… And so Chapter 3… Jumps back to “After THE CREATION”… (Eve is married to Adam)... And they’re Enjoying the Garden… And Walking with God...
… Enter in ???… The Temptation and THE FALL OF MAN…
1 Now the serpent was more cunning (Crafty, Sly, Decieving) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”...
“Are you sure you heard God right ???”... "What Did God Say?"...
… The fall of mankind ???... BEGAN WITH A QUESTION…
… Get us to doubt… To question… What God said… (Create momentum for temptation)...
… Even Christians entertain DOUBTS about chapters 1 and 2... You need to understand what God Said, it is life...
2 And the woman said to the serpent, (Always dangerous to start the dialogue with temptation)...
“We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”(It seems that Eve added an extra rule)…
...Rules are… A Sure sign of weakness toward a temptation…
… (Adam had probably added it in to clarify it with Eve)... “Eve, just don’t even touch it”...
… Adding to the WORD ???... Often leads to forgetting the point… (After she touched it… SHE STILL COULD’VE NOT ATE IT… But it creates momentum and a sense of having failed already… WHICH ONLY SPEEDS THINGS UP)…
...(We can not “GET” God’s spiritual laws actually IN THE HEART… (Not helping someone or healing on the Sabaath because of a dumb rule... etc.)...
Listen... “God desires mercy and compassion more than sacrifice and dumb rules.... Do good!!!” (Matthew 9 ??? and in Hosea)... Rules often squashed compassion in Jesus day and still today...