The first reason a Second Temple Jew would have thought the world was so corrupt comes from Genesis chapter three.
Eden was God’s dwelling place on earth. He wanted a human family to manage the new realm and to represent him. He put Adam in the garden and told him not to eat of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17).
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1–5 (ESV)
Who Or What Was This Serpent?
The serpent in Genesis 3 talks to the woman. He seems to have special knowledge contradicting what God previously said. Eve didn’t seem to be afraid of the serpent nor was she surprised when he spoke to her. How can this be? We are told that the serpent was more crafty than any beast. If we get beyond a physical description of the serpent, we might begin to think that it was evil. In fact, an ancient person would have known immediately what this was all about. In ancient cultures, a talking animal was assumed to be a divine being. Everyone knew animals can’t talk.
Nachash
The Hebrew word for serpent is nachash (naw-khawsh). In its verb form it means “deceiver”. If it were an adjective it would mean “shining one” or “luminous one” which is a description of divine beings in the Bible as well as in other ancient Near Eastern literature. So what we have is an unnamed divine being that freely chose to oppose God’s plan for humanity by deceiving humans into disobeying God.
It seems like someone was not so happy about the new imagers and the dominion they were granted in the new realm. As a result sin and death entered the world and became a reality (Rom. 5:12). Note: Adam and Eve were not cursed. The nachash and the ground were cursed (Gen. 3:14-19).
Questions
- How is Ezekiel’s lament over the king of Tyre (Eze. 28:11-19) related to the events of Genesis 3?
- How is Isaiah’s taunt against the king of Babylon (Isa. 14:3-15) related to the events of Genesis 3?
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