3:4 the serpent. It is interesting that two clay seals found in the archaeological digs at Nineveh may reflect the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. One seems to show the man and woman being tempted by the serpent, the other their expulsion from the garden.

3:5 be as gods. Satan’s sin led him to desire to be as God, and this was the desire he placed in Eve’s mind (see notes on Isaiah 14:13,14). In fact, when one questions or changes the Word of God, he is, for all practical purposes, making himself to be “god.”

3:5 knowing good and evil. Satan’s deceptions are always most effective when they have some truth in them. Through eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve would indeed come to “know good and evil,” but not “as gods!”