Who Was the Other Who in the Garden?

God didn't mess around when he warned Adam that if he ate from the Tree of Good and Evil (caps?), "...you shall surely die."  This raises the question of what Eve and Adam were thinking when they ate the fruit.  I can only come up with three possibilities:

1. They were stupid--not able to process the consequences of their actions
2. They didn't know what death was
3. They didn't take God at his Word

If we were in that situation it would seem prudent to avoid the proscribed tree.  When the recent creator and master of the universe sees fit to emphasize the penalty as "surely die" who would want to test that boundary?  At least one could make it interesting by eating of the Tree of Life first. 

If Adam and Eve weren't intellectually capable of understanding the warning, either due to general cognitive limitations or not have a clue as to what "death" meant we have an ethical quandary--how can you punish beings with death when they don't understand the consequences?  Perhaps God let them off lightly because of that--but that hardly seems like the actions of a omniscient God.  Why bother with the tough talk?  Unless you want them to discount your words... 

The third choice, unbelief, is interesting.  There was a third party, the serpent,suggesting just that--that God was lying or at best dissembling (Oh, I meant spiritual death).   The serpent wasn't spouting untruths, everything he said came about.  Crafty devil--telling the truth... 

God on the other hand didn't follow through on his death sentence, feigned ignorance about where Eve and Adam were hiding in the garden, and asked who had told them they were naked.  Even though it seems like He was in a position to know.  Had he lost count at two, or did he consider the serpent a "who"?  

God, nonplussed that the ankle biters had knowledge of good and evil like he did barricaded the Tree of Life, preventing them from adding immortality to their list of Godly attributes. 

This disturbing contrast between God and the serpent  leaves us in a quandary.  Who are the good guys here?  The serpent speaks truth, promotes wisdom, and guides the woman towards insight.  God on the other hand seems to be showing some darkness.

In order to understand this story do we sacrifice God's honesty, omniscience, and ultimate good will towards the beings he created in His image? 

The stakes are high.  This story, this Fall, is used to justify the inherent depravity of man.  Is this the story of how we became separated from God?  Or more likely was the original story was the emergence of ethics and meaning from the animal innocence we once had.   More controversial--perhaps God was teaching the pair to not trustf those in authority.