Genesis 3:1 Kabbalah: Zohar & Sha'ar HaPesukim

In the same way the evil prompter is cunningly wicked, as we read: “And the serpent was more cunning, etc.” (Gen. 3, 1), and so he arrives first to take up his abode with man, and make his case plausible to him,. so that when his fellow, that is, the good prompter, arrives, he finds himself obnoxious to man, and is not able to raise his head, as though he were bowed down with a heavy burden, because of that cunningly wicked one who has got the start of him. Hence the words of Solomon: “the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard” (Eccl. 9, 16), because the other has anticipated him.

(From someone else:) Our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the land that it should bring out fruit trees that make fruit, such that its tree [wood] and its fruit be the same [edible], but the land transgressed His command, may He be blessed, and brought out trees that make fruit, so that its tree and its fruit were not the same. But behold, its thought about this was for the good of Adam the first man, so that he should not err later in understanding His command, may He be blessed, when He said to him, But from the Tree […] you shall not eat from it (Genesis 2:17). And behold, the tree and the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge were the same. So Adam could have erred and said, “I was commanded about the tree and not about its fruit, and I only ate from its fruit.” And that was exactly the deceit of the snake, when it stated, Now the serpent was more cunning, etc. and it said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1). Meaning from the tree was forbidden, but not from the fruit. But Eve answered him that also from the fruit was forbidden. And that is its saying, It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden (Genesis 3:3). But afterward, she went back and conceded to the words of the snake, [as demonstrated] by its saying, And the woman saw that the tree was good, etc. (Genesis 3:6). Meaning, if she had seen that the wood of the [Tree of] Knowledge was not good for food, but rather [only] its fruit, she would have said, “If so, when the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, His intention was not about the tree itself, since it is inedible. Indeed, the understanding of His words is that they not eat its actual fruit.” However, now that she saw that the tree itself was good for food, she then said, “If so, when God, may He be blessed, commanded us, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, it was about the tree itself that He commanded us, and not about the fruit.” Then, she took from its fruit and ate. For she thought they were not commanded about the fruit, but about the tree, since it was also edible, as its tree and its fruit were the same. And that is why it began [this verse] by saying, that the tree was good for eating, and it did not mention the fruit. But afterward, with the eating, the fruit is mentioned, not the tree. And that is why the land brought out a tree that makes fruit, and not a fruit tree, to indicate to Adam that the intention of His saying, But from the Tree of Knowledge, you shall not eat from it, was about the fruit. (To here is from someone else.)