The Role Of The Serpent In Robert Alter's Genesis

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In Robert Alter’s translation Genesis: Translation and Commentary, readers are taught about how God created the world, and soon after formed a relationship with humans. This relationship, between God and humans, was created because of the interactions that occurred as a result of what God demanded. God stated, “From every fruit of the garden you may eat. But from the tree of knowledge, good and evil, you shall not eat.” God then goes onto ensure that if one does not abide by this command, he is “doomed to die,” which ultimately happens because of the serpent. In Genesis, the serpent is an evil entity that advocates for sinful behavior amongst humans. The serpent succeeds in making humans commit evil acts by enticing them by falsely assuring them that they will be rewarded as a result of these sinful acts. …show more content…

The serpent persuaded her to do this wrongdoing by stating that God knows “that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will become as gods knowing good and evil.” The evil figure deceives Eve; she goes onto committing the sin, not only by eating the fruit herself, but also by having her husband eat the fruit as well. It is suggested in Genesis that humans will always have to be conscious of evil forces. For as long as mankind lives, these forces will be present and in some cases difficult to steer clear from. For Adam (Eve’s man) evil was passed to him through his woman, who was his most unlikely source of sin. This makes it clear that one must always be aware and conscious to avoid evil doings because sin could come in a vast variety of

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