Here in six verses is the story of the threat to the garden told in terms of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.  And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”  And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’ ”  And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband [the man] with her, and he ate. Gen 3:1-6  NASB

Taken literally, the story is simple.  The serpent offered an alternative consequence of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil than that given by God Almighty.  The woman, affected by the serpent’s comments, saw things differently, fulfilled her desire to eat the fruit of the bad tree, and enticed the man Adam to do likewise.

But then, from the literal perspective, the behavior of the couple is inexplicable.  The man and the woman live in an environment which includes two trees; one will produce eternal life, and the other will produce death.  It seems obvious for one or both of them, avoiding the tree of death, to walk over to the tree of life and eat the fruit from it and thereby be set for eternity.  But, this did not happen.  So, when the tree of life was available, why didn’t one or both of them eat of the tree that delivers eternal life?  Again, when they were explicitly forewarned, why would either of them deliberately eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby bring death upon themselves?  The sensible answer is they wouldn’t.  Deliberately avoiding eternal life and making an obviously self-destructive choice does not make sense for either of them, especially for the man who has been described as full of wisdom (Ezekiel 28:12).  If the man and the woman had been free to choose without constraint which tree to eat from, won’t they have chosen life over death?  That they did not do so is an indication that to eat of these two trees is not an independent choice, but is a symbolic record of their behavior (see discussion p 2-26).

So, was there a condition or action that was a requirement of the man and the woman in order to eat of the tree of life?  There was, because to eat of the tree of life is a privilege extended to those who overcome.

Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12  GOD’S WORD

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.”  Revelation 2:7  NASB

Here then is an indication that the man and the woman were not free to eat as they please of the fruit of the tree of life.  In order to do so, they must overcome, i.e., pass the test, and that which they must overcome is the temptation presented by the serpent/Satan.

Recall who Satan is:  he was created as the waster to destroy (Isaiah 54:16), is a murderer/liar from the beginning (John 8:44), deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9), and brings death to humanity (Heb 2:14).  In Satan’s conversation with the woman about God Almighty’s commandment, Satan directly challenged the veracity of God Almighty and offered a lie as an alternative to that which God Almighty had said.  Satan deceived the woman with the lie, “You surely shall not die!”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”  And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3:13  NASB

But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  2Corinthians 11:3  NASB

And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.  1Timothy 2:14  NASB

One aspect of Satan’s deception was to obliterate for the woman the distinction between the fruit of the good trees and the fruit of the bad tree.  After Satan’s suggestion, the woman saw the forbidden tree, not as being distinct and different from the good trees of the garden which were pleasing to the sight and good for food (Gen 2:9), but as identical to them.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband [the man] with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:6  NASB

The woman was deceived when she erroneously saw the fruits (behaviors) promoted by Satan in the same way as those desired by God Almighty.

Starting with the first couple, humanity has failed to keep God Almighty’s commandments.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  Romans 3:23  NASB

There are two facets for this failure of humanity, one internal and the other external.  The internal component is the rebellious heart of humanity that seeks to fulfill self-will rather than submit to God Almighty’s will.

“But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.”  Jeremiah 5:23  NASB

I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,  Isaiah 65:2  NASB

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”  Matthew 15:19  NASB

Temptation is the external facet of humanity’s failure to keep God Almighty’s commandments, and scripture makes it clear that God Almighty does not bring temptation.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  James 1:13  NASB

Satan is the source of temptation, and Satan’s temptations, as has been noted, are based on lies and deceit.  When the woman and then the man encountered temptation, they were faced with this choice.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.”  Deuteronomy 11:26-28  NASB

One can follow the path of self-gratification fueled by lust.

But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.  James 1:14-15  NASB

So, death is the result of not resisting and not overcoming lusts of the heart, love of self, and self-will which are exacerbated by the temptations presented by Satan.  On the other hand, one can resist the desires of the heart and input from the physical senses by following the spiritual senses stimulated by the spirit of God Almighty.  This path would lead one to eat of the tree of life and to eternal life.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials [temptations], knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4  NASB

Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  James 4:7  NASB

Do not be overcome by evil; but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:21  NASB

So, when one consistently resists Satan’s temptations and overcomes evil, one gains endurance, which leads to becoming perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  This path of overcoming temptation leads to eternal life, because overcomers are granted the privilege to eat of the tree of life (Rev 2:7).

The man and the woman in the garden of Eden were provided food by God Almighty, and for a while they ate it exclusively.  In time, the woman was tempted by Satan, and this temptation was not specifically stated but was symbolical represented as the suggestion to eat the food offered by Satan but forbidden by God Almighty.  The following New Testament scripture speaks directly to what occurred with the woman in the garden.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  1John 2:16  NASB

When tempted, the woman saw that the tree was good for food, which is a lust of the flesh; that the tree was a delight to the eyes, which is a lust of the eyes; and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, which is boastful pride of life.  So Satan’s temptation in the garden was directed at the self-will and lusts of the woman, aided and abetted by input from the (physical) world.  The woman substituted self-will guided by lusts in place of doing God Almighty’s will and accomplishing His work.  The woman replaced spiritual input from God Almighty with input from her physical senses (good for food, delight to the eyes) and her heart (desirable to make one wise).  This path led the woman to disobedience and sin, and this behavior has been recorded as eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A possible aspect of this temptation is that the woman, who was created as a helpmate for the man, may have wished to escape the dominion he had over her, signified by him naming her (Gen 2:23).  In this regard, the woman saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was desirable to make one wise.  If she became wise, she would become like the man Adam, who was full of wisdom (Eze 28:12).  Here then we have the suggestion that the woman was desirous of becoming wise like the man, or maybe even usurping his role.  Regardless, there is evidence of love of self and self-will by the woman.

We have described the man and the woman in the garden as having enhanced spiritual senses and diminished input from the physical.  The woman, by seeing the tree of bad fruit as good for food and as a delight to the eyes, experienced a shift in sensory input from the spiritual to the physical.  The woman chose to respond to input from the physical that appealed to her lusts rather than input from the spiritual to obey God Almighty’s command.  The woman, deceived by a lie from Satan and enticed by her own lusts, disobeyed God Almighty and committed sin because we are told that she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which, by established symbolism, means that the woman did the will of and accomplished the work of Satan (John 4:32-34).  Thus, sin entered God Almighty’s garden through the woman’s unfaithfulness and disobedience, and she was under a sentence of death (Gen 2:17).

The man Adam was given the commandment to keep/protect/guard the garden, so what was his responsibility when sin entered the garden through the disobedience of the woman?  We are not told specifically his required course of action, but there is a similar situation in the visions of Revelation of a woman who was a corrupting influence.

…  “Hallelujah!  Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGEMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”  Revelation 19:1-2  NASB

Here then is the suggestion that, as part of his responsibility to keep the garden, the man Adam was to judge the woman who was corrupting the garden by her disobedience/unfaithfulness to God Almighty.  The result of judgment of the woman would be death, because that was what God Almighty stated.

We now have the suggestion that the man Adam was faced with a life or death choice regarding the one who would produce his seed/descendants?  Abraham faced a similar choice because Isaac was the means to fulfillment of God Almighty’s promise that Abraham’s seed would bless the world.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED.”  He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.  Hebrews 11:17-19  NASB

Abraham had faith in God Almighty to believe that God Almighty could and would fulfill His promise of descendants through Isaac, even if Abraham purposely sacrificed Isaac.  Would God Almighty fulfill His commandment to the man Adam to multiply (Gen 1:28) if the woman died?  Evidently, the man Adam did not have a similar faith in God Almighty because the man Adam disobeyed God Almighty by failing to perform his assignment to keep or protect the garden.  The man’s disobedient behavior is noted symbolically as he ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen 3:6).

As we have seen, the man Adam initially had a light body, his spirit was in direct contact with God Almighty, and his soul was blameless (p. 2-26).

…  “You had the seal of perfection, / Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.  …  You were blameless in your ways / From the day you were created, / Until unrighteousness was found in you.  Ezekiel 28: 12,15  NASB

Even with so much, the man Adam was not satisfied with his circumstance and wanted something more for himself.

“Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the LORD God, / “Because your heart is lifted up / And you have said, ‘I am a god, / I sit in the seat of gods, / In the heart of the seas’; / Yet you are a man and not God, / Although you make your heart like the heart of God—  …  By your great wisdom, by your trade / You have increased your riches, / And your heart is lifted up because of your riches –  / Therefore, thus says the LORD God, ‘Because you have made your heart / Like the heart of God,’ ” ’ ”  Ezekiel 28:2,5-6   NASB

Thus, the man Adam’s unrighteous originated in his heart with the desire to assert his will rather than follow God Almighty’s will, which led to rebellion against God Almighty, disobedience, sin, and death.

“But you said in your heart, / ‘I will ascend to heaven; / I will raise my throne above the stars of God, / And I will sit on the mount of assembly / In the recesses of the north. / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High.’ ”  Isaiah 14:13-14  NASB

It is clear that in Adam’s heart it was all about Adam:  I will ascend … I will raise … I will sit … I will ascend … I will make myself like the Most High.

Satan tempted the man Adam through the woman with a promise that he would be like God and thus fueled the man’s prideful ambition.

And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Genesis 3:4-5  NASB

The idea that the man Adam would become like God Almighty was conveyed to the man Adam by the woman when she offered the “fruit” to him, and scripture describes it this way:

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,  …  Genesis 3:17  NASB

The man Adam, driven by self-will and love of self, seized the opportunity to be like God conveyed by the woman.

Before the temptation brought by Satan, the man and the woman only had knowledge of good which came to their souls from God Almighty through input from the Spirit.  While the woman’s disobedience was due to being deceived by Satan, the man’s disobedience was not (1Tim 2:14), for he achieved that which was sought and which was offered.  Satan’s temptation was that you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen 3:5), and that is what happened.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” –  ….  Genesis 3:22  NASB

Satan’s temptation offered the man and the woman the opportunity for input from the physical senses, and thereby they obtained the knowledge of evil.  Thus, both the woman and the man shifted the focus of input to their souls from the spiritual to the physical.

The desire of the man Adam’s heart brought the knowledge of evil to him.  Love of self and self-will, which the man Adam exhibited, are first in lists of bad fruit.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  2Timothy 3:2  NASB

For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,  Titus 1:7  NASB

Rather than follow God Almighty’s will as expressed in commandments and thereby produce the good fruit of obedience, the man Adam proposed to make myself like the Most High and thereby produced the bad fruit of self-will.  And, though he had the nature of Christ in him, the man Adam did not have the strength of faith to overcome self-will.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.  James 3:16  NASB

The woman’s lust for food, for things pleasing to the eye, and for a desire to be wise and the man’s self-will, love of self, and desire to be like God Almighty led to disobedience and sin, which had an immediate effect upon the first couple’s entire being – spirit, soul, and body.  The representation of Satan as a serpent is informative of the change which occurred with the first couple’s spirit.  A serpent/snake does not kill its prey by tearing it apart bite by bite; rather, a serpent bites its prey, thereby injecting a deadly poison, and then swallows the prey whole.  This imagery suggests that the first couple were spiritually poisoned, as if bitten by a serpent, when they ate the food offered the serpent/Satan in the garden.  The poison injected into humanity was Satan’s spirit.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Ephesians 2:1-2  NASB

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  Ephesians 2:3  NASB

Therefore, after their sin, the Spirit from God Almighty within the first couple was replaced by Satan’s spirit.

The souls of the first couple became unrighteous, and they became unacceptable to be in the immediate presence of their creator.  Thus, they were forced to hide.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife [the woman] hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  Genesis 3:8  NASB

This separation from God Almighty’s presence/Spirit was required because of the first couple’s sin, their unrighteousness, and the presence of the Satan’s spirit within them.

The unrighteousness of the souls of the couple brought a change in their body.  God Almighty’s presence brought the shinning forth of the light-body, but, because of disobedience and sin, the first couple lost the clothing of a light-body.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.  Genesis 3:7  NASB

The loss of the light-body brought the knowledge that they were naked which was different from when they possessed the light-body and were not ashamed (Gen 2:25).  The response of the first couple was to make their own clothing; of course, sin cannot be covered over, masked, hidden, and/or made to disappear by any human action

God Almighty confronted the man and the woman about their disobedience and sin.

Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  And the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”  Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”  And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3:9-13  NASB

It is interesting to see the transfer of responsibility.  The man, who wanted to be like God Almighty, blamed the woman, and the woman, who wanted to be wise, blamed Satan.

After the confrontation, God Almighty pronounced a curse on each of the participants.  Curse on the serpent:

And the LORD God said to the serpent, / “Because you have done this, / Cursed are you more than all cattle, / And more than every beast of the field; / On your belly shall you go, / And dust shall you eat / All the days of your life; / And I will put enmity / Between you and the woman, / And between your seed and her seed; / He shall bruise you on the head, / And you shall bruise him on the heel.”   Genesis 3:14-15  NASB

Curse on the woman:

To the woman He said, / “I will greatly multiply / Your pain in childbirth, / In pain you shall bring forth children; / Yet your desire shall be for your husband, / And he shall rule over you.”  Genesis 3:16  NASB

Curse on the man:

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; / Cursed is the ground because of you; / In toil you shall eat of it / All the days of your life. /  Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; / And you shall eat the plants of the field; / By the sweat of your face / You shall eat bread, / Till you return to the ground, / Because from it you were taken; / For you are dust, / And to dust you shall return.”  Genesis 3:17-19  NASB

There is immediate confirmation of validity of the curses.  Serpents, cursed with having no legs, do go on their bellies, so it is natural for a snake to bite in the area of the heel.  Through the years, snakes have been despised by the descendents of the woman Eve and are killed by chopping off their heads.  Women do devote themselves to their husbands, and the husband is generally the authority figure in the household.  Unattended ground does go to weeds.  All of humanity does toil and sweat to put bread on the table for their families.  And finally, there is the birth-life-death-decay cycle of the physical body.

After He pronounced the curses, God Almighty provided clothing for the man Adam and the woman.

And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife [the woman], and clothed them.  Genesis 3:21  NASB

The word for skin is Strong’s H5785 which means skin or hide or leather.  Now, clothing is symbolic of one’s nature or character.

“I have put on righteousness, and it clothed me;  /  My justice was like a robe and a turban.”  Job 29:14  NASB

So, with clothing of skin/hide/leather derived from beasts of the field, we have an indication that humanity was given a fleshly and beastly nature with an inclination for the physical and insensitivity to the spiritual.  That is, sensory input for humanity was fundamentally altered by being heightened from the physical and diminished from the spiritual.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.  Galatians 5:17  NASB  `

Because the first couple were clothed with skin/hide/leather (body), were indwelt by Satan’s spirit (spirit), and were unrighteous (soul), the first couple were no longer suitable for God Almighty’s garden.

therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.  Genesis 3:23  NASB

Being sent to the ground means that God Almighty withdrew His presence and the projection of His kingdom from humanity.

When the man Adam failed in his assignment to protect the garden, God Almighty assigned to cherubim the role as keeper or guardian of the tree of life in the garden.

So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.  Genesis 3:24  NASB

The cherubim with the flaming sword signify separation of humanity from the tree of life, from the presence of God Almighty, and from the garden realm.