Genesis Chapter 3

Deceived by the serpent, the first couple distrust and disobey God, meet shame and death, yet receive the promise of a Redeemer and God’s covering.

Genesis 3:1-7

The Temptation and the Fall

Genesis 3:8-13

The LORD Seeks and Questions

Genesis 3:14-15

The Serpent Judged and the Seed Promised

Genesis 3:16-19

Sorrow, Toil, and the Return to Dust

Genesis 3:20-24

A Name of Hope, a Covering, and Exile

Genesis 3:1

Chapter 2 closed with the man and his wife “both naked … and were not ashamed.” Chapter 3 opens with a new figure, and the Hebrew places “the serpent” first for emphasis. The narrator ties the two scenes together with a play of sound: the couple were ʿarummim, naked, and the serpent was ʿarum, “subtil.” Their openness and trust stand beside a creature whose shrewdness is about to be turned against them. The serpent is also called a “beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” It belongs to the created order and possesses no power independent of the Creator. Genesis never allows evil to be a rival god; it appears as a creature turned to wrong use.

The rest of Scripture identifies the one who spoke through the animal. Jesus calls the devil a murderer “from the beginning” and the father of lies (John 8:44). Paul warns that the serpent beguiled Eve “through his subtilty” (2 Corinthians 11:3), and Revelation names “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan” (Revelation 12:9). A fallen angel used a real creature as his medium. He did not come to the woman in his own form or in the likeness of God, but through a creature placed under human dominion (Genesis 1:28). The test was fair, and nothing compelled her to listen.

The tempter’s first words are a question: “Yea, hath God said …?” The Hebrew can mean “Has God really said that you may not eat of every tree?” or “You shall not eat of any tree,” and the ambiguity serves his purpose. He takes the generous permission of Genesis 2:16, “of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,” and turns it into a prohibition. God’s abundant provision is made to look like meanness, and the single boundary is enlarged until it seems to define Him.

This is the pattern of temptation throughout Scripture: first doubt what God said, then doubt why He said it. When Jesus met the same enemy in the wilderness, He refused to discuss God’s word as an open question and answered, “It is written” (Matthew 4:4).

Study Links

Cross References

Genesis 2:16-17

Word / Phrase Notes

עָרוּם (ʿarum) — subtil

The adjective describes shrewdness that can be used well or badly. In Proverbs it is the prudence of the wise who foresee danger; in Job it describes schemers whose plans God frustrates. Here the word is chosen to echo עֲרוּמִּים (ʿarummim), “naked,” in Genesis 2:25. The pair who had nothing to hide meet a creature whose cleverness is bent toward deception.

Genesis 2:25

אַף כִּי־אָמַר אֱלֹהִים (ʾaf ki-ʾamar ʾElohim) — Yea, hath God said

The opening particles express surprise or incredulity, roughly “Is it really so that God said…?” The question presents itself as curiosity while implying that such a command would be unreasonable. The tempter speaks only of Elohim, setting aside the covenant name the narrator uses, and so frames God as remote rather than personal.

Genesis 2:4