The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Heed Me, as there is no person who heeds Me and loses.’ The Rabbis say: You find there is one who heeds [his wife and loses, and one who heeds] his wife and gains. How so? Adam the first man heeded his wife and lost.
From where is this derived? As it is stated: “And to Adam He said: Because you heeded the voice of your wife…[cursed is the ground on your account]” (Genesis 3:17). Rabbi Yitzḥak said: To what is the matter comparable? To a king who said to his servant: ‘Do not taste anything until I return from the bathhouse.’
His wife said to him: ‘Taste the cooked dish, so he will not need to seek to add salt or fish gravy.’ The king came and saw him licking his lips. The king said to him: ‘Did I not tell you do not eat, and yet you ate?’ He said to him: ‘My master, your maidservant gave it to me.’
The king said to him: ‘And you heeded my maidservant more than me?’ So, the Holy One blessed be He said to Adam: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17). What did Eve do? She fed him.
Rabbi Avin said: She did not ask, but she wept and wailed to him with her voice, and he ate of it, as so it is written: “[Because you heeded] the voice of your wife.” “The words of your wife” is not written here, but rather, “the voice of your wife.” The Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat of it?” (Genesis 3:11). He said to Him: ‘My Master, Your maidservant gave it to me.’
From where is this derived? As it is stated: “The man said: The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). He said to him: ‘And you heeded Eve more than Me?’ [Adam] was immediately expelled [from the Garden of Eden], as it is stated: “He banished the man; He stationed the cherubs east of the Garden of Eden, and the blade of the ever-turning sword, to guard the path of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24).
That is, he heeded his wife and lost. There is one who heeded his wife and gained. This is Abraham. From where is this derived?
As it is stated: “Sarai said to Abram: Please, behold, the Lord has kept me from bearing; please, consort with my maidservant; perhaps I shall be built through her. Abram heeded the voice of Sarai” (Genesis 16:2). Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: To what is the matter comparable? To one to whom a son was born.
A certain astrologer saw him and said: ‘This lad is destined to be an arch-robber, his father must cast him away.’ His father heard and said: ‘Would I cast away my son?’ The father of that astrologer heard and said: ‘Everything that my son said to you, heed him.’ So, Sarah foresaw that Ishmael was taking to evil ways, and she would say to Abraham: “Banish this maidservant and her son” (Genesis 21:10) and it distressed him.
The Holy One blessed be He appeared to [Abraham] and said to him: “Do not be distressed about the lad and about your maidservant; everything that Sarah says to you, heed her voice…” (Genesis 21:12). He heeded her voice and gained, as his descendants were considered [only those] descending from Isaac, as it is stated: “For it is through Isaac that descendants will be accounted to you” (Genesis 21:12).
The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘If one who heeded his wife is so rewarded, one who heeds Me, all the more so.’ King Solomon came and articulated it: “But one who heeds me will reside securely and tranquilly, without fear of evil” (Proverbs 1:33).