The Story

Primary

What does the name Garden of Eden bring to mind? A beautiful, peaceful place, with lovely and fruitful trees which the Lord God made to grow, and which were watered by His river. There was one very precious tree in the midst of the garden; what was it called? There was also another tree from which they must not eat; what was its name? There were good and useful animals in the garden; there were good people who loved the Lord and one another. The Lord had given them the garden to dress it and to keep it. Angels were near to them and often talked with them. All was lovely and peaceful and happy in the garden in that Golden Age.

But a change came over those happy people. The story says that the serpent led them to do wrong, to eat fruit from the tree of which the Lord had told them not to eat, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It means that they began to think that they could decide for themselves what was good by what seemed pleasant to them rather than by what the Lord taught them. What happens when children think they know best and will not listen to what wiser people tell them? It may be nothing very bad at first, but if they go on in this way, they will surely come to trouble. So it was with the people in Eden. Everything began to go wrong. The world no longer seemed so beautiful. Work seemed hard. Thorns and thistles grew instead of useful plants. They were no longer in the beautiful garden, and the only way to get back must be to be again the Lord's good children. We read the sad part of the story in Gen. 3.

Why is not the world now as happy a place as in the days of Eden? Why are there pain and trouble, and why are we often unhappy? Are we ever unhappy even in the most lovely place and on a most beautiful day? The trouble is not with the world, but with ourselves; we are unhappy because we do what is not right, and bad thoughts and feelings are in our minds. It was these bad things creeping into the minds and lives of people that made them unhappy and spoiled the beautiful garden. They began to wish to enjoy the good things in a selfish way, to do what seemed pleasant, and to decide for themselves what was good instead of learning what was good from the Lord. The love of doing what we please creeps into all our minds; it tempts us to do just a little of what we know is wrong, and then a little more; it makes it seem pleasant and persuades us. The temptation creeps in as slyly as a snake. Have you ever seen a little snake glide along in the grass so quietly that perhaps while you were looking it was gone? Large snakes do the same; sometimes they charm their prey by their look so that they cannot move until they can coil around them or give a poisonous bite. The temptation to enjoy pleasant things which we know are wrong - drinking what we should not, eating what is forbidden, lying in bed when we ought to be up - used to be called a serpent by the wise people of long ago. And in the Lord's own story of how unhappiness came into the garden, this temptation was called the serpent.

The trouble came when the serpent persuaded the happy people of Eden to eat of the forbidden fruit. Can we understand the story? It must mean the beginning of wrongdoing, of disobedience. Yes, and especially the wrong of listening to what seemed pleasant instead of to what the Lord told them was right. So trouble began, and it went from bad to worse. The world was not any more the happy place that it had been. And it would not be again until the Lord came into the world to teach people and to help them. That is why in the midst of this story we find the first prediction of the Lord's coming. (Gen. 3:15)

This is an interesting history of long ago. It is still more important as a warning of what may often happen with us. Are we ever tempted by what seems pleasant to our senses? And do we sometimes do what seems pleasant rather than what we know is right? Such temptations creep in almost unnoticed; they are very "subtle," very persuasive - the forbidden candy, the food or drink that we should not take, the lazy half-hour in bed when we should be up - till some dangerous appetite or habit is formed. The serpent came first to the woman; first to our feelings, and when they yield, the reason (the man) soon follows with excuses. The Lord's book, as always, is teaching us about ourselves. It will help us to say "No" to such temptations, to remember that they are snakes creeping in to coil about us or to give a poisonous bite. And the Lord who has come to bruise the serpent's head will help us if we ask His help.

1. What kind of people lived in the Golden Age? What made them happy?

2. How did unhappiness begin? What was it that crept in and made them disobey? What in ourselves is like a serpent? Give me an example.

3. Why is the serpent said to be the most subtle beast?

4. May the world ever be happy again as it was in the days of Eden?

Spiritual Study

Someone perhaps has been appointed to make a special study of the serpent. Find help in The Language of Parable.

The curse upon the serpent, the woman, and the man cannot mean a curse or a punishment from God; He never curses or punishes. The curse in each case describes the condition which the disobedience has brought upon the various faculties of our nature: our senses and the affection for things of sense (the serpent); our higher will and affection (the woman); and our power of reason and understanding (the man). All are changed; they turn easily to things evil and false, and they find the service of the Lord and the work of regeneration laborious.

We have spoken of the serpent as the temptation to do what seems pleasant. Animals correspond to affections of many kinds. Serpents, which lie full length upon the ground, correspond to affections of a most external kind, nearest to the world, affections for the pleasant things of sense - sight, hearing, feeling, taste, scent. It is said that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. No affection is more insinuating and beguiling than this of pleasant sensation. It is of real use to know that a temptation of sense or appetite is a spiritual serpent; for we all have a horror of serpents, and to think of the temptation in this way helps us to turn from it quickly and completely. (A. 194-210; E. 739, 581; P. 310)

The serpent tempted the woman to eat the forbidden fruit, and the woman persuaded the man. A temptation to pleasant but forbidden things does not at first address our understanding, but our feelings, and when these are won over, the understanding soon follows with excuses. The man represents the faculty of understanding and the woman the feeling or affection. (A. 229)

It is said that the Lord God made for the man and the woman coats of skin. Garments represent the outer things of intelligence, speech, and act, which clothe the heart's affections. Especially the spiritual garments are the intelligence, which comes nearest to the affection as a means of giving it expression. We clothe the naked, spiritually, when we give instruction in useful and becoming ways of expressing kind affection. When it says that the Lord clothed the man and woman, it means that He taught them such ways. The skins of animals represent intelligence suited to such affections as the animals represent; lambs and sheep especially are kind and innocent affections. It was said before that the man and woman hid their nakedness with fig leaves. Figs represent good, kind uses of a natural sort, and the fig leaves represent intelligence in regard to such uses. But here the thought of uses seems to be made rather an excuse and a disguise for the selfish spirit within. This thought is also associated with fig leaves from the Lord's words about fig trees with leaves only. (A. 216, 294)

The serpent was condemned to go upon its belly and to eat dust. The snake before had represented affection for what was natural and external in its right and useful place. Now its trailing on the ground had a new meaning, the affection for earthly and bodily things in themselves, as the things of chief importance. The other affection was good, but this is evil. (A. 242-245)

At the time that people turned to evil ways it was predicted that there would come some time a Savior. The saying that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head was understood as such a prediction. There would be One who would overcome the temptation to pleasant but forbidden things, and would lead back to the happy life. This Savior was predicted again when the Israelites in their journey were bitten by fiery serpents, and Moses set a brazen serpent upon a pole, to which they might look up and be healed. (Num. 21:5-9) When was this promise of a Savior fulfilled? Who overcame all temptations and made it possible to enjoy pleasant things in good innocent ways? (John 3:14, 15; A. 250; E. 581, 768)

The ground was cursed for the sake of human beings and brought forth thorns and thistles. As the trees of the garden pleasant to the sight and good for food, represent the beautiful, fruitful intelligence growing in people’s minds in the innocent days, so the thorns and thistles represent the selfish and wrong thoughts which afterward took their place. We are also taught that all the objects of the natural world are embodiments of elements of human life, and that while people were innocent there were only lovely things in nature. The ugly and harmful things came into existence after people turned to evil. (W. 336, 339; T. 78; E. 1201)

Notice that when people were innocent the tree of life stood in the midst of the garden (Gen. 2:9), but afterward, when they disobeyed, the other tree is spoken of as in the midst. (Gen. 3:3)

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