Eve's Choice

In Abrahamic religions, Adam and Eve are thought to be the first man and women of the human species. In The Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve’s story emphasizes the idea that God intended the humankind to inhabit earth as a paradise. In their story, Adam and Eve lived together without shame of their nakedness in the Garden of Eden, a vast enclosure containing The Tree of Knowledge. God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat any fruit that The Tree of Knowledge grew, stating that if they do, they will die. When a serpent tricked Eve into eating the tree’s fruit, which she later shared with Adam, “the eyes of both were opened” and a sudden wave of guilt and humiliation aroused as they discovered they were naked. Because Eve had knowledge of God’s clear instructions, she could be blamed for eating the fruit. However, Eve’s naivete could support why she should not be judged for eating the fruit.  

God’s instructions to Eve were clear. Eve was able to repeat God’s exact words to the serpent that if she were to eat the fruit “or so much as touch it, lest [she] dies.” Eve even corrected the serpent when he told her that God said " not to eat any of the tree in the garden."

God wanted Eve to eat the fruit. He created the serpent, who is the “slyest of all the wild creatures.” And with the serpent’s wit, the snake was able to make Eve notice the “delight” and “wisdom” of the tree. The Tree of Knowledge was put into the garden by God. If God had intended for Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit, then the tree has no reason to be in the garden in the first place. Thus, God’s intention was to have them taste the fruit.

Eve had no reason to doubt the snake. As Adam and Eve lived in the garden, they only lived by what God had told them: not to eat the fruits of The Tree of Knowledge. But it was eating this fruit that allowed Adam and Eve to see that immorality exists in the world. Without the knowledge that the fruit gave Eve, the ability to tell right from wrong, Eve could not have possibly understood why to trust God’s word over the serpent’s.