I am greatly disturbed when I hear evangelicals make the assumption that Chavvah (Eve) added to the word of God when she spoke the following words underlined below;
Genesis 3:3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’”
“She added to the commandment of God” says the well meaning evangelical. “No where do we read that the Lord told her.” This is a double edged sword in my opinion. Because I am not in a sarcastic mood I will just say “no where does God say he did not tell her either.” The absence of a dialog does not give us a right to assume. What we want to look at are the circumstances from the Scriptures as a whole. Did she lie? Was she a false prophetess?
How many have fallen into this terrible trap because they were told it by another? The question is; did she “add” to the word of God? And to make matters worse, did she willfully misrepresent the Lord by stating “Elohiym said; “nor touch it?”
This type of argument has no proof or justification. It is an argument from silence for either position, but I want to show why I believe my position is not silent based upon several factors. Eve says many things that she was not initially privy too since she had not yet been created.
Question, is it common practice for genuine believers (note I said genuine and not the TV, radio frauds) to go around saying God said this or God said that when God did not? If Eve did say “God said” and she lied, did she misrepresent the Lord? Did she just use the Lord’s name in vain? If this was the case then I believe the Lord would not remain silent when he pronounced sentence upon Eve. What does the Lord say to Eve?
Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you.”
I see no hint of a rebuke for misrepresentation even though it is common for God to rebuke false prophets throughout the Scriptures. If Eve said God said, and God did not say, then Eve was a false prophetess. In other words, within the above discipline given to Eve by the Lord I am quite sure he would have told Eve that you did not represent me accurately to my adversary. After all, for one example, did the Lord have a problem rebuking Job’s friends for misrepresentation?
Do you read of a rebuke from the Lord when judgment is pronounced? What about Adam? He was standing there right? Did Adam say “nice going Eve, way to touch up on your communication skills by adding to the word of the Lord.” It is true that a woman has a gift of sprucing things up, but Godly women hold their tongue when it comes to “the Lord said.” Can I get an “amen” somebody!
Let’s go back to the original commandment given to Adam. We read from Genesis 2 where Adam was told by the Lord;
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
I recently did a Bible study and when this issue was brought up I was challenged by another that Eve “added” to the commandment of God. Sadly, this position is promoted within the Arminian camp, but I have ran across several reformed people who also hold to the teaching that Eve added to the word of God
First, let me get something off my chest that is relevant with all of the Scriptures. Question; how long did Adam live? Answer? Nine hundred thirty years old. How many pages of historical narrative do you find in your Scriptures? I find about five chapters. Is it possible that other instructions were given to both Adam and Eve during their lifetimes or do we take the deist position and say God wound Adam and Eve’s timer and left them to be on their own?
Let me go one step further and ask the question, was Adam told by God (while in face to face dialog) where the tree was located? I have searched and searched and find no specifics of the Lord giving a geographical location of where the tree was located to Adam. Therefore, how is it possible then that Eve knew? Did she also lie when she said the tree was located in the midst of the garden? Did she add that little trinket in there too while in dialog with the serpent? Or, did she cheat and read the narrative of Moses before he finished it?
What on earth is Moshe (that’s me) trying to say? Let me try to be clearer in my thoughts. In the Genesis narrative Moses tells us where the tree was located, but when God speaks to Adam, where does the Lord mention the location of the tree? First I will post the narrative of Moses and I will then post the command to Adam. I apologize for being redundant, but that’s how I am. Moses says;
Genesis 2:8-9 ADONAI, God, planted a garden toward the east, in ‘Eden, and there he put the person whom he had formed. Out of the ground ADONAI, God, caused to grow every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord says to Adam;
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Question, how did Adam know the location of the tree? Is it possible other conversations took place between the Lord and Adam that we are not told?
I want to also mention I love reading the Targums. They are not God breathed; however, one can learn interesting tid-bits through Aramaic paraphrases. Listen to the specifics regarding the location of the tree from the PJE;
Genesis 2:9 And the Lord God made to grow from the ground every tree that was desirable to behold and good to eat, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, whose height was a journey of five hundred years, and the tree of whose fruit they who ate would distinguish between good and evil.
I cannot interpret “a journey of five hundred years,” but whatever it meant, it was interpreted as quite the walk and Adam and Eve needed boots that were made for walking!
Returning to my arguments, the point is, was Eve wrong about the location of the tree? No she was not! But, she had not yet been created and yet she later knew the tree was in the midst right? Is it safe to say the the Lord commanded the man prior to the surgery? No Eve around, just Adam!
Again, after the surgery, is it possible that Adam sat down with Eve over a nice vegetarian Persian dinner with some hamus and explained many, many things taught to him from the Lord? Of course! Is it possible the Lord explained to Adam the dangers of entertaining a touch of a fruit God commanded not to eat? Don’t we, on a human level, also command and teach our own children the same things?
Now Joseph, you are commanded not to eat from any of the prescription bottles in your Papa’s cabinet. On the day you eat of them you will die. In fact, don’t even touch the bottles or you’re looking at a whoopin? Do we do that? Why do we assume that the Lord would not take great care in explaining the dangers of why Adam and Eve must not eat of the tree? Is the Lord not a God of compassion or do we think he was trying out a secret experiment?
Let me mention Cain and Abel. Has anyone read where they were given details concerning offerings? How did they know?
Genesis 4:3-4 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering
Were they making things up as they went along? Were they subscribers to the heretical “natural theology” movement and after pondering the rocks and trees, they came to the conclusion that it was right to to bring to God an offering? And, since they were “Pentecostal natural theologians” one heard the Holy Spirit tell one to bring the fruit of the ground and the other brought the firstborn of the sheep. Why don’t people make the same argument with kain (cain) and hehbel (abel) that they make with Havah (eve)? Did they add to God’s instruction when we do not read of specific instructions to them?
Are all details given when dialog was between the Lord and his disciples? Have you read something from an apostle that you did not read from your red letter edition? Hmmmmmmm?
Maybe I missed it, but can someone show me in the Scriptures where the Law was ordained through angels?
Galatians 3:19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made
Is it possible that we were not given this information, but Paul was? Do we assume Paul, like Eve, made these things up? There are numerous examples of men speaking of things not made public to the readers
When we look at the last verse in the gospel of John we are told;
John 21:24-25 This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his witness is true. But there are also many other things Yeshua did; and if they were all to be recorded, I don’t think the whole world could contain the books that would have to be written!
This is no different than what John or any of the Apostles had done in their writings. The writer of Genesis simply brings out those details which at the time are significant for his purpose and enough was provided to give us the gist of the issue.
Many want to argue that Eve misrepresented the Lord by saying “neither shall you touch it.” Many would say that what she said was not accurate. How can one argue either way when one was not there?
I want to bring many points out for your consideration and the first is probably the most important. Can a perfect and mature being lie? In other words, before Adam and Eve died were they sinners? Is lying a sin? Of course it is. So, if we are to assume Eve added to the word of God she had the ability to lie as a perfect person created in the image of man who was created in the image of God?
Matthew Poole said;
Or the touch might be simply forbidden, or she might reasonably understand it to be forbidden in and by the prohibition of eating, because it was an occasion of sin, and therefore to be avoided. For it is not probable that the woman, being not yet corrupted, should knowingly add to God’s word, or maliciously insinuate the harshness of the precept.
I am not prepared to speculate whether or not Adam and Eve sinned prior to the fall. I am prepared to defend their honor. John Gill makes a great point that we must take into consideration. Did Eve sin prior to the fall? If so, then she “must have sinned very heinously before she eat of the fruit.”
John Gill says of this passage;
Here the woman is charged by some both with adding to, and taking from the law of God; and if so, must have sinned very heinously before she eat of the fruit; but neither of them are sufficiently proved; not the former by her saying, “neither shall ye touch it”, which though not expressed in the prohibition, is implied, namely, such a touching the fruit as to pluck it off the tree, take it in the hand, and put it to the mouth, in order to eat it: nor the latter by these words, “lest ye die”, or “lest perhaps ye die”
What does the word touch mean in the Hebrew? Is it simply a tap or is it used to give us a picture of something more? Yes it is true the word can mean a touch a reach or an approach, but I believe Eve knew better than those of us who were not there.
One commentator, E.J. Young, says the word is pregnant. It is more than a simple touch or handling with the fingers. The word is naga (pronounced naw gah) and apparently suggests touching in the sense of consuming or making the fruit one’s own. Young goes on to say that the same word is used in Genesis 20:6 which reads;
God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in doing this, your heart has been innocent; and I too have kept you from sinning against me. This is why I didn’t let you (naga) touch her.
I agree with Young that this word touch is not merely physical contact with another person, but is better defined as taking another person sexually to be one’s own.
Young says “Eve had more in mind than the mere feeling of the fruit with the fingers. She was not referring to handling of the fruit as such, but in all Probability to that touching which would result in taking possession of the fruit and so consuming it.
If I may give another illustration as a comparison, if I were to tell a brother not to naga (touch) any unknown females in the congregation, it would be one context. But, if I were to tell a brother who is dating a particular female and has feelings for her, not to naga (touch) her that is a different bird as they say.
The first naga could be just annoying between two people. But the other naga between two people who are attracted to each other and know the fruit is forbidden before marriage (no pun intended) should not be left alone. I would say “do not touch her” in order to say that the touching could result in a sexual frustration at minimal and sin if the touching is for the purpose of consummation.
Did I lose anyone? Eve knew the naga of the tree would lead to more. That is not to say she made it up. Again, the Lord could have spoken to both Adam and/or Eve and given more specifics and who are we to make judgment that she added when there is no proof of her speaking in the name of the Lord falsely.
E.J. Young goes on to say “At the same time she does not employ two precise synonyms. Even though to touch the fruit means to handle it so that one does in fact devour it, the emphasis in the verb is upon the act of touching itself. Hence it would seem that Eve did truly understand God’s command, and in the use of this word may have given expression to the truth that the outward act of partaking of the fruit was really the result or manifestation of an inward desire. If one would touch the fruit, that touching would lead to eating. It would not even be a true touching unless it resulted in a devouring of the fruit. “
In closing, we must remember men, like myself, are prone to error. Before you jump to any conclusions about doctrine you had better have found an instruction, command or an example to make your case. If you were no there in the Garden then leave it alone unless you have proof. The Scriptures alone contain the word of God and I ask you to think or re-think your position about Eve. As I said, either she lied or she was told not to touch the tree. One or the other. She was very clear that it was elohim who told her not to touch the tree. Re-think your position about whether or not Eve, “PRE fall and subsequent death, could lie and therefore sin.
To the Lord alone be glory honor and praise.
Moshe