Beguile - The Deeper Meaning

In Moses we read of Satan seeking to beguile Eve, “for he knew not the mind of God.”[1] Satan wanted to destroy agency from the get-go by forcing everyone to return to Heaven and receiving the glory of not losing any of God’s children. We know how that ended.

Then we read “it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men.”[2] Here is Satan, trying to undermine God’s plan, but actually playing into it because he didn’t know the mind of God.

I pondered the word beguile. Most people say it means deceived or fooled. I have this note in my scriptures: Beguiled is an ancient Hebrew word not commonly used. Satan gave her a complex scenario. Eve had a decision to make.

I found an article wherein a Hebrew scholar, Dr. Nehama Aschkenasy, told the writer that the Hebrew word interpreted as "beguiled" is a “rare verb form of unusual depth and richness … no longer in use, [and] almost impossible to translate. ‘It is safe to say that it indicates an intense multi-level experience which evokes great emotional, psychological and/or spiritual trauma’ … and ‘makes it clear that Eve was motivated by a complex set of inner drives, anchored not only in her physical but also in her intellectual and spiritual nature.’ … She further suggests that because of this intense multi-level experience, Eve is caused to step back, reevaluate, reassess, and ponder the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”[3]

Those who attend the temple experience this view of Eve. We are blessed to know that she was a woman of great courage and spiritual insight which allowed her to make the choice she had to make.

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[1] Moses 4:6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.

[2] D&C 29:39 And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet—

[3] Beverly Campbell, Mother Eve Mentor ForToday’s Woman: A Heritage of Honor, April 2, 1993, 11th annual conference of Collegium Aesculapium in Salt Lake City, Utah 

The Ultimate Irony

Listening to the podcast for class this week, there was a quote from Elder Bednar 's talk Things as They Really Are, which  was very thought provoking:

“One of the ultimate ironies of eternity is that the adversary, who is miserable precisely because he has no physical body, invites and entices us to share in his misery through the improper use of our bodies.” [1]

I love this talk. While he was giving it, this statement was applied more to a person behaving as if in a disembodied state through the overuse of technology and being in the false world of virtual reality. It is amazing how it can be applied to so many different ways in which Satan tries to get us to misuse our bodies.

Because the family is so central to the Plan of Happiness, one of the ways he tries to get us to misuse our bodies is through sexual sin. I find it so interesting to think that, what is done for pleasure, can lead to such heartache outside the bonds of marriage. Sexually transmitted disease, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, single mothers raising children in poverty, and children raised without a father, just to name a few.

I asked my class members how can we as parents, in a world which views chastity and fidelity as a thing of the past, teach our children to want to live a higher standard.

The common responses were: 

• begin teaching children while they are young 
• be an example in the way we live our lives

I believe it is never too early to begin teaching our children correct principles, and that includes talking about sex and the sacredness of it and our bodies. 

I am also a fan of being an example through our actions. Kids have a highly fine-tuned BS detector. They will see right through any attempt to parent in the "do as I say, not as I do" method. 

Through it all, though, we have to remember that children have agency. Agency is all fine and good until you see your kids making stupid choices! We have to remember to love them as our Savior would and to not stop loving them because we don't like what they have chosen. 

The Atonement is real. Our Savior is keen to save us. He wants to save our children. 

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[1] Things as They Really Are , Elder David A. Bednar, CES Fireside for Young Adults, May 3, 2009, Brigham Young University-Idaho