DID YOU KNOW?

Genesis 3:6 gives three reasons the woman took the fruit. The first two are "good for food" and "a delight to the eyes." What is the third?

The answer

To be desired to make one wise. The woman "saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6). Food, looks, wisdom. Not one word about what kind of fruit it was.

Why it’s interesting

The third reason echoes what the serpent had just promised: eyes opened, and the pair "like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). After they eat, the text says the eyes of both were opened (Genesis 3:7).

Scholarly consensus

Learn the Bible.

Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.