Note: the following includes quotes from the Vilna Gaon
Hashem (God) said to the man : Eat from all of the trees, except for the one in the center of the Garden. The first of these phrases, usually seen as permission to eat from the other trees, is actually a command; and one which Adam and Chava (Eve) violated, since the forbidden fruit was the first thing that they ate. Had he obeyed and eaten from the permitted fruits, his appetite would have been slaked, making it less easy to be tempted.
Hashem sent them the unique being that we call "the snake." It appeared as a serpent but actually encased an angel, sent to test them.The snake spoke to Chava, since she heard about the forbidden status of the Central tree only from her husband, not from Hashem.
The snake said: Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees? This was misleading, and intended to suggest that obeying Hashem is impossibly hard.
In her answer, Chava made a number of errors. First, she shouldn't have answered at all. Second, she said that from the (majority of the) trees we eat (as something self-understood), instead of attributing that ability to what Hashem had said. Third, in speaking of the proscribed fruit, she said lest we die, implying that she was unsure of what would happen.
In its response, the reptilian being told a lie, claiming that they would gain God-like knowledge from the fruit, while all that they really got was the knowledge of what it feels like to desire to sin; to be swayed between good and evil.
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