John Gill Commentary Genesis 3

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the
field, which the Lord God has made

Many instances are given of the subtlety of serpents, in hiding their heads when struck at, rolling themselves up, stopping their ear at the voice of the charmer, putting off their skin, lying in sand of the same colour with them, and biting the feet of horses, and other things of the like kind; but by these it does not appear to be now more subtle than any other creature, whatever it might be at its first creation; particularly the fox greatly exceeds it: the words therefore may be rendered, "that serpent"; that particular serpent, of which so much is spoken of afterwards; "or the serpent was become" ^F20 , or "made more subtle", that is, not naturally, but through Satan being in it, and using it in a very subtle manner, to answer his purposes, and gain his point.

For though a real serpent, and not the mere form or appearance of one, is here meant, as is clear from this account, and the curse afterwards pronounced on it; yet not that only, but as possessed and used by Satan as an instrument of his to accomplish his designs, as is evident from its having the faculty of speech, and the use of reason, employed in a very artful and sophistic manner: nor is it rational to suppose that human nature, in the height of its glory and excellency, should be outwitted and seduced by a creature so inferior to it; besides, the Scriptures always ascribe the seduction of man to the devil; who, because he acted his deceitful part in and by the serpent, is called the serpent, and the old serpent, and the devil and Satan, (2 Corinthians 11:3) (Revelation 12:9) .

The Targum of Jonathan restrains this subtlety to wickedness, paraphrasing the words ``but the serpent was wise to evil.'' Some Jewish writers ^F21 interpret the passage of the nakedness of the serpent, taking the word in the sense it is used in (Genesis 2:25) and render it, "more naked than any beast of the field", the rest having a clothing, as hair but this none; and so might be more agreeable to Eve, being in this respect like herself; but it is generally interpreted of subtlety.

The serpent early became the object of religious worship. Taautus, or the Egyptian Thoth, was the first that attributed deity to the nature of the dragon, and of serpents; and after him the Egyptians and Phoenicians: the Egyptian god Cneph was a serpent with an hawk's head; and a serpent with the Phoenicians was a good demon: what led them to have such veneration for this animal, were its plenty of spirits, its fiery nature, its swiftness, its various forms it throws itself into, and its long life {w}.

And so Pherecydes ^F24 speaks of a deity of the Phoenicians called Ophioneus; and who also affirms ^F25 , that this was the prince of demons cast down from heaven by Jupiter; and Herodotus ^F26 makes mention of sacred serpents about Thebes; and Aelianus ^F1 of sacred dragons; and Justin Martyr says ^F2 , the serpent with the Heathens was a symbol of all that were reckoned gods by them, and they were painted as such; and wherever serpents were painted, according to Persius ^F3 , it was a plain indication that it was a sacred place. Serpents were sacred to many of the Heathen deities, and who were worshipped either in the form of one, or in a real one ^F4 ; all which seem to take their rise from the use the devil made of the serpent in seducing our first parents.

And he said to the woman ; being alone, which he took the advantage of; not the serpent, but Satan in it; just as the angel spoke in Balaam's ass; for we are not to imagine with Philo, Josephus, Aben Ezra, and others, that beasts in their original state had the faculty of speech, and whose language Eve understood:

it is very probable that good angels appeared in paradise to our first parents, in one form or another, and conversed with them; it may be in an human form, and it may be in the form of a beautiful flying serpent, which looked very bright and shining, and that sort called Seraph, (Numbers 21:6) hence angels may bear the name of Seraphim, as some have thought; so that it might not be at all surprising to Eve to hear the serpent speak, it being what she might have been used to hear, and might take this to be a good angel in such a shape, that was come to bring a message to her from God, and to converse with her for her good, and who thus accosted her:

yea, has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? or "of any tree" ^F5 ; so ambiguously does he speak, in order to reproach the divine goodness, and draw into a disbelief of it.

The speech is abrupt; and, as Kimchi observes ^F6 , supposes some discourse, as to this purpose; surely God hates you, for though you are greater than the rest of the creatures, he has not provided any superior excellency for you, and especially since he has said, "you shall not eat".

Or as others, taking occasion from their being naked, (Genesis 2:25) he observes, that that was unbecoming them, of which they might be ashamed; yea, also, that it was unjust to forbid them to eat of the tree of good and evil: he might, it is suggested, first endeavour to persuade the woman, that it was indecent for her, and her husband, to be naked; which you not being convinced of, he insinuated that this was owing to a defect of knowledge, and that there was a tree in the garden, which if you ate of, would give you that knowledge, and therefore God had forbid it, to keep you in ignorance:

but he seems to put this question, to cause them to doubt of it, whether there was such a prohibition or not, and as amazing that it should be, and as not believing it to be true; it being, as he would have it, contrary to the perfections of God, to his goodness and liberality, and to his profession of a peculiar respect to man: wherefore the Targum of Onkelos renders it, "of a truth", and that of Jonathan, "is it true?" surely it cannot be true, that a God of such goodness could ever deny you such a benefit, or restrain you from such happiness; he can never be your friend that can lay such an injunction on you.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (hyh) "factus est", Schmidt.
• F21: Tikkune Zohar, correct. 59. fol. 96. 1.
• F23: Philo Byblius, apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. c. 10. p. 41.
• F24: Apud, Euseb. ib.
• F25: Apud L. Vivem in Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 4. c. 11.
• F26: Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 74.
• F1: De Animal l. 11. c. 2, 17.
• F2: Apolog. 2. p. 71.
• F3: "Pinge duos angues pueri, sacer est locus." Satyr. 1.
• F4: See more of this in a Sermon of mine, called The Head of the Serpent bruised
• F5: (Ue lkm) "ex ulla arbore", Piscator.
• F6: Sepher Shoresh in voce (Pa) .

And the woman said to the serpent
Or to him that spoke in the serpent, which she might take to be a messenger from heaven, a holy angel: had she known who it was, she might be chargeable with imprudence in giving an answer, and carrying on a conversation with him; and yet even supposing this, she might have a good design in her answer; partly to set the matter in a true light, and assert what was truth; and partly to set forth the goodness and liberality of God, in the large provision he had made, and the generous grant he had given them: from this discourse of Eve and the serpent, no doubt Plato ^F7 had his notion of the first men discoursing with beasts: we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ;
of all and every one of them, which is to be understood, excepting the one after mentioned; so far are we from being debarred from eating of any, which the speech of the Serpent might imply, that they were allowed to eat of what they pleased, but one.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: In Politico, ut supra, (apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 12.) c. 14.

But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of
the garden
This tree stood near the tree of life, as is highly probable, since that is described in the same situation, (Genesis 2:9) she does not give it any name, which perhaps was not as yet given it; or she was not acquainted with it, its name in the preceding chapter being given by anticipation; and most likely it is, it had its name from the event, and as yet was without one: God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die :
here the woman is charged by some both with adding to, and taking from the law of God; and if so, must have sinned very heinously before she ate of the fruit; but neither of them are sufficiently proved; not the former by her saying, "neither shall you touch it", which though not expressed in the prohibition, is implied, namely, such a touching the fruit as to pluck it off the tree, take it in the hand, and put it to the mouth, in order to eat it: nor the latter by these words, "lest you die", or "lest perhaps you die" ^F8 ; as if it was a matter of doubt, when it was most strongly assured; for the word used is not always to be understood of doubting, but of the event of a thing; see (Psalms 2:12) and may be rendered, "that you die not" ^F9 ; which would certainly be the case, should they pluck the fruit and eat of it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: (Np) "ne forte", V. L. Tigurine version, Fagius.
• F9: (ina mh apoyanhte) , Sept.

And the serpent said to the woman

In reply to her answer: you shall not surely die ;

in direct contradiction to the divine threatening, and which he would insinuate was a mere threatening, and which God never intended to put in execution; so that they had nothing to fear from that, God would never be so rigid and severe, and beat so hard upon them as to put them to death for such an offence, if it was one; he only gave out the menace to frighten them, and deter from it:

however, at most it was not a certain thing they should die, and they might safely conclude they would not.

For God does know
Or "but ^F11 God does know", who knows all things, and has foreknowledge of all future events; he foreknows what will be the consequence of this event, eating the fruit of this tree, that it would be so far from issuing in death, which he has threatened, that the effect of it would be a clearer understanding, and a greater degree of knowledge of things, which he is unwilling should be enjoyed, and therefore has endeavoured to prevent it by this prohibition; suggesting hereby, even in God, hatred of the creatures he had made, and unwillingness they should be as happy as they might:

that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened ;
not the eyes of their bodies, as if they were now blind, but the eyes of their understanding; meaning, that their knowledge should be enlarged, and they should see things more clearly than they now did, and judge of them in a better manner; yes, even together with the light of their mind, the sight of their bodily eyes would receive some advantage; and particularly, that though they saw the nakedness of their bodies, yet it was as if they saw it not, and were unconcerned about it, and heedless of it; did not see it as unseemly and indecent, and so were not ashamed; but now they should see it as it was, and be filled with shame and confusion:

and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil :
as "Elohim", which word is sometimes used of civil magistrates, sometimes of angels, and sometimes of God himself, and of the divine Persons in the Godhead: the Targum of Onkelos seems to respect the former, rendering it "as great personages", princes, judges, civil magistrates, who ought to know the difference between good and evil, or otherwise would be unfit for their office; but this cannot be the sense here, since there were no such persons in being, to whom the reference could be made; nor could it convey any proper idea to the mind of Eve, unless by them are meant principalities and powers, or "the mighty angels", as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the word; and so it intimates, that upon eating this fruit they should be as wise and as knowing as those intelligent creatures: though perhaps Satan might mean, such angels as himself and his were, and that they should by sad experience know the difference between good and evil, as they did:

But rather it is to be understood of that Elohim that made the heavens and the earth, for as yet the word had never been used, but of the true God, and of the divine Persons in the Trinity: and this agrees with what is ironically said, (Genesis 3:22) "behold the man is become as one of us", as the devil told him he should, and as he believed he would: this was the bait laid for man, suited to his intellectual mind, and to the ambitious desires of it, not being content with finite knowledge, but aiming at omniscience, or something like it: now the temptation began to take place and operate.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (yk) "sed", Piscator; "quin", Schmidt.