Continuing and concluding from part 1, let us go word by word through fruit, tree, eat, touch, seed in order to see if they have specific association with a sexual act (keeping in mind that this is contextually irrelevant). Additionally, I will add beguiled since Eve stated, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” which is supposed to mean that Satan sexually seduced her and they had sex.
FRUIT
Strong’s H6529 pĕriy from H6509; fruit (literally or figuratively):—bough, (first-)fruit(-ful), reward.
I. fruit A. fruit, produce (of the ground) B. fruit, offspring, children, progeny (of the womb)
C. fruit (of actions) (fig.)
For an example of usage note that the KJV translates it as fruit (113x), fruitful (2x), boughs (1x), firstfruits (with H7225) (1x), reward (1x), fruit thereof (1x).
Thus, the serpent seedline of Satan theorists would appeal to “fruit (literally or figuratively)” and, of course, “B. fruit, offspring, children, progeny (of the womb).”
TREE
Strong’s H6086 `ets from H6095; a tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks):— carpenter, gallows, helve, pine, plank, staff, stalk, stick, stock, timber, tree, wood.
I. tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows A. tree, trees
B. wood, pieces of wood, gallows, firewood, cedar-wood, woody flax
KJV translates as: tree (162x), wood (107x), timber (23x), stick (14x), gallows (8x), staff (4x), stock (4x), carpenter (with H2796) (2x), branches (1x), helve (1x), planks (1x), stalks (1x).
So, the theorists get no points here.
EAT
Strong’s H398 ‘akal a primitive root; to eat (literally or figuratively):—× at all, burn up, consume, devour(-er, up), dine, eat(-er, up), feed (with), food, × freely, × in…wise(-deed, plenty), (lay) meat, × quite.
I. to eat, devour, burn up, feed A. (Qal) i. to eat (human subject) ii. to eat, devour (of beasts and birds) iii. to devour, consume (of fire) iv. to devour, slay (of sword) v. to devour, consume, destroy (inanimate subjects – ie, pestilence, drought) vi. to devour (of oppression) B. (Niphal) i. to be eaten (by men) ii. to be devoured, consumed (of fire) iii. to be wasted, destroyed (of flesh) C. (Pual) i. to cause to eat, feed with ii. to cause to devour D. (Hiphil) i. to feed ii. to cause to eat E. (Piel)
i. consume
KJV has: eat (604x), devour (111x), consume (32x), miscellaneous (55x).
So, all the theorists get is “eat (literally or figuratively).”
TOUCH
Strong’s H5060 naga` a primitive root; properly, to touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.):—beat, (× be able to) bring (down), cast, come (nigh), draw near (nigh), get up, happen, join, near, plague, reach (up), smite, strike, touch.
I. to touch, reach, strike A. (Qal) i. to touch ii. to strike iii. to reach, extend to iv. to be stricken a. stricken (participle) B. (Niphal) to be stricken, be defeated C. (Piel) to strike D. (Pual) to be stricken (by disease) E. (Hiphil) to cause to touch, reach, approach, arrive i. to cause to touch, apply ii. to reach, extend, attain, arrive, come iii. to approach (of time)
iv. to befall (of fate)
KJV has: touch (92x), came (18x), reach (11x), bring (4x), near (4x), smite (4x), nigh (3x), plagued (3x), happeneth (2x), strike (2x), beaten (1x), cast (1x), reach up (1x), brought down (1x), join (1x), laid (1x), get up.
Well, the theorists go get “to lie with a woman” out of this which, of course, must mean that Eve had lesbian sex with another woman. In any case, out of the 155 times it appears it is only employed with regards to sex a grand total of twice.
SEED
Strong’s H2233 zera` from H2232; seed; figuratively, fruit, plant, sowing-time, posterity:—× carnally, child, fruitful, seed(-time), sowing-time.
I. seed, sowing, offspring A. a sowing B. seed C. semen virile D. offspring, descendants, posterity, children E. of moral quality i. a practitioner of righteousness (fig.)
F. sowing time (by meton)
KJV seed (221x), child (2x), carnally (with H7902) (2x), carnally (1x), fruitful (1x), seedtime (1x), sowing time (1x).
This is really a non-issue since it is commonly understood that this word goes both ways and this will be the key, as we shall see after reviewing the next and last word.
BEGUILED
Strong’s H5377 nasha’ a primitive root; to lead astray, i.e. (mentally) to delude, or (morally) to seduce:—beguile, deceive, × greatly, × utterly.
I. to beguile, deceive A. (Niphal) to be beguiled B. (Hiphil) to beguile, deceive
C. (Qal) utterly (infinitive)
KJV: deceive (12x), greatly (1x), beguiled me (1x), seize (1x), utterly (1x).
Nothing to see here. However, the theorists are not done as of yet since they point us to 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 which reads:
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Serpent seed of Satan theorists claim that this Greek term for beguiled is the key.
Strong’s G1818 exapataō from G1537 and G538; to seduce wholly:—beguile, deceive.
I. to deceive
KJV: deceive (4x), beguile (1x).
In a way, this article is a more detailed consideration of issue covered in my Zen Garcia on symbolic Serpent Seed of Satan language in Genesis 3 and at the end of that one you can see how I consider each text that employs the term exapataō—and how it does not help the theorists one bit.
Recall that I noted that the term for seed going both ways would be the key. The theorists’ claim is that since Eve’s seed was physical, literal, etc. then so is Satan’s and this must be Cain, etc. What is most important is that ultimately, Eve’s seed is Jesus. So is Cain the anti-Christ? The subtext is the real key to understanding the two seedlines issue as biblically there indeed are two line but they are not genetic: they are not Cainite and Sethite, they are not Eve’s genetics and Satan’s genetics but are based on actions. Those who sin and are thus, of Satan and those who repent and are thus, of God.
I made this case in detail and yet most succinctly within Serpent Seed of Satan article in a Christian Apologetics journal.
Genesis 3 is the first time that a term such as seed is used of action based or genetic progeny. You see, the issue is that literal fruit was referenced in Genesis 1 and the terminology was then applied to Adam and Eve:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good…
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl…great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth…
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply…And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Clearly, there is no confusion and the context determines the meaning: just as plants and trees produce fruit baring seeds and multiply animals and Adam and Eve were to do likewise. There is simply no reason to think that when it comes to Genesis 3 there is suddenly some sort of hidden meaning as the context is that tree is tree, fruit is fruit, eating is eating, etc.
In part, we know this from the fact that, as seen within the bracketed version above, the serpent seedline of Satan theorists’ preferred picking and choosing of minority definitions means that Adam and Eve had multiple sex partners (who or whatever that would have been), Adam had sex with Satan, Eve may have had a lesbian affair, etc. Moreover, and most importantly, the Bible’s greater context simply knows of no such thing as Eve having sex with Satan, Cain being Satan’s son, Cain’s seedline propagating Satanic genetics, etc.
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