Why Did the Snake Do It? (Gen 3:1)

Into and Out of the Garden

We’re coming back, one last (I hope) time, to discuss the snake that (in my translation) has just told the human woman, “Besides, God said you could not eat from any tree in the Garden.”

Indulge me for just a moment while I pretend to be the snake in this scene. Before the cameras roll, I have got to ask the director, “What’s my motivation?”

We’ve seen that, as Radak (David Kimhi) explained, this conversation has already started, offstage. His predecessor, Abraham ibn Ezra, uses somewhat stronger language:

The Hebrew of this quotation begins with the word “moreover” [אף]. This shows us that these are not the serpent’s first words. Instead, they are the conclusion of an argument a fortiori, not merely a question out of the blue.

This is no ordinary snake, this is a snake who has gone to law school. He is marshalling all his rhetorical ability in order to persuade the woman of … something.

• Kimhi:

This was part of his shrewdness, trying to prompt her to be dissatisfied.

• Speiser:

The serpent is not asking a question; he is deliberately distorting a fact.

• Sarna:

[The serpent] is not demonic, only extraordinarily shrewd. Its role is to lay before the woman the enticing nature of evil and to fan her desire for it.

I ask again, what is this serpent’s motivation? What is he trying to get this woman to do, and why?

Rashi thinks it is a pickup line:

The Hebrew word for “naked” in 2:25, arum, sounds the same as the word used here for “shrewd.” He saw them naked and having sex out in the open, but he too was “naked” and he was seized with desire for her.

It is clear, however (and to Rashi as well, whom I haven’t quoted fully) that the snake wants the woman, and perhaps both the humans, to eat from the Tree of Sorting, the tree that apparently gives you the ability to distinguish between good and bad, that is, to make distinctions, to think for yourself.

This is not necessary if all the snake wants to do is sleep with her; as Rashi says, the humans themselves have had sex already without sampling this tree. (If Rashi’s comment surprises you, stay tuned. We’ll discuss that when we get to Genesis 4.) Why is it so important for the snake to get the woman to eat from this tree?