Fall of Man: The Knowledge of Good and Evil
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The
Test “The Lord God commanded the man saying: ‘From any tree
of the garden you may eat freely’” (Gen. 2:16). God gave
Adam and Eve a test. He told the couple to freely eat from any tree in the
garden. There was going to be only one exception. “But from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat
from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). The
word “but,” an extremely important contrast, pointed to God’s first negative
command. God made it very easy for Adam and Eve to pass the test by giving
them trees to eat from that were beautiful to the eyes with fruit that was
delicious to the taste (Gen. 2:9).
This was all that their appetite could desire. But
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off limits. What do you
suppose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was like? Was it an old, ugly, gnarled witch’s
tree with green slimy fruit hanging off it? Was there a sign of a skull and
cross bones standing nearby saying, “Poison! Do not touch!” It was evidently no different than
any other tree in the garden. In fact, it was probably a very beautiful tree
just like the others. The test
had nothing to do with the looks of the tree or the taste of its fruit. The
test was within the spiritual capacity of Adam’s soul. “For
in the day” is a Hebrew idiomatic expression. An idiom is an expression used by the people of that
day. This idiom means “at the
exact time or at the precise time.” God said to Adam, at the time that you
eat you will surely die. “Dying you will die” is also a Hebrew emphatic
phrase! If one wanted to emphasize something in Hebrew the words would be
repeated. This is how this phrase looks in the original language; “Muth, tomuth.” And it could
be translated, “Dying, you will surely, most positively die.” This is the
first mention of death in the Bible. Death is not a human word but a Bible
word. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways” (Rom. 11:33). Satan Attacks
Satan
had rebelled against God (Isa. 14:12-14) and God had cast him into the earth.
(See “The First Sinner”). God had created man
and placed him in the garden. Satan may have thought that the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil was the tree that would determine his ultimate
fate, but he was wrong. That was not the tree! That tree would come later. It
would be located upon a small hill called “Golgotha.” “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God
said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). This
was no ordinary serpent. “Crafty” is from the Hebrew word for sensible,
shrewd, and prudent. Remember
that Satan was created "blameless in his ways" (Eze. 28:15). He was
extremely intelligent. He knew God's original command to the man and the
woman to rule over all lower creation. He also may have understood the result
of Adam being created first and taken from the soil. Adam was responsible to
God. The woman had been taken from the man, and so she became responsible to
God through the man. Satan
reasoned that the man must fail the test in the garden and fail of his own
free will. But how could this be accomplished? Watch closely! The Woman First Satan
attacked the woman first. He understood God’s chain of command! If Satan had gone to the man first
and deceived him, the man would have had an excuse before God. He could have
complained that he had been deceived. And Adam would have given the fruit to
Eve and she would have had to eat it in order to remain submissive to the
man. Both the man and the woman would have an excuse before God. But
Satan went to the woman! He deceived her, and then the woman approached the
man. The man then had to make a decision. He would have no excuses. But as we will see, God is the
ultimate genius. Speaking to the woman he said. “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:16). This
question to the woman was designed to confuse. Satan is a master of illusion
and confusion. “Isha, will God not let you eat from every tree in the
garden?” Before we begin to consider Isha's answer, think about this. At the heart of man's human wisdom is
the desire to be free. Man wants
to be free from poverty, ignorance, disease and all absolutes. At the bottom
of Satan's question to Eve is her freedom. "Isha, are you not free to do
anything that you wish? You’re
not free to eat of any tree in the garden!" “The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees
of the garden we may eat’” (Gen. 3:2). Eve
should have said, “We may eat from every tree in the garden. Our Creator has
provided them all for us. But the Creator, whose will we know to be the best,
has commanded us not to eat of this one; and since He knows best for us, we
willingly submit to Him.” Or
better still she could have asked the serpent to speak with her husband. But
she responded! “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.”
“But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle
of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you
will die” (Gen. 3:3). She
was evidently now focusing on the tree. It was as if something was wrong with
that tree. An element of doubt was put in her thinking by the deceiver. There were no fences around the tree;
there were no pits around it with crocodiles in them; there were no signs
with skull and crossbones. The tree was not poisonous. The issue was not with
the tree. Satan by deception had
struck the chord of Eve’s emotion and caused her to temporarily set aside the
facts. “The
serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!” (Gen. 3:4). The
Hebrew is more graphic than the English. Satan said, “No! You will by no means die.” This is arguably the greatest lie
from the lips of the greatest liar in all of history. Satan is the father of lies. “You are of
your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there
is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (Jn. 8:44). Satan
invented lying! God had said
that to eat the fruit of that tree would bring death. Satan blatantly
contradicted God. "For
God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). He was
saying, "Isha, God is keeping something from you. If you eat from it, then your eyes
will be opened.” This is a Hebrew idiom that implied that she would really
begin to understand like never before, and she would be like God knowing good
and evil. Satan
was telling the woman that she could become the captain of her own destiny.
She could have power and glory. She would be free and able to make her own
decisions, free from the restraints of this unreasonable God that she served.
The
sinner from the position of being “in sin,” cannot understand sin. Everything
becomes distorted. Only the person free of sin understands its true meaning
and consequences. Adam and Eve
had been truly free and did not recognize it. The freedom of innocence is much better than the
responsibility of conscience.
Satan now plays his trump card.
“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 desirable to make
one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband
with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6). The
appeal of the temptation went through her eyes to her emotion. She did not
say a word. She was at this point completely captivated. “Good to eat” meant
that it appealed to the human appetite. “To be desirable” is to create a
longing for something. The woman craved the fruit of this forbidden tree. She
began to rationalize her decision. The fruit looked good. It was desirable, and after all it
would make her wise! Here is
rationalization at its best. Once
we have made up our minds to sin, we begin to rationalize and make wrong
appear to be right. The fall was not an instantaneous act. It was a process.
Woman saw the forbidden. She desired the forbidden. She took the forbidden.
This is the pattern of temptation leading to sin (Joshua 7:21, 2 Samuel
11:2-4). The First Sinner on Earth The
first sinner upon the earth was Isha, the woman. Adam then had a decision to make. On one hand, he had the
word of God, “Don’t eat the fruit!”
On the other hand, he had his mate. He knew very well what the issue
was. Whatever his choice, Adam could not say that he did not know all the
facts. The
woman became the initiator, not the responder. She gave the fruit to her
husband and he ate. This is obviously one of the most important phrases in
all of God’s word, but it is not written in red or in italics or in bold letters
or underlined. No bells rang; no strobe lights starting flashing; no sirens
went off. Adam
ate, and immediately he died.
Death means separation.
Immediately Adam was separated from God. With his mind, Adam no longer knew God. With his emotion,
he no longer had a desire to fellowship with God; and with his will, he could
no longer choose to fellowship with God. He died spiritually, and at that moment he also began to
die physically. Adam took the test of God
in the garden and he failed. He knowingly sinned against God; and when he
sinned, he immediately died. His heart did not stop beating, nor did he stop
breathing and fall over lifeless, but he did die. He died on the inside! (See
“The Consequences of the Fall”). The spiritual aspect
of his soul was instantly separated from God. Adam became an earthy man, completely out of touch with
his Creator. He became a “natural man.” "But the natural man does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually understood" (1 Cor. 2:14). With
his spiritual image now detached, his soul could operate only in the earthy
realm. Adam had lost his relationship with God. Eventually, at the age of 930
years, Adam would die physically (Gen. 5:5). Why the Fall Why
did God give Adam the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil? Remember that it is the plan of the Creator to reveal the riches of
His glory upon His vessels of mercy (Rom. 9:23). The
riches of God’s glory will evidently include the knowledge of good and evil.
What is so wrong with knowing the difference between good and evil? It is a
good quality for children to have. “Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say
will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go
in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it” (Deut. 1:39). It is
a good quality for kings to have. “Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to
judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able
to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:9). In
fact, God had the ability Himself. “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become
like one of Us, knowing good and evil’” (Gen. 3:22). The knowledge of good and evil is a
quality of God. It is not the knowledge of good and evil that is the problem.
What matters is from what source
and position do we learn the
difference. Adam learned the difference from the vantage point of a
sinner. He should have learned
the truth by doing that which was right. It may be God’s design to teach His
vessels of mercy the ultimate reason for good and evil. God clearly wants his
vessels of mercy to recognize that His will is best. Everyone will discover in time that
God’s will is best, and in eternity He will shed light upon Himself and His
faithfulness (Phil 2:5-11). God had ordained a Lamb before the foundation of
the world. That means that the fall did not catch Him by surprise (1 Pet.
1:20). God has a plan! God’s Redemption Plan God
deceived the deceiver. He
miraculously allowed the woman to be deceived first in order to reserve for
Himself a means to come into the slave-market later! (See “The
Virgin Birth”). Sources New
American Standard Bible Robert
B. Thieme, Jr.; Tape Series on Genesis Bible
Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament |
Why did God give the human race
the test in the Garden? And how and why did man fall? |