Why did the snake entice Eve first but not Adam?

[Jesus_is_Saint]

Why did the snake (Satan?) persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but not to talk to Adam first?
Could he talk to Adam first but Adam had rejected him, and so he came to entice Eve?

 

[SeventyOne]

Adam was there with Eve when she was deceived, but he was not tricked. The real question I've always had was why didn't he stop her.

 

[Victory-N-Christ]

Hi.Well I'll share what a Pastor told me. He said that the serpent \Adversary was trying to get to Adam through Eve.Because he knew Adam wouldn't fall for his tricks but his wife would and could persuade Adam to disobey God.This Pastor said that that's why women were called the "weakest" vessel. Well make of this what you will.I have no personal thoughts on the matter so really can't offer you any more than what I was told by this pastor. Perhaps someone else can expound on it better. God bless.

 

[Yarddog]

Why did the snake (Satan?) persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but not to talk to Adam first?
Could he talk to Adam first but Adam had rejected him, and so he came to entice Eve?

I personally much of Genesis as allegories pointing to Jesus and the Gospels. In the temptations of Adam and Eve we can see the temptations of Jesus and Jesus correcting the prior failure. Satan approaches Eve first and convinces her to disobey God. In the same manner Satan approaches Jesus in the desert but Jesus handles Satan as a faithful one should.

Then, instead of approaching Adam directly the beloved mate approaches Adam and offers him the fruit. In Matthew 16 we can see this occur when Jesus is approached by a beloved mate, Peter, who tries to dissuade him from God's call. Jesus then corrects Adam's failure by handling it by saying "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

 

[St_Worm2]

Adam was there with Eve when she was deceived, but he was not tricked. The real question I've always had was why didn't he stop her.

Hi 71, where does the Bible tell us that Adam was part of the conversation with (or at least within earshot of) Eve and the snake when he was convincing her to take a bite out of that apple?

Thanks!

--David

 

[FireDragon76]

I always find it interesting how much this story is similar to Pandora's Box in Greek mythology on that point. It does seem a common theme with a lot of ancient peoples to see women, and the relationships men typically have with them, as enticing and entangling and problematic. But I think the Christian narrative has a slightly different spin on it, because there's a more intimate relationship going on with God than what happened with Pandora. God is concerned that Adam and Eve learn from their mistake and he makes provisions for them.

Theologically, maybe it is about poisoning a primordial relationship that was meant to be unitive. Stirring up resentment? Adam blames Ever after God finds him in the garden, after all. He resents that he's tempted her. So we have passions and vice right from the beginning of the fall. They aren't just ashamed but their relationship with each other is no longer happy, Adam resents her and then he seems to be blaming God too. The help that God made from Adam's standpoint is more of a "ball and chain". So Satan has alienated Adam, the prototypical human being, from all his relationships. Adam now stands alone, and must work to find a way to reconcile with his wife and God, he no longer has life handed to him as a gift.

There has to be some deep theology just in that alone. Indeed, alot of modern theology focuses on this aspect of sin, that it alienates us from the good gifts of God.

 

[SeventyOne]

Hi 71, where does the Bible tell us that Adam was part of the conversation with (or at least within earshot of) Eve and the snake when he was convincing her to take a bite out of that apple?

Thanks!

--David

Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

 

[The Times]

Why did the snake (Satan?) persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but not to talk to Adam first?
Could he talk to Adam first but Adam had rejected him, and so he came to entice Eve?

Ah a very good question.

Eve was no more gullible than Adam. How Satan worked is to use a marketing ploy called.....network marketing through indirect distribution.

Have you wondered how companies that sell products use indirect distribution by conscripting a buyer of a product to also be a seller, within their network of family and friends.

Take for example YouTube in association with companies, who use network marketing through YouTube netsoldiers by indirectly distribute products through subscribers that cling to certain YouTube channels.

Satan initially sold the idea to Eve and used her to indirectly distribute the idea to Adam, through indirect marketing. The effectiveness of this approach, was that Satan needed to convince only one person rather than two. Notice how the drama unfolded when one tried to blame the other.....

11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Satan knew that by convincing Eve to the idea, was all that was needed and that Adam who loved Eve needed no convincing, because his guard was well and truly down.

That is why Satan is called the serpant.

 

[Grandpa2390]

Adam was there with Eve when she was deceived, but he was not tricked. The real question I've always had was why didn't he stop her.

Was he? I always assumed that Adam was away at the time. tending the garden or something...

But the serpent definitely went after Eve because she was the weaker, and Adam definitely did eat knowing fully what he was doing.
Either way, the realest question that we can knowingly ask is why did Adam eat it? Perhaps Adam decided that he would rather follow Eve's leadership than be the leader.
He chose to follow after Eve rather than God.

 

[CrystalDragon]

I personally much of Genesis as allegories pointing to Jesus and the Gospels. In the temptations of Adam and Eve we can see the temptations of Jesus and Jesus correcting the prior failure. Satan approaches Eve first and convinces her to disobey God. In the same manner Satan approaches Jesus in the desert but Jesus handles Satan as a faithful one should.

Then, instead of approaching Adam directly the beloved mate approaches Adam and offers him the fruit. In Matthew 16 we can see this occur when Jesus is approached by a beloved mate, Peter, who tries to dissuade him from God's call. Jesus then corrects Adam's failure by handling it by saying "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

It's never even said the serpent was Satan in Genesis, just a serpent.

 

[ewq1938]

Why did the snake (Satan?) persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but not to talk to Adam first?

Most likely the serpent knew getting Eve first was key to getting Adam not to stop any of this. Eve was Adam's weak link.

 

[SeventyOne]

Was he? I always assumed that Adam was away at the time. tending the garden or something...

But the serpent definitely went after Eve because she was the weaker, and Adam definitely did eat knowing fully what he was doing.
Either way, the realest question that we can knowingly ask is why did Adam eat it? Perhaps Adam decided that he would rather follow Eve's leadership than be the leader.
He chose to follow after Eve rather than God.

The conversation takes place in the first few verses of Genesis 3. I was surprised the first time I noticed that myself.

I was equally surprised when I saw in the same general area the God planted the Garden of Eden AFTER creating Adam (Gen 2:8). I had always thought Adam had been formed within the Garden.

 

[CrystalDragon]

Ah a very good question.

Eve was no more gullible than Adam. How Satan worked is to use a marketing ploy called.....network marketing through indirect distribution.

Have you wondered how companies that sell products use indirect distribution by conscripting a buyer of a product to also be a seller, within their network of family and friends.

Take for example YouTube in association with companies, who use network marketing through YouTube netsoldiers by indirectly distribute products through subscribers that cling to certain YouTube channels.

Satan initially sold the idea to Eve and used her to indirectly distribute the idea to Adam, through indirect marketing. The effectiveness of this approach, was that Satan needed to convince only one person rather than two. Notice how the drama unfolded when one tried to blame the other.....

11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Satan knew that by convincing Eve to the idea, was all that was needed and that Adam who loved Eve needed no convincing, because his guard was well and truly down.

That is why Satan is called the serpant.

The serpent was just said to be a serpent in Genesis. The thing about Satan being the serpent mainly comes from Paradise Lost. (There's the mention of the ancient serpent in Revelation, but that's heavily symbolic and was written many centuries after Genesis when views on God and Satan had started to change.)

 

[St_Worm2]

I personally much of Genesis as allegories pointing to Jesus and the Gospels. In the temptations of Adam and Eve we can see the temptations of Jesus and Jesus correcting the prior failure. Satan approaches Eve first and convinces her to disobey God. In the same manner Satan approaches Jesus in the desert but Jesus handles Satan as a faithful one should.

Then, instead of approaching Adam directly the beloved mate approaches Adam and offers him the fruit. In Matthew 16 we can see this occur when Jesus is approached by a beloved mate, Peter, who tries to dissuade him from God's call. Jesus then corrects Adam's failure by handling it by saying "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Hi Yarddog, I see the connection you are trying to make, but your church (and mine) assigns blame for the universality of sin to our first parents, not to God. However, if our progenitors are nothing more than figments in the imaginative mind of our Creator, and their story is but part of an allegory that explains something else altogether, then the only One left who could have caused this little problem with our race's make-up/design, is God Himself (which would make Him the undoubted "Author of evil").

Or are you perhaps saying that 1) the Biblical story of our first parents is real and that 2) it is 'also' used as a allegory?

Thanks!

--David
p.s. - e.g. "In brief" (and certainly in part), an excerpt about this subject from the CCC.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
416 By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings.
417 Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called “original sin.”
.​

 

[FireDragon76]

The serpent was just said to be a serpent in Genesis. The thing about Satan being the serpent mainly comes from Paradise Lost. (There's the mention of the ancient serpent in Revelation, but that's heavily symbolic and was written many centuries after Genesis when views on God and Satan had started to change.)

Actually, it's the traditional Christian interpretation for many centuries, and it probably started with extracanonical Jewish literature. Though often in Church history the serpent was called just "the serpent", the connection to Satan was understood.

Milton borrowed a lot from Christian tradition to write his poem. His themes were well understood by his readers at the time, he didn't have to invent the notion.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

Simple. Eve was weaker. I mean I don't like using that term but I can't deny its in the bible. I do know some that say Adam was just as responsible but I disagree. To some degree.

Look at what happened to each sex because of the apple being bitten. Women seem to have been punished more then a man. I mean I know they are not being punished per say but hear me out. Women now have child birth pains, a monthly cycle that is painful, PMS later in life that drives them nuts. They sometimes have a harder time getting to the "end" of sex that they can enjoy...etc. What does a man have? We don't have any natural male pains from anything (well maybe from our wives sometimes LOL). I think at most maybe in the sex department men are known as "minute men". So in my eyes it shows women ended up with the short end of the stick because she bit the apple first.

This may all just be a tired me blabbing at 1am, so I may be wrong.

Which reminds me, anyone else ever think about the correlation between how Eve acted and then and how some women act now? For example women are MUCH better at persuading a man to do something. Just like Eve persuaded Adam to join her in that moment. In todays world many joke "Yes dear!" or "Happy wife, happy life!". But sometimes those lines, even if meant in jest come from some form of truth. Some women just are great at persuasion. Probably to because us men can be stubborn. Though maybe thats another outcome of the apple. Men became stubborn and women kept their ability to persuade. After all women tend to be better nurtures and what not.

Ok I'll stop typing now, so sleepy.

 

[St_Worm2]

Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Thanks! The NASB reads a bit differently, and it uses a semi-colon to separate her time with the serpent and her eating, from her time with her husband and his choosing to eat. It doesn't mean that you are not correct, and I've always believed they were in the Garden together, but that Adam was not privy to this particular conversation by Satan. As I read it again however, especially in the ESV, I'm really left wondering why (unless it was something I was taught).

I will go see.

Thanks again

 

[Solomons Porch]

Ive already got the shovel handy and theres a grave dug six feet in the back yard to save anybody the trouble lol......but im just gonna throw out some of my thoughts that i have pondered and "go out on a limb cause thats where the fruit is".

Womens greatest need and desire is communication, they like to talk things out and "some" like to listen, I prefer listening more than talking. But I see that maybe satan saw her greatest desire before she even knew it herself, which was communicate. Men dont really like to sit and talk the way women do.

Then I think well the bible says be angry and sin not. So was Adam and Eve having a little spat? And Eve went for a walk cause Adam wouldnt talk to her, so the serpent did, which was her greatest need to be filled, which should have been done by Adam? I mean women will talk to the cat if she doesnt have anybody to talk to. So being angry at each other was ok, because there was no sin yet.....I dont know, just a thought.

Were they there at the tree together when this serpent spoke, I dont think so. So why werent they together?

And Eve ate first right? And if so, she takes a bite goes trampling back thru the garden "not seeing she was naked" UNTIL Adam took a bite......interesting. Did God give Adam the instructions and command without Eve present? And if thats how it happened did Adam tell Eve the full instruction given by God?

So I know I didnt really answer the question I more or less just shared some thoughts of "what if"? Still today a womans weakness is communication and a mans weakness is a naked woman with food lol........

 

[Grandpa2390]

The conversation takes place in the first few verses of Genesis 3. I was surprised the first time I noticed that myself.

I was equally surprised when I saw in the same general area the God planted the Garden of Eden AFTER creating Adam (Gen 2:8). I had always thought Adam had been formed within the Garden.

yeah, no. A lot of these people who like to point at 2 as a "contradiction" don't realize this either. God created everything, then he "recreated" it in the garden in front of Adam so he could name each thing.

 

[Grandpa2390]

Ive already got the shovel handy and theres a grave dug six feet in the back yard to save anybody the trouble lol......but im just gonna throw out some of my thoughts that i have pondered and "go out on a limb cause thats where the fruit is".

Womens greatest need and desire is communication, they like to talk things out and "some" like to listen, I prefer listening more than talking. But I see that maybe satan saw her greatest desire before she even knew it herself, which was communicate. Men dont really like to sit and talk the way women do.

Then I think well the bible says be angry and sin not. So was Adam and Eve having a little spat? And Eve went for a walk cause Adam wouldnt talk to her, so the serpent did, which was her greatest need to be filled, which should have been done by Adam? I mean women will talk to the cat if she doesnt have anybody to talk to. So being angry at each other was ok, because there was no sin yet.....I dont know, just a thought.

Were they there at the tree together when this serpent spoke, I dont think so. So why werent they together?

And Eve ate first right? And if so, she takes a bite goes trampling back thru the garden "not seeing she was naked" UNTIL Adam took a bite......interesting. Did God give Adam the instructions and command without Eve present? And if thats how it happened did Adam tell Eve the full instruction given by God?

Eve wasn't created yet. even so, it was still Adam's ordained responsibility to look after her and be the leader. He failed.

So I know I didnt really answer the question I more or less just shared some thoughts of "what if"? Still today a womans weakness is communication and a mans weakness is a naked woman with food lol........

That is quite a limb. "Adam and Eve: The Movie" would look like this
What I have heard preached was that, and there are New Testament scriptures used to support this, but this is not a debate so meh. I heard it interpreted that Eve's sin was being the first feminist. She usurped the role of Adam. It is a curse that has plagued women ever since.

Also that Adam allowed her to usurp his role. Rather than being the leader, he allowed her to be the leader. He knew very well what he was doing. the Bible says that Adam knew he was eating what was forbidden and did it anyway.

I'm not going to guess what led up to it.
she was in the wrong place. SHouldn't have been the near the tree. She was tempted. She stepped out of her place, Adam allowed her to take his place... Just a disaster.