Genesis 3:1
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
KJV
Read in Genesis 3Meaning
The temptation begins with a distorted question about what God actually said. The narrative makes mistrust of God's word the doorway to the coming act of disobedience.
Read carefully
Genesis 3:1 calls the creature a serpent. Later biblical texts associate the ancient serpent with the devil, but that fuller identification is not stated explicitly in this verse itself.
Reflection
A misleading question can alter the moral frame before any false conclusion is spoken. Careful attention to what God actually says matters when suspicion begins to reshape the story.