Genesis 3:3

I am currently reading a book about the Jewish background of Christianity called "In the Shadow of the Temple" by Oskar Skarsaune.  In a section on the thought behind the Pharisee movement, the author makes a point related to our discussion of the temptation of Eve.

The Pharisees were one of many groups in Israel that tried to exert power to establish their interpretation of Judaism.  One of their primary tenets was the importance of the purity regulations.  In the Old Testament the purity regulations applied mostly to those serving in the temple, such as priests and levites, and to those worshipping at the temple.  The Pharisees wanted to take these purity law and extend them throughout all of Israel and to ordinary Jews.  They advocated many positions that went beyond the material in the Old Testament and could not be justified by Biblical exegesis.  So the question is how did the Pharisees claim authority for their teaching?

If you will remember, the Serpent asks the woman if God actually said, "you shall not eat of any tree of the garden."  The woman's response is, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.'"  God had never said that they should not touch the fruit of the forbidden tree.  Either the woman added this command or Adam misinformed her.  Our view is that adding as well as subtracting from God's word is not a good thing.

Oskar Skarsaune cites a rabbinic text called the Mishnah Avot that takes the opposite view and may explain the justification for the thinking behind the Pharisees' extension of purity laws beyond the realm the Old Testament had established.  Some sort of authority figures called "the men of the Great Synagogue" said three things: be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the law. The relevant part for us is the phrase, "make a fence around the law."

The Mishnah Avot defines making a fence around the law as giving supplementary rulings that hinder a man or woman from breaking a scriptural command.  To support this principle, the Mishnah Avot cites Genesis 3:3.  However, under the interpretation of the Mishnah Avot the addition of the phrase "neither shall you touch it." is something positive designed to help Eve from falling into sin.  Therefore, the supplementary rulings of the Pharisees that have no direct Biblical grounding, are legitimate because they prevent someone from breaking a Biblical command.

 It is interesting to note that the Pharisees never considered that the addition of the phrase "neither shall you touch it" as method to prevent sin did not work.  The addition of the command did not make a fence around the law.  It is possible that the command hastened Eve's sin because in Genesis 3:6 the texts specifically states that she took of its fruit and ate.  Perhaps once the woman took the fruit and nothing bad happened she began to believe the serpent's word and then proceeded to eat.

A better lesson to draw from the passage is the addition of law did not prevent the woman from sinning and probably will not prevent us from sinning.  The only hope we have is in the promise God after the fall of the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent's head.  This is the point repeatedly made by Paul, that we should look not to an intensification of the law but instead cling to the promise.