That, to a rational mind, is unthinkable. For the Concept of God is about truth, whether we like it or not. The universe would not work were The Author of natural law a liar.
I had started another post that is yet to be completed. It is about us humans not liking, hating, shunning, imagining all sorts of alternative meanings, to things we do not want to hear or believe. Conservatives often joke about liberals wishing that life were fair when it is not, but many conservatives will do the same thing when it comes to anything that threatens their status quo. They'd rather not believe there's something they've worked hard to acquire that will need be sacrificed. So they are inclined to forestall the inevitable until such time that they will lose even more and maybe all.
Gen 2-17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Let's break away here and ask "While they resided in Eden, did they even know what die means?" [See below the break as I examine this tangential thought.]*
At Gen 3.4 we see Eve addressing a mischievous inclination that God permitted her the freedom to consider.
She says: God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.Consider this. We have no record of God actually speaking to her yet as He did to Adam earlier. So one can easily imagine that Adam informed her of the rules.
She asked: "Why?"
Adam responded "Because He said so. Look, don't even touch it."
Have you ever heard a parent tell something like that to a child? How about to a naif? Adam may have been the one to add the extra measure. He (or she if that were the case) would not be the last man to add to God's laws.
Next imagine that a snake happens by Eve when she is near the tree of forbidden fruit. It startles her as any fast and sudden moving object might do to one of us today. And she bumps up against the tree. And low and behold nothing happens!
Here would be the first lesson: there be danger in adding any words to the words of God. For what do we hear next? We hear the mischievous voice, playing with her logical doubts, saying to Eve:
Gen 3-4: ...Ye shall not surely die: After all, she touched it and lived.
Gen 3-5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
One of our blessed human gifts is ego. That ego can easily be bruised, like when you believe someone in whom you trusted has lied to you. You harbor resentment and it can easily grow if an explanation is not readily apparent. Or if you were looking for an excuse to begin with -- you were aching to indulge your ego. The ego unbridled: where will unbridled ego lead us?
Gen 3-6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
He may have trusted in his wife; but did he not already know every animal in the garden? It's hard to believe he didn't know all the fruits too -- especially that one. God did not tell him not to look at it.
The remainder of Gen 3 is about the consequences of indulging that ego and the many ways we are apt to deflect blame and make matters worse.
The upshot was that man was kicked out of paradise where we had all we could rightfully desire, but it simply was not enough. Our ingratitude to God was shown in that we wished to be as God.
This would be the very first recorded instance and consequence of coveting that which is not ours nor ever would be or should be. I always believed that the Ten Commandments were perfectly balanced due to this. The first Commandment, in observance, is about loving to get close to God. The violation of the last Commandment would push Him as far away as is possible.
More; it's about achieving happiness. Any man who would be a god will subject other men and restrict them. That is something God himself will not do. Here is the difference between good and evil up close. God grants free will. History is replete with other men seeking to be proclaimed gods in order to restrict other men. Even unto granting them the right to reproduce as well as allowing them to continue to live according to the despot's whim.
And thus ended God's Day 7. He did NOT lie.
In that day began the moment man ate the forbidden fruit: Welcome to the Eighth day, the day in which thou shalt surely die -- as He warned us would happen.