account given later of the origin of clothing (37, cf. 21). It calls attention to the difference between the original and the actual condition of man as conceived by the writer. The consciousness of sex is the result of eating the tree: before then our first parents had the innocence of children, who are often seen naked in the East (Doughty, AD, ii. 475).
V.25 is a transition verse, leading over to the main theme to which all
that goes before is but the prelude. How long the state of primitive
innocence lasted, the writer is at no pains to inform us. This indifference
to the non-essential is as characteristic of the popular tale as its
graphic wealth of detail in features of real interest. The omission
afforded an opportunity for the exercise of later Midrashic ingenuity;
Jub. iii. 15 fixes the period at seven years, while R. Eliezer (Ber. R.)
finds that it did not last six hours.
III. 1-7. The temptation.—Attention is at once
directed to the quarter where the possibility of evil already
lurked amidst the happiness of Eden—the preternatural
subtlety of the serpent: But the serpent was wily] The
wisdom of the serpent was proverbial in antiquity (Mt. 1016:
see Bochart, Hieroz. iii. 246 ff.), a belief probably founded
less on observation of the creature's actual qualities than on
the general idea of its divine or demonic nature: (
Greek characters)
(Sanchuniathon, in Eus.
Præp. Ev. i. 10). Hence the epithet (Hebrew characters) might be used of
it sensu bono ((Greek characters)), though the context here makes it
certain that the bad sense ((Greek characters)) is intended (see below).—beyond any beast, etc.] The serpent, therefore, belongs to
the category of 'beasts of the field,' and is a creature of
Yahwe; and an effort seems to be made to maintain this
view throughout the narrative (v.14). At the same time it
is a being possessing supernatural knowledge, with the
power of speech, and animated by hostility towards God.
It is this last feature which causes some perplexity. To say
that the thoughts which it instils into the mind of the woman
were on the serpent's part not evil, but only extremely
sagacious, and became sin first in the human consciousness
(so Merx, Di. al.), is hardly in accordance with the spirit of
the narrative. It is more probable that behind the sober
description of the serpent as a mere creature of Yahwe,
