by Danielle Somers

Created on: April 10, 2009

According to the New International Version of the Bible, Genesis 3:1-4 refers to the serpent as follows: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "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 surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

As most persons educated in the word know, this passage is from the "Fall of Man" story. As a Sunday School teacher, I teach the children, as many teach this story, that the serpent represents the Devil or Satan. For many people however, including myself, this is not a sufficient answer to the question. How is it possible to relate the persona of the serpent to our world today? Who is the enemy? How to we avoid temptation based on this story?

Allow me to share with you my own interpretation on this passage. In reading this I hope that you will not agree to my own point of view, but open your mind to the possibility if grey areas in the Bible. As with all things, the Bible is not black and white. Just as it has been translated from version to version, so have our on human perceptions of what we read.

Continuing the Biblical story above, Genesis 3:6-13 reads as follows:

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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have

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