The tree of the knowledge of good and evil

Genesis 2:9,15-17, “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil… 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge (da’ath) of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” 

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is neither an Apple tree nor sexual intimacy. Indeed, right after creating Adam and Eve, God said to them: ‘‘… Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it…’’ (Genesis 1:28) This was clearly a way of blessing their sexuality. 

The tree of the knowledge, da’ath… This word (da’ath) is found 90 times in the Old Testament and stands for knowledge, perception, comprehension, discernment and skill. It comes from yâda‛, a verb that has as many meanings as: to know, to learn to know, to comprehend, to perceive, to find out, to discern, to discover, to discriminate, to distinguish, to know by experience, to recognise, to be wise, to feel, to admit, to acknowledge, to confess, to consider, to be wise, to be aware of, to be privy to, to be acquainted with, to be familiar with, to be endued with, to be skilful in, to know how and to know intimately (sexually). (Strong and Brown-Driver-Briggs Dictionaries) 

Based on these definitions, I would like to suggest that God forbade our first parents to eat of the fruit of that tree because He did not want them to learn to do evil. He didn't want them to experience it and to intimately know it, in a way that they would become familiar with it, trained and skillful in its practice. Consuming the forbidden fruit would have made them know the good indeed, but the evil that was as inseparable to it as the sides of the same coin, represented a danger too great. 

And if one asks: ‘‘Why then all-knowingly plant this tree in the middle of the garden?’’ I shall say, “Who would not buy stoves or knives on the pretext that one has kids at home? And why does one buy cookies and chocolates when one knows very well that they will not resist the urge to take more than reason?” That tree was a test of maturity. And I will say no more… 

The Bible says : “You know that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her, don't you? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." ” (1 Corinthians 6:16, ISV)

And ‘‘the two shall become one flesh’’ was said within the context of marriage. Indeed, “…Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) But just as a man becomes one with his wife by 'knowing' her, the man also become ONE with good and evil by knowing them. Ever since, these two principles coexist (often too peacefully) in him and it is a soiled nature, corrupt and contaminated by evil that he now pass onto his progeny. Thus, when the psalmist says: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me,” he is referring to the original sin, and not to a possible adultery nor an illegitimate birth (Psalm 51:5, ASV). 

Romans 7:15ss (KJV), “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I…17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me…19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do…21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…” 

With the original sin, a perpetual war between the flesh and the Spirit and between evil and good took place in man (Galatians 5:17-22). Fortunately for him, the Son of God came precisely to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8). Man can finally find his deliverance in Christ; and this is not through the extirpation of the evil that lives in him, but through the grace that has now empowered him to overcome it.

 

See you soon ;-)