![]() ![]() Had the mankind continued in obedience to the command of Elohim, he might have eaten of it, but more properly he might have had access to the source of life, for he was created for eternal life.īut after he had fallen through disobedience into the power of death, the source that gives immortality could only do him harm, because immortality in a state of sin is not what the Creator had designed for the mankind. Third, we should also note that there were no restrictions of access to the trees, such as the heavenly guardians, the cheruvim, except the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil also, no command with such a prohibition was given concerning the tree of life. ![]() Second, we should note that it was the Creator who made these trees and “planted” them in the garden: the tree of life in the midst of it and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in a unspecified location, perhaps next to the other tree. Hence, we may deduce that the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil are metaphors for two sources of knowledge of life and knowledge of good and evil. Even in the case of the tree of life, the power is not to be sought in the physical fruit, because no earthly fruit possesses the power to give immortality to the life. Why did God prohibit man from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? First and foremost, we are not to regard the tree as poisonous or having some fatal property resided in the fruit. Thus, the nachash obscured in a more general and indefinite way the personality of the One who said,Įat of every tree of the garden, but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall certainly die. We should note here that the serpent called the Creator Elohim and the woman did the same, although she knew the Name of the Creator. What he indeed implied in his words was this: “Is it true that Elohim has prohibited you from eating of every tree in the garden?” The context is obvious that the meaning of his scheme to distort the words of the Creator was, “You shall not eat of any tree”. Its craftiness was manifested in the simple fact that the nachash turned to the weaker of the two, the woman, and said: “ Has Elohim indeed said, …?” The serpent is here described as a creature of the Creator with craftiness that is a natural characteristic of the serpents (Mat 10:16), which led the narrator of the creation story to use it as a metaphor for the evil one who had deceived the woman. This is how the fall of mankind started, and the rest is history. For Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like Elohim, knowing good and evil. We are to eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim has said, ‘ Do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest you die’. The nachash (serpent) was more crafty than all the living YHVH Elohim had made, and one day he said to the woman,Īlso, has Elohim indeed said, ‘Do not eat of every tree of the garden’? (Gen 3:1) like a snake, before it strikes like a snake. But in the Hebraic mind, the nachash is also something that moves or behaves in serpentine manner, i.e. For instance, in the Gentile mind, the serpent in Genesis 3 is a snake (nachash). In the Hebraic mindset, thoughts, actions, and character are more important than the actual appearance. Is the deceiver in Genesis 3 a real snake, or something else is meant in the text? However, the forbidden fruit might have been a fig and this would make sense since the man and the woman used fig leaves to cover themselves, as it was natural for them to reach for the closest tree they could find to cover their nakedness and shame. It is a Christian tradition that it was an apple, but this could have been a tradition associated with the pagan traditions involving Athena with an apple (in the Greek mythology, Athens is a goddess of wisdom and useful arts and prudent warfare, identified with Roman Minerva). But what was the forbidden fruit and what was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? The forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is mysterious as the tree itself. The Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil ![]()
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