what exactly did he say...

I've started back at the beginning. In the beginning. When God created the Heavens and the earth and everything He made, He said was good. And not because He had to, but because He chose to, He grabbed a handful of dust and breathed life into it. It became a man, made in His his own image. And reading over these familiar words that I've probably read a few hundred times, I noticed it.

"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. But the Lord God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.." (Genesis 2:15-17)

Then....

"The Lord God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam." (Genesis 2:21-22)

Now...

"The serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?" 

"Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it... or even touch it... or we will die." (Genesis 3:1-3)

Adam knew. He had firsthand knowledge straight from the source himself, God. God named it, and God called it was it was. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And who knows how often Adam passed by that very tree. Who knows if he was tempted to take of its fruit. According to Genesis 2, he was busy naming all of the animals, so he probably didn't have time to get into trouble. Oh, the temptation of idle time, am I right? But finally Eve stepped onto the scene, and the next thing we know is that she's conversing with the serpent, moments away from biting into that forbidden fruit and bringing forth the knowledge of evil. No longer would she just know good. She'd know full well what evil was, and had she known then what she knew now, I bet she'd turn and run the question was even asked.

But what did Eve know, exactly? Because God didn't wait until they were both present to give instructions about the tree. He told Adam, whom I supposed passed it on to Eve. And according to Eve, she knew she wasn't supposed to eat from, or even touch, the tree at the center of the garden. Did she knows its name and just have a momentary lapse or memory? Was she giving its position just in case the serpent didn't know what the tree was called? Had Adam given her an extra command to not even touch the tree in an attempt to keep her far, far away? Was he hoping that by using extremes, he could keep them on the right track? Or did Adam just decide to paraphrase what God told him, as best as he could remember, and assume that Eve really understood what was being commanded of them?

God's Word gives life. It brings light to our path. Clarity to our confusion. Healing to our pain. Direction when we are lost. And salvation for our sin. But what if we aren't careful to convey the Word of God in the exact manner that it has been entrusted to us? If we paraphrase it, add to it, or take away from it, then what? What if we just share pieces, or make up what we think sounds right, or give generalities assuming that it's probably somewhere in the Bible? What if we just tell people what they want to hear, what's easy to say, or what falls in line with popular opinion? What if we are the one who leaves the gaps, who creates the questions, who causes the confusion, and who leads others towards a path of destruction?

God, hide your word in our hearts, not only that we may not sin against you, but so that we might be so bold as to share those exact words with a world that finds it easy to sin against you. That we might help direct them to the path that leads to you. To abundance, to freedom, to life. To truth.  

"See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it." - Deuteronomy 12:32