Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Genesis 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'
I was thinking about the Garden of Eden story this morning. Adam is the one who heard the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil directly from God. At that time Eve didn't yet exist. Satan decided to pick on Eve and I think at least one reason is that she hadn't gotten the command about the tree directly from God. She got it secondhand from Adam. In fact, something got added in the translation because in the original command nothing was said about being punished for "touching" the fruit. When our relationship with God is "second hand" and we 'hear about God' instead of 'hear from God', two things happen: we are more vulnerable to temptation because God just isn't as real to us and, secondly, we're likely to hear a garbled message because it has passed through others to us. It is critical for us, each, to know and interact with God directly!
blessings,
Rob Smith
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