have learned is that they are not to be trusted, if not with God’s gifts, then certainly not with each other. God is conspicuously absent as his creations freely work out their destiny and make it clear that they prefer a world in which they have chosen to disobey. Disobedience is central to the text, to their relationship with God, and reverses everything they have known until now. The disobedience is on the part of both Man and Woman. He is with her and participates without persuasion. The snake