Greetings to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm still on the "Satan's fall" kick and trying to seek truth and clarity.
The story in Genesis 3 is in fact a depiction of three characters falling in-concert with one another. It reads like a single, interconnected three character communal collapse. Which is just how the Hebrew author intended it.
Originally, Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:1 were meant to be read together in a single, uninterrupted way, i.e., Chapter 3 is not a stand alone chapter but is linked linguistically to Genesis chapter 2 and is a continuation of Genesis 2:25. Without Genesis 2:25, the wordplay and the understanding of what is a Hebrew chiasm is lost (which has happened for modern readers which in turn blurs the author's original meaning).
To support this in-concert fall linguistically and textually, one only needs to understand that the Genesis chapter 2-3 text has an intentional Hebrew literary pattern, called a chiasm (a symmetrical chi-shapped structure, A-B-B-A form) that is intended to bind all three characters together. By using the x-shaped literary pattern (or chi), the author attempts to ensure the reader cannot separate the beginning of the story (which is actually Genesis 2:25) from the end. The “X-structure” physically, meaning literarily, locks the characters into a shared fate. The A-B-B-A literary pattern is matching similar sounds, like rhyme, and also direct conceptual opposites (in this case ʿărûmmîm [naked] and ʿārûm [crafty]).
If we zoom out, in Genesis 3:9-19 the author expands this literary x-shaped structure into a larger macro-chiasm (A-B-C-D-C-B-A). In a biblical chiasm, the most critical theological point is always placed dead center, at the vertex of the “X”.
TEXT (x-chiasm):
A. Questioning of the MAN (v9).
B. MAN shifts blame to the woman (v.10-12)
C. WOMAN shifts blame to the serpent (v.13)
→ X. Center Point: Judgment on the SERPENT (v. 14-15)
C. Judgement on the WOMAN (v.16)
B. Judgement on the MAN (v17-19a)
A. Final Sentence of Death to MAN (v. 19b), return to dust.
The serpent’s curse and the Protoevangelium sits alone at the vertex (X). This seven point design shows that the narrative isn’t some randomly designed narrative. It is a highly engineered, symmetrical legal document where every action has an exactly mirrored consequence (A→A), (B→B), (C→C), → (X).
Perfect Symmetry of Justice:
The potential chaos (sin is lawlessness) introduced by their collective sin is met by a highly structured literary device, a perfectly symmetrical layout of divine justice. The structural center point, Genesis 3:14-15, contains layers of sharp Hebrew wordplay. When read in Hebrew, God’s curse on the serpent relies on puns and thematic reversals to directly twist the serpent’s original superior characteristic, ʿārûm (craftiness), into his punishment (’ārūr, “cursed”). Clear evidence that the author never intended to suggest that the serpent's initial “craftiness” was evil, for the thematic reversal would then not work.
God tells the serpent “On your belly you shall go and ‘āpār (dust) you shall eat all the days of your life” (Gen 3:14). This is an ancient Hebrew poetic idiom that expresses total defeat, absolute subjugation, and deep disgrace. This can be affirmed through other scripture as well, such as (1) Micah 7:17, speaking of defeated nations, it says, "They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl out of their holes like crawling things of the earth..."; (2) Isaiah 49:23, describing the total submission of Israel's enemies, it says, "With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet."; (3) Psalm 72:9, (Psa 72:9 NKJV) – “Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust”.
Man is said to be formed from ‘āpār (“dust”, Gen 2:7) and God tells man “you are ‘āpār (dust, Gen 3:19) and to ‘āpār (dust) you shall return. By sentencing the Serpent to “eat dust”, the text uses a clear metaphor. Since man is dust (‘āpār), the serpent eating dust implies a horrific, permanent relationship between the serpent and man, and through which the serpent will be subjugated by God.
The Irony of the “In-Concert” Fall
Keep seeking God's truth as if it were hidden treasure.
The story in Genesis 3 is in fact a depiction of three characters falling in-concert with one another. It reads like a single, interconnected three character communal collapse. Which is just how the Hebrew author intended it.
Originally, Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:1 were meant to be read together in a single, uninterrupted way, i.e., Chapter 3 is not a stand alone chapter but is linked linguistically to Genesis chapter 2 and is a continuation of Genesis 2:25. Without Genesis 2:25, the wordplay and the understanding of what is a Hebrew chiasm is lost (which has happened for modern readers which in turn blurs the author's original meaning).
To support this in-concert fall linguistically and textually, one only needs to understand that the Genesis chapter 2-3 text has an intentional Hebrew literary pattern, called a chiasm (a symmetrical chi-shapped structure, A-B-B-A form) that is intended to bind all three characters together. By using the x-shaped literary pattern (or chi), the author attempts to ensure the reader cannot separate the beginning of the story (which is actually Genesis 2:25) from the end. The “X-structure” physically, meaning literarily, locks the characters into a shared fate. The A-B-B-A literary pattern is matching similar sounds, like rhyme, and also direct conceptual opposites (in this case ʿărûmmîm [naked] and ʿārûm [crafty]).
If we zoom out, in Genesis 3:9-19 the author expands this literary x-shaped structure into a larger macro-chiasm (A-B-C-D-C-B-A). In a biblical chiasm, the most critical theological point is always placed dead center, at the vertex of the “X”.
TEXT (x-chiasm):
A. Questioning of the MAN (v9).
B. MAN shifts blame to the woman (v.10-12)
C. WOMAN shifts blame to the serpent (v.13)
→ X. Center Point: Judgment on the SERPENT (v. 14-15)
C. Judgement on the WOMAN (v.16)
B. Judgement on the MAN (v17-19a)
A. Final Sentence of Death to MAN (v. 19b), return to dust.
The serpent’s curse and the Protoevangelium sits alone at the vertex (X). This seven point design shows that the narrative isn’t some randomly designed narrative. It is a highly engineered, symmetrical legal document where every action has an exactly mirrored consequence (A→A), (B→B), (C→C), → (X).
Perfect Symmetry of Justice:
The potential chaos (sin is lawlessness) introduced by their collective sin is met by a highly structured literary device, a perfectly symmetrical layout of divine justice. The structural center point, Genesis 3:14-15, contains layers of sharp Hebrew wordplay. When read in Hebrew, God’s curse on the serpent relies on puns and thematic reversals to directly twist the serpent’s original superior characteristic, ʿārûm (craftiness), into his punishment (’ārūr, “cursed”). Clear evidence that the author never intended to suggest that the serpent's initial “craftiness” was evil, for the thematic reversal would then not work.
God tells the serpent “On your belly you shall go and ‘āpār (dust) you shall eat all the days of your life” (Gen 3:14). This is an ancient Hebrew poetic idiom that expresses total defeat, absolute subjugation, and deep disgrace. This can be affirmed through other scripture as well, such as (1) Micah 7:17, speaking of defeated nations, it says, "They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl out of their holes like crawling things of the earth..."; (2) Isaiah 49:23, describing the total submission of Israel's enemies, it says, "With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet."; (3) Psalm 72:9, (Psa 72:9 NKJV) – “Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust”.
Man is said to be formed from ‘āpār (“dust”, Gen 2:7) and God tells man “you are ‘āpār (dust, Gen 3:19) and to ‘āpār (dust) you shall return. By sentencing the Serpent to “eat dust”, the text uses a clear metaphor. Since man is dust (‘āpār), the serpent eating dust implies a horrific, permanent relationship between the serpent and man, and through which the serpent will be subjugated by God.
The Irony of the “In-Concert” Fall
- Eve wants to eat the fruit because she wants to go up in status, “like God” (Gen 3:5) and possibly also subjugate her husband (the head).
- The serpent, who is of superior intellect to Adam already but does not have Adam’s title of dominion over the earth, and wants to move up in status and be like God, initiates deception of Eve.
- Adam, who personally moves his wife’s status above God's by heeding his wife’s words to eat over God’s words to not eat.
- As a result of this synchronized, in-concert, event. Eve doesn’t move up in status but is told that her husband will “rule over you” (Gen 3:16). The serpent doesn't move up in status in relation to God or mankind and is told that he is below even cattle and he is a deep disgrace and shall eat dust all the days of his life (Adam being "dust"). Adam, considering his duty to his wife to be over God, is made to have a burden in his duties as head, toiling to provide.
Keep seeking God's truth as if it were hidden treasure.
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