What exactly was the serpent's motivation to deceive Eve?
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> Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the
> Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God
> said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” Genesis 3:1
> (NET)
I'm wondering what precisely was Satan's motivation to deceive Eve into disobeying God. I'm assuming the answer is in the context provided in the previous two chapters of Genesis, for example:
> Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our
> likeness, **so they may rule** over the fish of the sea and the birds of
> the air, over the cattle, and **over all the earth**, and over all the
> creatures that move on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 (NET)
I'm thinking it's mostly related to man's authority over the earth - perhaps Satan saw an opportunity to have his own domain, and to rule it using the authority God had delegated to man, thus he usurped their authority. But there's some problems with this:
- The authority to rule over the earth was only given to mankind. Satan
didn't have a physical, human body (he wasn't mankind), so how was he
planning to wield this authority?
- Since the Bible does not describe a rebellion of satan prior to Eden,
I'm assuming that satan's attempt to deceive Eve was actually his
first rebellion against God... So, as described in Ezekiel 28:13-19,
satan already held a high rank in God's kingdom as a cherub before he
rebelled. What was so enticing about having authority over tiny
planet Earth in God's universe compared to being so close to Yahweh
and already having a certain amount of delegated authority as a
cherub? That doesn't make sense to me (to forfeit so much to
gain what Adam and Eve had).
If anyone has a similar or different take on **what exactly satan's primary motivation to deceive Eve was** I'm interested to read it and learn from it (please base your answer on Scripture references and not personal opinion). Also, in my two bullets points I was only sharing my current thoughts about it - don't feel the need to engage with them if they are not related to your answer.
Asked by Phil Han
(129 rep)
Feb 18, 2026, 02:02 PM
Last activity: Feb 18, 2026, 09:59 PM
Last activity: Feb 18, 2026, 09:59 PM