In the Garden of Eden: Genesis ch. 3

Question

Dear Sirs!

Thank you a lot for helping and investing your time in providing answers. For my investigation I would be glad to obtain your answear to exact on following questions. If there are any conditions for receiving the answer, please give me a chance to meet those conditions before you decide not to respond. Do not ask me to turn to a local rabbi, because I and my community have no rabbi. Regardless, there is a near-zero chance that a rabbi in a small town will be able to provide the answer to questions like mine.

1) Who in the garden in Eden (גַּן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן) commanded/told to the woman (אִשָּׁ֔ה)
“You shall not eat of any tree of the garden.” (לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן) ?

2) Whose voice the serpent imitated while questioning the woman for the first time:
“Did Elohim (allmighty God) really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (אַ֚ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן). ?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Verse one reads: Now the serpent was cunning beyond any beast in the field that God had made. He said to the woman, “Did, perhaps, God say: ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
    As the verse states, it was the serpent that raised the idea that God had commanded Chava not to eat from any of the trees in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t true but the serpent was extremely wily and planted the idea in Chava’s head that it was inconceivable that God would have created trees that Adam and Chava could not enjoy.

    The Rabbis teach that the serpent was supposed to be the most elevated form of animal life that would serve as the “bridge” between animals and mankind. Therefore God created it with two characteristics that other animals did not have. It was created with the power of speech and it was able to walk upright.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team