Mark

According to Gen 2 only Adam was instructed about the tree. IN gen 3 we know that Eve knew the command so we either must think Adam told her, or God told her. According to Cheryl’s video she believes God told her. Perhaps this could be true but is this not also an argument from silence, as the bible NEVER tells us that God spoke directly to Eve about the command. No where does Gen tell us that God commanded Eve…. about not eating the fruit. The natural flow of the passage is to assume it was Adam who instructed her. Does this then make Eve’s statement void? Not at all. Adam simply told Eve what God had told him. So i agree with the JW’s that is was more probable that Adam was the one who told Eve, but again i wouldn’t push the significance of this too far as the JW’s seem to have done. I wouldn’t say that God only communicated with the man.

It is interesting that Eve introduces in 3:3 but “God did say”… even after telling the serpent in verse 2 something that God also told her- the account of Gen 1:29. Perhaps this is deliberately done by the author to emphasise a point. I noticed you didn’t discuss this in the video Cheryl. Should we assume in your view Cheryl that God didn’t say what Eve quotes in verse 2? It is also interesting that Eve follows the serpents lead by referring to Yahweh as ‘God’, not ‘Lord God’. Is this perhaps another subtle insight by the writer? Maybe it is discussed in later videos and i’m getting ahead of myself.