Here again the people of the Most Ancient Church, feeling life as their own (the woman) and influenced by the reasoning from their senses (the serpent), question the Lord. They had been told it would destroy them spiritually to use their minds to explore the nature of the Lord. But would it really? They could not, from their senses, see any reason why.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 205)

190. Genesis 3:1-13

1. And the serpent was subtle, more than every wild animal of the field that Jehovah God had made. And it said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2. And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit from the tree of the garden we are to eat.

3. But of the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden God has said, You shall not eat of it nor touch it, or else you will die.

4. And the serpent said to the woman, You will certainly not die.

5. For God knows that on the day in which you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

6. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appetizing to the eyes, and a tree desirable for imparting intelligence; and she took from its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

7. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.

8. And they heard Jehovah God's voice going to and fro in the garden in the breeze of the daytime; and the man hid himself, and so did his wife, from the face of Jehovah God, in the middle of the tree of the garden.

9. And Jehovah God called out to the man and said to him, Where are you?

10. And he said, I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11. And He said, Who pointed out to you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree concerning which I commanded you that you should not eat from it?

12. And the man said, The woman whom You gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.

13. And Jehovah God said to the woman, Why have you done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

CONTENTS

The subject is the third state of the Most Ancient Church, which set their heart on the proprium, even to the point of loving it.