It Was Just A Little Bite, Wasn't It?

Have you ever read the account of man's fall in the Garden of Eden and thought to yourself, "Man, that seems pretty harsh. One bite of the apple and they are stewed fruit!" It might seem pretty heavy, but judge Eve's actions by the 10 Commandments for a minute and you'll find that she actually broke 8 out of the 10 (maybe 9 if this took place on the Sabbath).

Eve broke the 9th (You shall not lie) when she embellished the truth and misrepresented God's command saying, "and you must not touch it, or you will die.'". According to the Genesis 2 account, God's recorded command was "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

The next commandment to fall was the first (You shall have no other gods before me). When Eve took counsel from the serpent over the counsel of God, she placed the serpent before Him. Is not a god something you look to, turn to or serve? By siding with the serpent, Eve in actual fact became an accuser of God - though not verbally, her unbelief (as demonstrated by her actions) accused God of being a liar or worse, a fool. He either lied to me about eating this fruit and I will not surely die, or he thinks that I will surely die but he really has no idea what he's talking about! Such blasphemous thoughts! (3rd commandment)

Rapidly preceding this was a toppling of the 10th (You shall not covet) for "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom" she decided in her heart - now is my chance to be like God. Is that not the very thing that caused the serpent to fall?

A split second later her hand reached out and "she took some and ate it". This was not her fruit to eat, so by stealing the fruit Eve broke the eighth (You shall not steal).

At the same time I would submit to you that Eve also broke the second commandment (You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them). When she looked, desired and took the fruit, she in effect made the fruit an idol. She looked to it for wisdom and to make her like God, and then she bowed down and worshiped it by eating!

Her very next action was a violation of the sixth commandment (You shall not murder), for when "She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" she murdered him (not to mention the entire human race that would come out of Adam's seed). The weapon? An apple! You may not agree with that, but by her very actions you can see that she has lost all love for Adam in giving him the apple. She didn't care if he lived or died apparently, and as is says in the scriptures "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer”

Finally, in all this she broke the fifth commandment (Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you). Her father God, who made her and breathed life into her, commanded her not to eat the fruit and she dishonoured Him by disobeying his commandments.

And I don't think it is by chance that the fifth commandment is also the first with a promise "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you". Didn't Eve's actions result in them being banished on from the garden and the sentence of death being placed upon their lives?

A little food for thought!