Of course, you're right. God put a forbidden tree in the garden and allowed Satan in and said to himself, "What could possibly go wrong?" When eve ate the fruit and gave some to Adam, God then said, "I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you."
Why do I think GOD set up the byplay in the garden to go like this ? especially
IF Eve was a newly created innocent, a tabula rasa, a know nothing at all?
ImCo:
IF so, then why did YHWH not discuss with her the dangers the serpent presented? Why did HE even allow the serpent access to her?
HIS reaction to the serpent could be construed as a very unloving thing to do with HIS newly created innocent elect member of HIS Church, HIS Bride ! since HE obviously knew she would obviously be deceived and defiled by the serpent's evil intent.
So I ask, "Why would GOD treat Eve so? Why permit her to go through this experience with the serpent and be deceived and defiled?
This reminds me of
1 Timothy 1:9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful...etc, etc. Why were Adam and Eve given a command if they were righteous in their innocence when the law is only given to sinners to convict them of sin?
Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of / convicts of sin. ??
Awareness is 1922 epígnōsis "knowledge gained through first-hand relationship".
When this verse is applied to Adam and Eve It would seem to say that they were already sinful even though they had not eaten yet and the command was given to bring them to the awareness, the knowledge gained through first-hand experience, that they were sinners. The reference to their not being ashamed is weird if they have nothing to be ashamed of, ie they were just created in innocence BUT if they were indeed sinful but thought that they were righteous ( as most sinners think) then having their eyes opened to their sinfulness by giving them a law to break, the command not to eat, they could realize their sinfulness and became ashamed.
While
naked is a common Biblical metaphor for sinfulness, it is notable that the word chosen to refer to their
nakedness is the same word used to describe the
evil of the serpent's cunning, ie, they are homonyms, the same word with two meanings. The vowel marks that differentiate the word
naked from the word
cunning were added by the Masoretes ç600AD. Thus verse
Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. could be as easily read:
Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both cunning in an evil way, but they felt no shame.
So, if we limit ourselves to just these hints (ignoring the others) that Adam and Evil were already sinful in the garden before eating, we can see an obvious reason for GOD allowing the evil serpent access to HIS not so innocent daughter ie, to open her eyes to her sinfulness so she could become ashamed, repent and come to Christ. Neither is it too far a leap to suggest her sin before eating had to do with the her willingness to accept the serpent as a mentor or even a pastor and to follow his logic into disobedience, opening her eyes to his total lack of caring for her so that she would understand that to him, she was only a dispensable pawn in his game against GOD.
After letting him trick her out of Paradise, you can bet that she never gave him another opportunity to defile her again and was quite willing to see him damned and condemned, separated out of her life. This is the story of all the elect, the lesson we are to learn writ large in the first story of the Bible; the serpent is a liar, we are sinners and we will never return to Paradise until we
come out from among the demons so they can be all banished to the outer darkness.
