Midrash sobre Génesis 3:3

Another interpretation (of Gen. 12:1): GO. This text is related (to Ps. 45:11 [10]): HEAR, O DAUGHTER, TAKE NOTE, AND INCLINE YOUR EAR: FORGET YOUR PEOPLE AND YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE.⁸Tanh., Gen. 3:3; cf. Gen. R. 39:1. HEAR, O DAUGHTER, TAKE NOTE: This refers to Abraham. AND FORGET YOUR PEOPLE AND YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE: This refers to the idolaters, as stated (in Jer. 2:27): THEY SAY TO A TREE: YOU ARE MY FATHER. (Ps. 45:12 [11]) AND THE KING WILL DESIRE YOUR BEAUTY. This refers to the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, < who takes pleasure in > ⁹The reading follows the traditional Tanhuma. adorning you in the world. R. Abbin said: {(ibid.): BECAUSE HE IS YOUR LORD, BOW DOWN TO HIM.} Now what did Abraham resemble?¹⁰Cf. Gen. R. 39:2. A vial of persimmon¹¹Gk.: balsamon. when it has been set in a graveyard. Then no one would know what its aroma was. What did a certain one do? He took it and moved it from place to place, < so that > its aroma began to disperse abroad. Similarly Abraham was dwelling among those who served idols. The Holy One said to him: Why are you residing among the wicked? Go out from among them, and make your good works known abroad. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 12:1): GO.

The serpent argued with itself, saying: If I go and speak to Adam, I know that he will not listen to me, for a man is always hard (to be persuaded), as it is said, "For a man is churlish and evil in his doings" (1 Sam. 25:3); but behold I will speak to Eve, for I know that she will listen to me; for women listen to all creatures, as it is said, "She is simple and knoweth nothing" (Prov. 9:18). The serpent went and spake to the woman: || Is it (true that) you also have been commanded concerning the fruit of the tree? She said (to him): Yes, as it is said, "Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden" (Gen. 3:8). And when the serpent heard the words of Eve, he found a way through which he could enter (to approach her), so he said to her: This precept is nought else except the evil eye, for in the hour when ye eat thereof, ye will be like Him, a God. Just as He creates worlds and destroys worlds, so will ye be able to create worlds and to destroy worlds. Just as He slays and brings to life, so also will ye be able to kill and to bring to life, as it is said, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened" (Gen. 3:5).

R. Abba the son of Kahana maintained: The Holy One, blessed be He, bound them before the Israelites, and they attacked and killed them, as it is said: So the Lord our God delivered into our hand Og (Deut. 3:3). He delivered them into their hands just as a man binds his son’s enemy and places him before his son. You should not maintain that the Amorites were small of stature. Observe what is written about them: Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath (Amos 2:9). I destroyed his fruits from above refers to their guardian angel, and his roots from beneath alludes to the Amorites.

But the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, "You shall neither eat of it nor touch it, or you will die!" (Genesis 3:3). Thus it is written, "Do not add onto God's words, or God will punish you, as you will be a liar" (Proverbs 30:6). Rabbi Chiyya taught: That means that you must not make the fence more than the principal thing, lest it fall and destroy the plants. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be, has said, "But of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you must not eat, for on the day you partake of it, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Eve did not say this, but rather, "You shall neither eat of it nor touch it" (Genesis 3:3). When the serpent saw her exaggerating in this manner, he grabbed her and pushed her against the tree. "So, have you died?" he asked her. "Just as you were not stricken when you touched it, so will you not die when you eat from it."

CAIN AND ABEL
"BUT of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden" (Gen. 3:3). It was taught in a Baraitha, Rabbi Ẓe'era said: "Of the fruit of the tree"—here "tree" only means man, who is compared to the tree, as it is said, "For man is the tree of the field" (Deut. 20:19). "Which is in the midst of the garden"—"in the midst of the garden" is here merely an euphemism. "Which is in the midst of the garden"—for "garden" means here merely woman, who is compared to a garden, as it is said, "A garden shut up is my sister, a bride" (Cant. 4:12). Just as with this garden whatever is sown therein, it produces and brings forth, so (with) this woman, what seed she receives, she conceives and bears through sexual intercourse.