Secondhand Knowledge

Gen 2:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desireable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

God told Adam about this tree that he "shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Eve knew they were not to eat of the tree, but did she have secondhand knowledge? Nowhere in the scriptures are we told God told Eve. We know that God spoke directly to Adam. We could surmise that it was Adam who told Eve. There is no record given that Eve ever spoke to God about His command even after Adam told her. Perhaps Adam told her and that was the end of the subject.

What a priviledge to have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to teach us. We do not have to rely on secondhand knowledge. We can open the Bible and read for ourselves. We have the Holy Spirit to teach us and reveal to us exactly what it is God wants us to know from His Word.
God provides teachers in His Body to help build up the body, however we can talk to God directly about anything shown to us in scriptures. We have direct access to the Father. His Word becomes food to us that gives us life. His Word is given to us as a sword that we can use in battle against that snake!

Eve did not use God's Word. Instead she looked at the tree. She considered the words of that snake. As she gazed at the tree, she decided that it was "good for food." She had to look long enough to decide that it was "pleasant" to look at. Did she reason that something that looks so good must be desireable. She must have considered the word of the snake to decide that not only was it desireable, but it was "desireable to make one wise." In all this looking and considering, did she forget what God had said about the tree? Were her feelings that came from her thoughts of being wise overwhelming her? As she ruminated on what had become options to her, had she forgotten the truth that God spoke that the tree would bring death? Was she trusting God, believing Him, or had she forgotten His Words altogether? Did her relationship with God enter her mind (was there room with all that other thinking going on)? Did she stop to think that God Who created the entire universe, had also created her? That He had "fashioned" her from the rib of Adam and knew her and therefore her needs intimately. In all her considering, did she consider how special she must be to the One Who created her? Would He withold any good thing from her?

No, she looked and looked at that tree. She listened to a snake. She made a decision based on feelings and lies. And she also "gave to her husband with her and he ate."

I John 2:16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

James 1:14,15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.