Anybody's guess. What did the original writer of that passage mean? We would need to know what were the persons beliefs about the main character Deity that passes judgement. To conclude that this is an actual true story would make ones guess way off the mark. It's a told story put down in writing of the times and not an eye witness account.
If we view as mythology we can make a better guess. If we view it from a psychological way and see mythology as bubbling up from the unconscious and full of psychological projections then I think we are closer still to perhaps making a very good guess.
I can make several different guess depending on how I approach it. I see it as psychological projections in myth form that man's knowledge of good and bad makes death come into existence because as one kind of knowledge leads knowledge of the later. But I'm sure other can go even deeper on the subject.
As for the Devil being behind a talking snake leading man into sin and death, I see it as a Christian fairy tale that came many centuries after original writing and totally absent from original writers view point.
Remember this was written thousands of years ago and their was no science their understanding of the world was much more different then us modern humans. Gods were everywhere those days they explained the mysteries in human understanding they were imaginary and they were every where.