Trees of the Bible - The Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil - Part 1

THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & EVIL - Part 1

So that the reader will be able to understand the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (TKGE), both the context of its presentation in Genesis, and the name of the tree must be explored.  This will take some time and space, so this blog will be longer than most of the rest.  The passages we will read are presented in the English Standard Version.

In this first blog, several important passages related to the TKGE, the context, will be explored.  The first verses are found in Chapter 2 of Genesis.  In verse 9, the planting and description of the trees are given: “And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  Moses tells us that the Lord had caused trees “to spring up from the ground,” and that every tree was “pleasant to the sight and good for food.”  Keep in mind the language describing the trees.  They were pleasing to look at, and the fruit of all of the trees was edible.
 
In Chapter 3, verse 6, we are told that Eve looked at the tree (with the deceptive words of the serpent in mind) and saw that the tree was “good for food,” and “a delight to the eyes.”  We already know that every tree was beautiful and that the fruit of each one was good for food, but good looking or not, the fruit of that tree was not to be eaten.  We know this, and Eve knew this.  

We know it because of what Moses wrote in what we now call “Chapter two, verses 16 and 17.:  “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."  The Lord “commanded the man.”  Adam was commanded by God to eat of every tree God had planted in the garden except the TKGE.  Notice that this command was given to Adam, and it was his responsibility to tell Eve positively that God had said that they could eat of any tree, and negatively that they were not to eat of the TKGE.  Along with the command was a warning: should you eat the fruit of that tree, you shall definitely die.  So, although the TKGE was beautiful, and its fruit was edible, the fruit of that tree was never to be eaten.

One day, a beautiful and very wise creature met Eve at the TKGE.  We believe that he was not acting on his own.  Lucifer had already fallen from his exalted place as a cherub in heaven and was now as a high ranking but fallen being, a Satan on a mission of his own, attempting to cause the first couple to sin.  

Eve had been carefully coached by Adam, and when the serpent asked her,  "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"  She answered, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"  Notice that a bit of uncertainty had already entered into her thinking because she added “neither shall you touch it,” to what God had actually said.

The serpent, cunningly mixing truth with deceit, told Eve that she would “not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:3-5).  Continuing to plant doubt, the serpent twisted God’s command into a lie on God’s part about death, and a jealousy on His part concerning knowledge.  Note carefully two things that we will revisit in the second part of this study:  Eve was not truly aware of the significance of death, and she was encouraged to disobey God by the thought that she would gain knowledge that would make her like God.  Assuming that Adam was nearby when all of this was being discussed, he could have been swayed by these words.  

Now we can better understand Chapter 3, verse 6:  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”  Eve was attracted to the TKGE because of its beauty, its potential deliciousness, and now, because of its ability to make her wise.  So she ate it, gave it to Adam, and he ate it.  Because God had given the command to Adam in the beginning, Adam was the most responsible party!

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Gen. 3:7).  The serpent had said that their eyes would be opened, and they were.  They recognized something they had not before they ate the fruit of the TKGE: their bodies were exposed.  We’ll look at the meaning of that knowledge in the next blog.  Here it is important to realize that they were suddenly ashamed.  In addition, when the Lord God appeared in the garden, they hid themselves from Him among the trees (!) because they were afraid.  God knew what they had done, but they were suddenly, for the first time, ashamed and afraid in the presence of their Lord (3:8-11).  These two, who had been honored to be the first family in existence, created by the hand of God, were now filled with shame.

We will further explore the meaning of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the results of their sinful disobedience in the next blog, but we cannot end this one without asking ourselves this question:  would I, even as a redeemed, born-again, sanctified, knowledgeable, and spirit-led Christian, if exposed today to the greatest temptation (either beautiful or terrifying) to disobey God, listen to the voice of the tempter instead of that of the Lord God, and for fear or desire partake of “the forbidden fruit?” The results would not be as catastrophic, but you would hide from the Lord in shame and fear until in sorrow you confess it to Him.  Yes, Jesus died for that sin, but is it ever worth it?  I hope your answer would be, by the grace and with the help of God, no.