Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?¹

Gen. cap. 3. vers. 1. Cur praecepit vobis Deus ut non comederetis ex omni ligno Paradisi?

That phrase, 'That you should not eat of every tree,' can yield a twofold sense: either so that it means the same as 'From no tree,' and so it is generally expounded (for the demon designedly misreported God's precept, to draw the woman to answer him); or so that it means the same as 'Not from every tree,' and thus Tostatus and very many others take it. Rupert, weighing this question of the serpent: Because, he says, the devil is a most worthless tavern-keeper, he polluted his question with a lie, saying, 'Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?' For although what is put forward under a question is neither true nor false, yet here the serpent manifestly hissed a lie, feigning not to know the matter as it was, that little by little he might poison the wretched listener's soul with his gall. He did not say, 'Why has God commanded you not to eat of that one tree,' but 'of every tree of Paradise.' Why, then, did he speak thus, except that, creeping little by little, he might more and more inject into man the venom of the hatred with which he himself burned against the Creator, and, by exaggerating as if the precept were unworthy, establish indignation, and stir up the boldness of rebelling?³

Illud, Ut non comederetis ex omni ligno, duplicem sensum potest reddere: Vel ut idem significet, quod Ex nullo ligno, & sic fere exponitur: consulto enim daemon falso memoravit praeceptum Dei, ut mulierem ad sibi respondendum adduceret: Vel, ut idem significet quod, Ex non omni, & ita Tostatus, multique alii accipiunt. Rupertus expendens hanc serpentis interrogationem: Quia, inquit, diabolus caupo nequissimus est, suam interrogationem mendacio polluit, dicendo, Cur praecepit vobis Deus ne comederetis de omni ligno Paradisi? Quamvis enim, quod sub interrogatione profertur, nec verum nec falsum sit, mendacium tamen hic serpens manifeste sibilavit, rem sicut erat se nescire simulans, ut paulatim felle suo miseram audientis venenaret animam. Non dixit, Cur praecepit vobis Deus, ne de illo uno ligno comederetis: Sed de omni ligno Paradisi. Cur ergo sic locutus est, nisi ut paulatim serpendo venenum odii quo ardebat ipse contra Creatorem, magis ac magis iniiceret homini, & cum aggeratione quasi indigni praecepti constaret indignationem, excitaretque audaciam rebellandi?

And see how great was the subtlety of the deceiver's fraud. For God had said three things: 'Eat of every tree of Paradise'—this is one; the second, 'Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil do not eat'; the third, finally, 'On whatever day you eat of it, you shall die the death.' This last the devil, as if he did not know it, says, 'Why has God commanded you?' The two former he confounds and mixes together, and out of two true things he completes one false, saying, 'That you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?' Truly indeed did the Truth say, 'Because he was a murderer from the beginning, and in the truth he did not...'⁴

Et vide quanta fuerit fallacia deceptoris subtilitas. Tria nempe dixerat Deus, Ex omni ligno Paradisi comede, hoc unum est: Alterum vero, De ligno scientiae boni & mali ne comedas: Tertium denique, In quocumque die comederis ex eo, morte morieris. Hoc ultimum quasi nesciat diabolus, dicit, Cur praecepit vobis Deus? Superiora duo confundit ac permiscet, & de duobus veris unum falsum complet dicendo, Ne comederetis de omni ligno Paradisi? Verum profecto dixit Veritas, Quia ille homicida fuit ab initio, & in veritate non-

...stand. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: because he is a liar, and the father of it—namely, of the lie which he speaks. In which saying the Lord, present, undoubtedly had regard to this chapter, as if he said: From the beginning of his conversation with man, the devil is a murderer and a liar: because, namely, at the outset of his speech he is found a liar, and threatens murder. O, then, ancient sinner, O aged murderer, and first father of the lie, truly a wily and worthless serpent. Thus Rupert.⁵

...non stetit. Cum loquitur mendacium, ex propriis loquitur: quia mendax est & pater eius, scilicet mendacii quod loquitur. In quo dicto proculdubio Dominus praesens hoc caput attendebat, quasi diceret: Ab initio suae confabulationis cum homine, diabolus homicida & mendax est: quia videlicet in exordio suae locutionis invenitur mendax, & homicidium intentat. O igitur antiquum peccatorem, o vetustum homicidam, & primum mendacii patrem, vere serpentem versipellem & nequam. Sic Rupertus.

Rabbi David, for that 'Why,' interprets 'How much more?'; and he says that the serpent, before these words, said other things to the woman—these, namely, or others like them: 'God hates you, although you excel all animals in nobility; for he did not give you the beauty of peacocks, the strength of lions, the swiftness of stags: how much more, when he has said to you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?—from which you can recognize that you are hateful to God.' Nor ought this addition, says Rabbi David, to seem harsh: both because the particle כ (Chi) always adds something over and above what is said; and because it is the custom of divine Scripture to make the beginnings of words to be understood from their end—as is clear concerning the spies in the book of Numbers, who said, 'The Lord has given into our hand the whole land, and also because the inhabitants of the land are melted away from before our face.' Nor is it right that this should have been the beginning of the words: because the particle כ, that is, 'Because,' renders the reason of the things which he had said before. So says that Rabbi.⁷

Rabbi David pro illo Cur, interpretatur, Quanto magis? dicitque serpentem ante haec verba dixisse alia mulieri, haec nempe, vel alia similia: Deus odio habet vos, quamvis cunctis animalibus nobilitate praecellatis: non enim dedit vobis pulchritudinem pavonum, fortitudinem leonum, velocitatem cervorum: quanto magis, cum dixerit vobis ne comederetis ex omni ligno Paradisi? ex quo agnoscere potestis odio vos esse Deo. Neque additio haec, inquit Rabbi David, dura videri debet: tum quia dictio כ Chi, semper addit aliquid supra id quod dicitur: tum quia mos est divinae Scripturae, ex fine verborum facere principia eorum intelligere, ut de exploratoribus patet in libro Numerorum qui dixerunt, Dedit Dominus in manu nostra omnem terram, & etiam quia dissoluti sunt habitatores terrae a facie nostra, Neque est rectum, ut hoc fuerit verborum initium: quia dictio כ, id est, Quia, reddit rationem eorum quae prius dixerat. Haec iste Rabbinus.