Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God (See CCC 391). That is the voice of Satan, the devil, who is pictured in Gen 3 as a Serpent. Review the command God gave to Adam in Gen 2:16-17; then read the exchange between the Serpent and the woman in Gen 3:1-4.
What strategy did he use?
391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil.”267 The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing
Catholic Church. (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Ed., p. 98). Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.
He caused Eve to doubt God. God told Eve if she ate off the tree of knowledge, she would die. Satan asked Eve, "did He really say that?". He tells her that God prohibited Eve from eating this fruit because God didn't want Eve to become like God. Eve didn't trust God and trusted Satan. Wow! how many times I have not trusted God and followed my own designs.
I believe the devil used the tactic of jealousy to awaken pride; he twisted the Word and deceived in order that Eve might be envious of God. In a sense the devil was saying: "You know he's holding out on you". "He just doesn't want you to have what he has". "He want's to keep you as a second-class person; he doesn't think you are good enough". The devil used the materially sensational to depict the spiritually ecstatic, suggesting to Eve that what we see is all there is - a common assertion these days. We have determined that we will be god and that we will express the divine in the material; money, force, sex, chemicals, etc. Our pride is determining our world and destroying it, and all we do is what Adam and Eve did: blame anything other than our own thoughts and choices - because after all we have decided to eat of the fruit and "have our eyes opened to be like gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen, 3:5).
