Eve attempts to correct the misunderstanding, unfortunately she doesn’t stick to just what God had actually said. “. . .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.’” God did say not to eat it, but He never said anything about not touching it.
I need to give Eve a little credit here. The blame here might be Adam’s and not Eve’s. It could be that he misrepresented God’s commands when he passed them on to his wife. In either event someone added something to what God had said. It sounds like a harmless addition. After all, if eating the fruit will get us killed, wouldn’t it just be smart to avoid it all together. I have to agree with the concept; avoid temptation whenever possible. But deciding to do something that seems wise, because it seems wise, and calling that wise looking course of action a command from God are not the same thing. In this verse, Eve (perhaps unintentionally) misrepresented the commands of God. At a minimum this brings confusion. What happens when they have kids? If they passed on Eve’s version of the command and the kids somehow come into contact with this fruit (after all it is in the center of the garden), when they touch it and live they will be lead to believe that their parents (or God) are lying about something. Then they may decide to eat it. Trying to add to God’s commands (even for seemingly noble reasons), usually leads to disobedience. Jesus’ endless debates with the Pharisees mostly came about because centuries of Jewish leadership had resulted in there being more laws than ever. Some of those laws actually stood in the way of the expressed will of the God they claimed to serve.
Adding to what God has said and attributing it to Him is never a good idea.
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