Who told Eve she could not “touch” it?

There is much smoke over this subject. Can we see our way through? I say smoke, not fog, because it has become a battleground, and the church stands in opposition to the world on this subject, but many churches have raised a white flag and become a shadow of the world.

The more the church compromises with the world, the more she becomes irrelevant to the masses. What is the church if she does not stand in stark contrast to the ways of the world?

What does it matter who told Eve she could not even touch the tree? Maybe she just added that part herself? Hhmmm. I am amazed how much this question actually matters. I am amazed how deep this question goes and how our church leaders have been silent on it. They are supposed to be the Bible College educated ones. Who are we sitting in the pews? And yet God comes to me with this?

Okay, lets look at the written information and evidence we actually have. Point One: Genesis 2:7> God makes “man” in his image. Eve is not created yet. For some reason, even though God knows all things, he takes the long route on creating Eve. Even though he knows there is no other companion for Adam till he makes Eve, he makes a big journey out of getting to that place.

Two: Genesis 2:15> God takes “the man”, places him in the garden and charges him to dress and keep it. Eve is still not in existence yet when God does all this with “the man”. So Adam has been made the keeper of the garden before Eve ever comes along. Man has a relationship with God before woman ever joins the party.

Three: Genesis 2:20-25> God creates woman from “out of man”, and she is called “woman” because she was taken “out of man”. God created the woman “for Adam”, and it is obvious Adam “lights up” when he sees her, after his lonely days of no companion other than God and animals. And he says, Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. It is obvious Adam is stricken, and immediately loves the woman. In other words, Adam says God did a good job!

Now as to our question. Who told Eve not to touch the fruit of the tree? God didn’t say it couldn’t be touched. We have a “future prevue” of God speaking to Adam and Eve in chapter one, in the 6th day, but even in that, the instructions concerning the tree is oddly missing! My original logic said the odds greatly favor Adam telling her, after all, he has just come through a season of loneliness. (Evidently, all in that 6th day.) Now the woman comes along and he is immediately smitten! Would he be so careless as to take a chance on losing her now? When God has pointed out only one danger in the garden, and put Adam in charge, would he be so irresponsible to not immediately say, “Now that I have found you, I do not want to lose you. This is what you must know. God has said that we must not eat of that tree. Do not even touch it! Or you will surely die. Understand?” Just like a man, always worried about the woman. (LOL)

So I believe we can eliminate God telling her, because he has put Adam in charge now, it is not listed in what he told “them” together, and this is a good test if Adam is being responsible or not. I think Adam is so thrilled about the woman that he did not fail to make her aware of the danger, and possibly even went overboard in his admonition. But there may be one more possibility. (Assuming Eve did not add it herself. Genesis 3:3 records her saying that God had said this. But we know God did not say you could not touch it, so Adam probably told her this is what God said, or he simply added that one part.)

But one other possibility still stands. Someone I respect in his ability to think outside the box has suggested maybe Satan said it to her. In other words, by adding something God has not said, then if he could get her to touch it and nothing happens, then she will go on to eat. Hhmmm.

Okay, I see the possibility, but the fact that Eve herself said “God has said”, and the unlikelihood of Adam taking a chance on losing this incredible person who has entered his life, I think the odds still far out weigh that Adam added it. “AND”, when we view the curse that lands on woman, to obey her husband, and we view the Bible in its entirety, we see their is complete harmony in the scriptures as to why the Word constantly teaches man as the head over the woman. This view brings complete harmony to the whole Bible. But why is this so important? Especially today, when we seem to have outgrown the need of such archaic scriptures. Or have we?

You see, if Adam was the one who instructed her, we can draw a few very interesting conclusions. One: Eve “directly” disobeyed Adam, and dishonored Adam more than God. Adam was created first. He was directly breathed into by God, created in God’s image, and directly responsible to God. Eve was created for Adam. First Corinthians 11:7 tells us man is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. God created woman to complete man, and as such, man can be greatly influenced by the woman, by EVE.

Eve disobeyed and dishonored Adam. When the curses were handed out, the New Living Translation shines an interesting light on it. Genesis 3:16> “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” It is very plain that some women have a control issue, but God is not afraid of that battle.

So New Testament scripture in our covenant with Christ plainly states that Christ is the head over man, and man is the head over woman. But here is the part that has recently come to so concern me. God giving Adam charge over the garden is a picture of another future event. That event being when God has given “man” charge of running his church under Christ. If “man” is head over woman, then God is going to hold “man” responsible. He did not call Eve out of the bushes that day, he called Adam! The one he put in charge. Eve is to be his helper, helpmate, completer.

So…the new question becomes…how well has “man” done in running God’s church, compared to Adam in the garden, concerning EVE? Wow. You see, it also seems apparent that Adam had come to love Eve more than God. (Who is our first love?) Scripture says Eve was deceived by the serpent, but Adam…in full knowledge…made a conscious decision…to follow Eve in disobedience…rather than walk with God. He chose Eve’s will over God’s!

Today we see the church afraid to take a stand on this issue. Eve is busting out on her march towards manhood status. This is Satan’s most important chessboard piece. Not only disrupt the chain of command, pervert the image of God, but also confuse the genders as to who they even are! Gross darkness!

One more conclusion would seem to be Adam went overboard in his rules about the tree. This is the other side of the coin. I’m in a lot of prayer right now concerning the proper balance. But there are things written in God’s word that the church seems to be saying no longer applies. The women in those days were ignorant, they had to be kept under control, we are told. But I do not see the evidence that they were “that ignorant” in the New Testament. I see it had to do with a chain of command, proper authority, proper humility, the will of God, and something that goes all the way back to the original sin with Adam and Eve! How have we so casually dismissed these scriptures? I think we’ve been sold more lies than I even knew. I questioned myself a lot when I left the last church and began a new seeking after God. But now I’m seeing even more darkness than I saw before.

Even in all this, we are commanded not to forsake coming together as a church. So what kind of church should we be looking for? One that makes us feel good? One that has great music and is almost like a theater performance? Or one that is very concerned about what “God has actually said”?