The Serpent's Question: Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.

He slithered into the story without introduction—where he came from, why he opposed God, how evil had entered a good creation. The text does not say. It only notes his craftiness, his cunning, his subtle intelligence.

He said to the woman, "Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

The first lie began with a question. Not a direct assault but a whispered doubt. Did God really say? And notice the distortion—God had forbidden one tree, not every tree. The serpent made divine generosity sound like divine restriction.