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Genesis 3:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 3:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
Origin of Evil.[a] 1 The serpent[b] was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. It said to the woman, “Is it true that God told you not to eat of any of the trees in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 3:1 When human beings reject union with God, the source of being and good, they must inevitably perish. This is the meaning of the tragedy that overwhelms the human condition. Envious of human beings and their happiness, another being, like them a creature, urges them to doubt the divine word, thereby putting out the light of their faith. The biblical tradition will call this other being the “adversary” and “the father of lies” (Wis 2:24; Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9). Our author, anxious to combat pagan nature-centered cults that used the serpent as a symbol and strongly attracted the Israelites, presents the adversary under the form of a serpent.
Despite the victory of evil a hope dawns, a light in which the Christian tradition sees the Savior being already announced, a Savior with whom Mary, model of womanhood, is especially associated. The Lord does not abandon fallen humankind that has barred itself from the paradise of friendship with God; but it will have to struggle to win back its happiness. - Genesis 3:1 The Semitic world attributed superhuman qualities to the serpent: the sacred serpent, the divine serpent, symbol of the divinities of the vegetative realm, protector of sanctuaries and borders, symbol of the way, guardian of life-giving plants, effective in divining the future and in black and diabolic magic. The sacred writer speaks of him instead as one of the animals that the Lord God had made, but also as the most clever of all [of them]; the connection with magic makes the serpent an appropriate symbol of activities directed against God; in addition, the serpent’s special way of entering in a hidden manner and striking by surprise makes it an appropriate and instructive image of the tempter.
