Genesis 2:15-17 English Standard Version

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[a] of it you shall surely die.”

And then God created a woman for Adam.

Genesis 3:1-3 English Standard Version

The Fall

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

Note closely that Eve does not name the tree that is forbidden, only its location.

Reading all of the scriptures from Genesis 2:15 to 3:3 we will find no further conversations about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We are left without any scriptural support in how Eve became aware of the instructions concerning the tree or which tree.

If God spoke to Eve and repeated HIs instructions given to Adam, then it falls on Eve’s memory as to what God said. Then her memory failed her. Since we have no idea of the time expanse between the instruction and the serpent’s appearance,we do not know how long Eve was asked to hold her memory intact.

If the instructions not to eat was passed down to Eve from Adam because he took responsibility to believe that God’s instruction was good for both Adam and Eve, then did Adam repeat the terms correctly or alter them in any way. Where did Eve get the notion of not to touch the tree?

We also have the issue of God telling Adam and the possibility it was never meant for Eve.

Without scripture to clarify the transfer of understanding we are left with some unknowns.

Someone’s understanding was not remembered in the spirit in which it was given and there was no warning concerning the lies of the serpent. Nothing can be discovered by reading His Word.

Is memory failure an inherited trait of humanity?