Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/177

 5. But God knoweth, etc.] And therefore has falsely threatened you with death. The gratuitous insinuation reveals the main purpose of the tempter, to sow the seeds of distrust towards God in the mind of the woman.—your eyes shall be opened] The expression denotes a sudden acquisition of new powers of perception through supernatural influence (21$19$, Nu. 22$31$, 2 Ki. 6$17$).—as gods] or 'divine beings,' rather than 'as God': the rendering 'as angels' (IEz.) expresses the idea with substantial accuracy. The likeness to divinity actually acquired is not equality with Yahwe (see Gu. on v.$22$).—knowing good and evil] See p. 95 ff.—"The facts are all, in the view of the narrator, correctly stated by the serpent; he has truly represented the mysterious virtue of the tree; knowledge really confers equality with God (3$22$); and it is also true that death does not immediately follow the act of eating. But at the same time the serpent insinuates a certain construction of these facts: God is envious, inasmuch as He grudges the highest good to man:—, an antique sentiment familiar to us from the Greeks" (Gu.).—6. The spiritual part of the temptation is now accomplished, and the serpent is silent, leaving the fascination of sense to do the rest. The woman looks on the tree with new eyes; she observes how attractive to taste and sight its fruit seems, and how desirable for obtaining insight (so most) or to contemplate (GVS; so Tu. Ges. De. Gu. al.). The second translation is the more suitable—for how could she tell by sight that the fruit would impart wisdom?—although the vb. is not elsewhere used in Heb. for mere looking (v.i.).—gave also to her husband] "The process in the man's case was no doubt the same as that just described, the woman taking the place of the serpent" (Ben.). That Adam sinned with his eyes open in order not to be separated from his wife has

the verbal idea (cf. Am. 9$8$, Ps. 49$8$).—5. ] G, T$O$ .—6. $2$] GV om.—] G , V adspectu, and S all take the vb. as vb. of sight; T$O$ is indeterminate (see Levy, Chald. Wb. 163 a). In OT the word is used of mental vision (insight, or attentive consideration: Dt. 32$29$, Ps. 41$2$, Pr. 21$12$ etc.); in NH and