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if Adam had obeyed the command, assuredly his inner knowledge and
understanding would have increased when, later on, God had removed the
prohibition in due time, and he would then have come to the knowledge of evil in
such a way that he would not have been injured by it. Otherwise, as came to pass
in Adam's case, through disobedience he became immersed in the sea of evil and
ruined his own happiness and honour. Thus that tree was the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, and consequently what was signified thereby was
obedience or disobedience, not merely a tree and its fruit.
Finally, about the serpent mentioned in Gen. iii, where it is said, 'Now1
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had
made,' we know that it became Satan's instrument of deceiving Eve and leading
Adam astray. Hence in the New Testament he is called 'The2 great
dragon, the old serpent, the Devil, Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.' And
the Lord Jesus Christ says of Satan that 'he3 was a murderer from the
beginning and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father
thereof.' Engaging, therefore, in his own evil work, he then, through the
instrumentality of the serpent, said to Eve, 'Yea,4 hath
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God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?' When she heard these
words, she heard what to her was new and contrary to God's commandment. For up
to that time Adam and Eve had heard no voice but God's, and were aware of no
will or desire but His. Satan now tempted them with deceitful words: nay more,
he desired in this manner to instil into Eve's heart the doubt whether God had
really forbidden them to eat of the fruit of that one special tree, or whether
they had correctly understood God's commandment, or to implant the thought that,
if God had really forbidden it, then He evidently did not love them as they thought, and did
not desire their perfect happiness, and that He had for that reason prohibited them from eating the
fruit of the tree. Thus, therefore, did Satan strive to instil doubt into Eve's
simple mind regarding God's love and truthfulness, and to make her wish
something contrary to the will of the Most High God. On hearing such words as
those in Gen. iii. 4-5, Eve did not become perplexed at all, and she failed to
understand that by these deceitful words Satan had instilled into her heart the
poison of disbelief and disobedience. She paid no heed and began to converse
with the serpent. Then he, taking advantage of the opportunity, began to speak
falsely and said to her about the tree, 'God1 doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
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