Pandemic
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 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.” Genesis 2:16-17 NASB
Knowledge of good and evil – Just what was this tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It’s an interesting question. Do you suppose that simply knowing the difference between good and evil is a sin? Is that what this phrase implies? We need to carefully remember that this is not the tree of good and evil. Sometimes people seem to think that this tree is good or evil itself, but that’s not what the verse says. The tree is about some kind of knowing, not about the actual actions. If this is so, then how can anyone “eat” of knowing something, and why would just knowing something, without necessarily acting upon that knowledge, cause such calamitous results? Are we to understand this as something like the tenth commandment? Is knowing good and evil like coveting, invisible to everyone else but nevertheless an offense to God?
Ramban offers some useful insight.
“The sense of ‘good and evil,’ as opposed to ‘truth and falsehood,’ is identified as the experience of love and hate. The ‘knowledge’ (da’at) of good and evil that arises in them only now should, as Ramban proposes, be more aptly understood as ‘the desire for good and evil.’ What they ingest, then, is a new intentionality, a sense of each having his/her own mind. With this, they do indeed become like God, capable of free-willed decision, of carrying out desires, for good or ill. For the human being, however, this development is destructive, since it awakens transgressive desires.”[1]
In other words, da’at in this verse is not to be understood in the limited sense of a collection of facts. We will have to expand the explanation in TWOT:
daʿat is a general term for knowledge, particularly that which is of a personal, experimental nature (Prov 24:5). It is also used for technical knowledge or ability such as that needed for building the tabernacle and temple (Ex 31:3; 35:31; I Kgs 7:14). daʿat is also used for discernment (Ps 119:66). Both deeds committed unintentionally (Deut 4:42; 19:4; Josh 20:3, 5; bĕlîdaʾat) and mistaken opinions are “without knowledge” (lōʾ daʿat, Prov 19:2).[2]
When Harris draws a conclusion about da’at in the crucial verse, he suggests that we should understand the action of the woman and Adam as an acquisition of the objective awareness of good and evil, an awareness independent of God. He writes:
By eating its fruit man came to know in a way comparable to the knowledge of God (see above). This important reference may also be taken as the figure of speech known as merism to indicate objective awareness of all things both good and bad. In this sense the sinful pain did become like God (Gen 3:22). Cassuto says, “Before they ate of the tree of knowledge, the man and his wife were like small children who know nought of what exists round them” (U. Cassuto, Genesis, vol. I, p. 112).[3]
But this treats the action as if, prior to this decision, Adam and the woman were like innocent children. They were not. How would it be possible to understand the command (“Do not eat”) if there was no objective awareness of good and evil? How can we consider their actions disobedience if they had no concept of right and wrong, good and evil?
Ramban’s interpretation makes more sense. It isn’t the knowledge that trips us up. It is the desire to determine good and evil for ourselves. David Fohrman’s insight helps us see the greater implication of this story.[4] Before eating from the Tree, correct moral behavior was determined by listening to the voice of God. Moral decisions were either true (reflecting what God did or said) or false (not reflecting what God did or said). But after eating from the Tree, all moral decisions were evaluated in the context of what I want. My voice was now in competition with God’s voice. My decisions were no longer simply true or false. Now they were either good (for me) or bad (for me). Now I could decide between what God asks and what I desire. Eating from the Tree produced self-awareness of my desire and the world changed forever. It is the desire for determining good and evil that is in play here. Determining good and evil is what God does—and only God. Since the Garden, Man has attempted to play God by making this determination himself. The result is the pandemic of idolatry—placing myself in the role of God. You and I are in the Garden every day, standing before that Tree. It is our desire that is at the root of this rebellion. Until that is confronted, the Tree will always be enticing.
Topical Index: tree of the knowledge of good and evil, da’at, Genesis 2:16-17
[1] Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious, pp. 13-14.
[2] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 366–367). Chicago: Moody Press.
[3] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 367). Chicago: Moody Press.
[4] David Fohrman, The Beast that Crouches at the Door: Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, and Beyond (Devora Publishing, New York, 2007).
