Throughout the seven days of Creation Hashem is referred to exclusively as “Elokim”. From the end of Creation He is called “Hashem-Elokim”. Yet when the snake and Chava spoke to each other they used the name “Elokim” alone. Why was this, and what does it signify?
A suggestion is that one of the reasons that Hashem’s name changed at the end of Creation is because the complete name of Hashem is only compatible with a complete Creation, says the Medrash. (see Rashi at the beginning of the Torah who seems to indicate another approach) So when the Creation was finally complete Hashem’s complete name was used.
Following this thought, perhaps what the snake was insinuating to Chava was that this world is improvised, it is unfinished and incomplete, and there are loopholes around. True, Hashem told you not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, but that is an improvised prohibition, designed to stop you from becoming as great as Him. Don’t worry, you can eat, and get away with it too. The first step the snake took was to propose that Hashem was still “Elokim”, i.e. the world was still unfinished. Then he went on to suggest that therefore things were not comprehensive and organized, but sketchy and ad hoc, and there were opportunities not covered in the “manual”. Chava fell for that bait, and she ate the forbidden fruit.
We may smile at the ideas of the snake, they seem so childish today. Yet the truth is the poison the snake introduced here is still around. Do we really believe that the system is foolproof and the one and only road to success in this world is serving Hashem, or do we sometimes think that we can beat the system, and do our own thing and somehow or some way get out of dealing with it afterwards?
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