Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet as we all know, they fell short in keeping their one and only commandment. But did this commandment perhaps have a deeper reasoning behind it then what we are led to believe? Satan tempts Eve by saying she will be like God if she eats of the fruit (Gen 3:5 Septuagint). But we all know that this isn’t the case or we would all be like God. Perhaps the reason why God forbid them from eating the fruit was because it would derail Adam and Eve from achieving their purpose, which is serving God and watching over creation. This is because of one very important word. Know.
The old testament uses the word know and knew in a very different way than we use it today. Today we might say we know a friend or two and we mean it in a very casual way. But in the old testament, the word know has a much deeper meaning. In Genesis 4:1 it says, “And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain…” So here we can see that know or knew have a much deeper and intimate meaning. So if we use this same definition of know and look at Genesis 3, we might find a different meaning.
“For God knew that in whatever day you should eat of it your eyes would be opened, and you would be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
So what does it mean to “know” good and evil? By using the same definition as in Genesis 4:1, it would mean that Adam and Eve would have an intimate relationship with good and evil. This poses a problem when they were created to only have intimacy with God. In “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, his poem leads the reader to believe that Eve showed signs of worship to the tree after she ate of it, “Not without song, each morning, and due praise. Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease of thy branches offered free to all” (Book IX, line 800-803). This shows Eves new devotion to the tree, getting up everyday to praise and tend it. Later in lines 834-35 it says, “So saying, from the tree her step she turned, But first low reverence done, as to the power.” This suggested that Eve went as far as to bow to the tree before she left it. John Milton obviously saw a relationship form between the tree and Eve which drove a wedge between her and God.
So perhaps the reason why God didn’t want us to eat from the tree was because he wanted our full and undivided attention. He wanted all of our intimacy and worship. But by eating of the tree, we drove a wedge between us and God. We are no longer capable of only being focused and intimate with God and nothing else. Knowing knowledge created an idol that we never meant to create., separating us from God.
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