‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.'
The woman clearly did not give way immediately. She contemplated the tree and the fruit carefully, and no doubt she wrestled with her conscience. How wonderful the fruit looked, so much to be desired, and how beautiful the tree was, surely something so beautiful could not cause her any harm? Had not God made them? And to be made wise in knowing good and evil like God. How wonderful that must be. She was not aware of Paul's words to Timothy, ‘flee youthful desires'. For that is what she should have done. Victory over desires like this is only found through flight, not by trying to fight them. Had she fled all would have been well. But she lingered on, and in the end she inevitably gave way. She took of its fruit and ate.
Of course the man and the woman had a conscience and knew the difference between right and wrong in a semi-theoretical way (having never experienced evil) but she saw the snake as offering something more, a God-like knowledge of good and evil.
But she did worse. She went to her mate and took him with her, for she gave the fruit to him, and he ate as well. Seemingly he ate because the woman asked him to. There was no thought for him that it would make him wise like God. He allowed the woman to be more important to him than God. That is why Paul can say, the woman was deceived (1 Timothy 2:14), but the man was not deceived. He was flagrantly disobedient because of his wife. How often when we fall we drag others down with us.
So the one who was ‘a helper suitable for him' has proved man's downfall. Perhaps because she was only a helper she did not consider her privilege and responsibility as God's representative on earth. (How easy it is for us to think that we are unimportant and therefore that what we do ‘doesn't really matter'). Thus instead of seeing the tree as a proof of her exalted position she saw it only as a way of getting satisfaction and status.
We are constantly brought into positions where we too, as God's representatives on earth, have to make choices. When something alluring comes before us we need to ‘flee'. That is the only way to fight such things. Otherwise we too will fail, and drag others down with us. On the other hand, if someone important to us begins to suggest we disregard the Lordship of God, we need to be stern with them, and if necessary even be willing to turn away from them. For otherwise we too will fall.
Notice how the temptation is a basis for the words of John in 1 John 2:16. She saw that it was good for food (the lust of the flesh), a delight to the eyes (the lust of the eyes), and to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life). Herein lies the root of most sin.