Genesis 3:2

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden.

Genesis 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 3:2

And the woman said unto the serpent
Or to him that spoke in the serpent, which she might take to be a messenger from heaven, a holy angel: had she known who it was, she might be chargeable with imprudence in giving an answer, and carrying on a conversation with him; and yet even supposing this, she might have a good design in her answer; partly to set the matter in a true light, and assert what was truth; and partly to set forth the goodness and liberality of God, in the large provision he had made, and the generous grant he had given them: from this discourse of Eve and the serpent, no doubt Plato ^F7 had his notion of the first men discoursing with beasts: we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
of all and every one of them, which is to be understood, excepting the one after mentioned; so far are we from being debarred from eating of any, which the speech of the Serpent might imply, that they were allowed to eat of what they pleased, but one.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 In Politico, ut supra, (apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 12.) c. 14.

Genesis 3:2 In-Context

1 The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden.

3 But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.' "

4 "You can be sure that you won't die," the serpent said to the woman.

5 "God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God."