WHY DID EVE TAKE THE APPLE?
Genesis 3:6 says, " And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate."
This shows that Eve did not just jump from having a conversation with a snake to eating the apple. She didn't flat out go, "OK infinite wisdom, that sounds good, *CRUNCH* oh no!"
First this verse says she "saw that the tree was good for food." So first she had the thought, the lie, planted in her mind. She didn't even necessarily believe it, but it probably piqued her curiosity. Then she had to have done some amount of observation or maybe even experimentation to SEE that the tree was good for food. Maybe she just sat down and looked at the tree a couple of times. Then maybe one day a fruit fell on the ground beside her and curiosity overcame her. Maybe she watched other animals eating it. She may have even split it open to smell and look at the inside.
Then it says she saw that the fruit was "delightful to look at" and "desired in order to make one wise". Her evaluation of the fruit was at first objective (it's edible), now it's value-laden, she WANTS it. Somewhere along the line during her observation she moved from curiosity to desire. To me, it seems as though this probably took some time.
All this to say, in our lives, sin creeps in slowly. It starts with a thought that we probably don't even believe at first but is filed away in the back of our minds. Then we start to develop a curiosity about the object of our sin (note: I do think that curiosity in itself is healthy and natural, and vital to intellectual growth). So we observe it and maybe experiment with it. Over time this leads to valuing the object of our fascination, and that value can grow and grow until it outweighs our desire to obey God, becoming on obsession or an addiction. At that point we are very likely unable to resist temptation even if we want to.
One thing that I noticed was missing from this account was any conversation Eve had with Adam or with God between the conversation with the snake and the time she ate the fruit. I don't think Eve talked about that conversation with anyone. I think if she had been open about the conversation in the first place the fall could have been prevented. It wasn't her fault that the snake approached her, just like it's not our fault if we have a bad or untrue thought suddenly enter our mind. It wasn't wrong that she was curious about the fruit, and it's not wrong when we are naturally curious about anything. I think that her biggest mistake which moved her from curiosity into sin was keeping those experiences secret (and by secret I mean undisclosed by her) from both her husband and her God.
The number one thing I took from this reading is that if you ever feel like keeping something of spiritual significance (thoughts you are having, a fascination with a person, pastime or thing) secret, you should definitely talk about it with someone close to you right away AND pray about it & ask if it's something God really wants you to pursue. I think if we would learn to be more transparent with one another and with God, a lot of sin and tragedy could be prevented.
Created over 2 years ago
