“NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT!”

 Genesis 2:15-17                               (ESV)

“15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

17 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."”

Genesis 3:1-4                                  (ESV)

“1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made. He said to the woman, "Did GOD actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

3 but GOD said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 But the serpent said to the woman, "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE.”

“The enemy” is the GREAT DECEIVER!  But we can be guilty of not being familiar enough with TRUTH to prevent the deception from affecting our lives!  What did GOD say in Genesis 2:17 to Adam?  “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”.  GOD then gave Adam a woman and Adam named Eve, who Adam should have relayed exactly what GOD had said!  In Genesis 3:3-4 the woman said that GOD spoke “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE.”

It is plain to recognize the difference in the punishment for disobedience to GODS instructions.  GOD said “YOU SHALL SURELY DIE”!  The serpent responds “YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE”!  Obviously “the enemy” of TRUTH was speaking half-truths, which equates to LIES, something that JESUS reminds us about in John 8:44!   

The real TRUTH about what GOD SAID was “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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."  The woman reported that HE said “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, “NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT”, lest you die.'" GOD never said NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT”, so why did Eve misquote THE CREATOR?  Genesis 2:16 says “And the LORD GOD “commanded the man”, saying”!  The woman wasn’t there, so she had to rely on what she was told through her husband.  Her husband evidently did a poor job of implanting TRUTH in her, for she was so unfamiliar with the TRUTH that she got it wrong in speaking to “the enemy”, who capitalized on the “error”!  

We have THE WORD in numerous translations and languages, but are we familiar enough with it to identify “error” when it is colored with just a little truth?  Genesis 3:1 says “Now the serpent was MORE CRAFTY than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made.”  The serpent is STILL trying to DECEIVE, it is in his own character (John 8:44)!  We are COMMANDED to be familiar enough with THE WORD that we will identify “error” when “the enemy” attempts to DECEIVE us.  “NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT” sounds like a good strategy, but knowing the TRUTH would have been the wisest option for mankind!  

Psalms 119:11 “I have stored up YOUR WORD in my heart, that I MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST YOU”.