abraham. But they’re lying, and Jesus is about to tell them that he knows who they really are and what they’re plotting, which is to kill Him.

Satan has children (kenites; sons of Cain) on earth even now, and those children were planted back in Genesis, in the beginning. Who committed the first murder? Cain did when he killed Abel, and Satan was his father.

In Matthew 23:33-35 Jesus calls them serpents, generation of vipers, and the off-spring of those who killed Abel and other prophets. Generation is G1081 in your Strong’s and means offspring.

I think the totality of God’s Word makes clear that the traditional story of Adam and Eve is not true. Perhaps it was taught this way early on, so as not to offend anyone, or maybe to protect young children. I don’t know, but there is a tactful way to teach the truth, rather than man’s tradition, which makes void the word of God (Mark 7:13, Matthew 15:6).

It’s important to realize that God loves us more than we can even begin to comprehend. No matter one’s lineage, be it Kenite or not, salvation is available to whomsoever will; It’s the reason Christ was crucified on the cross. God wants all of his children to love and believe in him, and If you do that then he promises that you will have eternal life (read John 3:15-21).