Addition & Subtraction
Posted: April 2, 2008 11:50 pmFiled under: Kevin, Uncategorized
While reading this morning, it occurred to me to, once again, read Genesis chapter three.
I rather enjoy the New King James version, because, in my opinion, it eliminates the archaic elements of communication, while keeping and and conveying the romantic sense.
Chapter three is the account of the temptation, wherein the serpent speaks, and the “fall” occurs.
Several thoughts occurred to me.
First, it is recorded that the serpent said, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Then, Eve replies saying, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but 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.’”
Looking back in chapter two, it is recorded that God said to Adam (before God made Eve), “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.”
So, we can see several things here.
First, it is not recorded that God told Eve not to eat of the tree, nor is it recorded that she received any instruction from God (or Adam, though presumably she did - from whom, it’s not recorded) regarding the tree.
Eve only indicates that, “God has said.” How she came by the instruction she told the serpent is a matter of conjecture. It could be the case that Adam told her. If it is so - that Adam told Eve what God said - it appears that Adam either a) got it wrong, or b) embellished and added to what God said to him. God only told Adam that, “you shall not eat.” It’s not recorded that God said anything about touching the tree or its fruit.
How else could it be accounted for what Eve is recorded to have said?
Given the case in b), that Adam embellished upon God’s instruction to him, it would be the first recorded incident of such. That is, of embellishment upon a set of instructions.
We humans are wont to do such. That’s why, when, for example, one goes to a grocery or convenience store that sells alcohol-containing beverage and sees a sign to the effect that “we card anyone appearing under age 30.”
The law states that 21 years is the legal age to purchase and consume beverage alcohol. Such is a clear case of embellishment. We embellish because we think that by doing so, we are making ‘doubly certain’ or reinforcing that the rule is enforced. Embellishment has no other purpose, save to add what we think we can add. Any addition we make does not make the rule, regulation or instruction any more effective.
In other words, our embellishments do not empower, are ineffective, and useless at best.
We can also see that our embellishments do not empower, because it is recorded that “the woman… took of its fruit and ate.”
How was it that Adam came to embellish? Why or what made him think (then act) that by adding something to God’s original instruction he could make it better?
Was Adam imperfect in his conveyance of God’s original instruction? Something happened somewhere, and it happened BEFORE “she took of its fruit and ate.”
It clearly wasn’t perfect.
Lesson the first, don’t embellish.
