(Revelation 12:9) In Genesis 3 he is spoken of as the serpent. The name
dragon means devourer; Satan means adversary; devil means slanderer;
while serpent means deceiver; and all these names indicate the
characteristics of Satan, the evil one.
[44]According to the Genesis account, the old serpent, the devil,
deceived Eve in this manner: As we have heretofore observed, Jehovah had
told Adam and Eve that they must not eat of a certain tree in Eden,
known as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Appearing to mother Eve
in the capacity of a serpent, a deceiver, the devil said to her in
effect: 'Hath God said that ye shall not eat of every tree in Eden?' To
this question Eve responded: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch
it, lest ye die". The old serpent, the devil, replied: "Ye shall not
surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil".
In other words, he told Eve that Jehovah was trying to keep her and her
husband in ignorance and thus take advantage of them. Doubtless the
devil himself ate of the fruit in the presence of Eve and then
deliberately lied to her by saying: "Ye shall not surely die"--God
knows that you will not die.
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