Predicament of Our First Parents
27
To accomplish his work unperceived, Satan employed a disguise.
The serpent was one of the wisest and most beautiful creatures. It had
dazzling brightness. Resting in the forbidden tree, regaling itself with
the delicious fruit, it was an object to arrest attention and delight the
eye. Thus in the garden of peace lurked the destroyer.
The angels had cautioned Eve to beware of separating from her
husband. With him she would be in less danger than if alone. But
she unconsciously wandered from his side. Unmindful of the angel’s
caution, she soon found herself gazing with mingled curiosity and
admiration upon the forbidden tree. The fruit was beautiful, and she
questioned why God had withheld it from them.
Now was the tempter’s opportunity. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden?” Eve was startled to hear the
echo of her thoughts. The serpent continued with subtle praise of her
surpassing loveliness, and his words were not displeasing. Instead
of fleeing from the spot, she lingered. She had no thought that the
fascinating serpent could be the medium of the fallen foe.
She replied: “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. And
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
[24]
By partaking of this tree, he declared, they would attain a more
exalted existence. He himself had eaten and had acquired the power
of speech. He insinuated that the Lord had jealously withheld it from
them, lest they be exalted to equality with Himself. It was because it
imparted wisdom and power that He had prohibited them from tasting
or touching it. The divine warning was merely to intimidate them.
How could it be possible for them to die? Had they not eaten of the
tree of life? God had been seeking to prevent them from reaching a
nobler development, and finding greater happiness.
Such has been Satan’s work from the days of Adam to the present.
He tempts men to distrust God’s love and doubt His wisdom. In their
efforts to search out what God has withheld, multitudes overlook truths
which are essential to salvation. Satan tempts men to disobedience,
to believe they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. But this