'Who Told Thee...'

[Rival]

Judaism DIR

In Bereshis, after the man and his wife eat the fruit as I'm sure everyone is aware, this happens...

And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles.
And they heard the voice of the Lord G-d going in the garden to the direction of the sun, and the man and his wife hid from before the Lord G-d in the midst of the trees of the garden.
And the Lord G-d called to man, and He said to him, "Where are you?"
And he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked; so I hid."
And He said, "Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
And the man said, "The woman whom You gave [to be] with me she gave me of the tree; so I ate."

I have several questions.

First, HaShem said, 'Who told you that you are naked?' in the singular, speaking to the man. Who is the 'who' that it could be? And second, the man never actually answered, he just explained what happened.

Now I get that none of this is so straightforwards and HaShem was quite aware and he asks the man 'Where are you?' even though this is known. I just found the phrase 'Who told you...' interesting as opposed to 'How did you come to know..' or such, especially as the verse before explains that '...and they knew'.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[rosends]

First, HaShem said, 'Who told you that you are naked?' in the singular, speaking to the man. Who is the 'who' that it could be?

Rashi explains the question as "Whence has the knowledge come to you what shame there is in standing naked?"

The Ohr Hachayim writes, "He said: "Who has told you that you are naked?" G'd meant: "what is different now? You stood before Me previously without feeling naked?" The new knowledge you display cannot have originated within you. It must have been provided by an external source. G'd therefore wanted to know: "Who has told you?" According to our exegesis that the feeling was generated internally, i.e. a result of the sin and the loss of the aura of holiness, we must understand the question as merely rhetorical. G'd did not want to shame man too much, therefore He Himself supplied the answer that Adam might have eaten from the forbidden tree, and the act of eating revealed this knowledge to him."

They are explaining that Hashem's point is that there doesn't seem to be anyone who could have told Adam he was naked, so the rhetorical question is "how have you developed this sensibility."

And second, the man never actually answered, he just explained what happened.

The second question is not really a separate question. I see it as "Is it that you ate from the tree?" This connects it to the first and one answer would address both things.


There are many commentators who struggle with the "ha" which introduces the "min ha'eitz" and the idea of "arum" (naked). One does look at the issue of exactly what was answered -- the Radak
"the letter ה in the word המן is like the letter ה in Kings I 29,19 הרצחת וגם ירשת, “did you really expect to get away with murder and inheriting (the murdered man)?” The question is merely rhetorical, it does not require an answer."

Check here for the Siftei Chachamim's discussion of exactly what the answer was
Genesis 3:11

 

[Ellen Brown]

Does the Red Print mean that I can't talk to you?

 

[RabbiO]

Does the Red Print mean that I can't talk to you?

This thread is posted in the Judaism DIR. That means that those who are not Jewish are limited to respectful questions.

If you wish you can post a similar thread in another, more open, subforum.

 

[Bethsheba Ashe]

Might the answers you seek be found by other ways of reading the Torah? i.e. the PaRDeS?