Eve Re-Words God's Commands

In the book of Genesis, when the serpent tempts the woman to eat of the tree, she tells the serpent, "...“We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

When we look at the words of the woman, what we clear should see is that she has embellished the command of God found in Genesis 2:15-17. Why? Why would she not stick with the command that God had given them?

Some scholars have suggested that the woman embellished the wording in order to emphasize to the serpent the seriousness of partaking of the tree. However, if that was the case, then shouldn't that really stop her from partaking? Maybe. But perhaps that would drive her to want it even more.

Others have suggested even before the Fall that the woman lied. This worldview comes from a tendency to read the story in a legalistic way and to suggest that any deviation from the exact wording of God is a lie. These legalistic folks will even use verse like Deut 4:2 as proof text to suggest that the woman sinned even before she sinned. This seems a bit strong for my taste. How many of us have re-told stories in the Bible and have not used the exact wording? Does that mean that we lied? I think not. 

When I read the story, I think the woman's addition is simply her understanding of what God had commanded. in other words, the woman is re-framing God's command in her own terms, without taking anything away from the meaning of what Yahweh spoke. Her addition is not some intentional effort to add to God's word, or to embellish God's word so that the command is stronger. In this conversation, the woman is simply relaying her understanding of what God said to the serpent.  Any effort to micro-focus on her words truly takes away from the meaning of the story.