The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
M. W. Jacobus. Genesis 2:8-14 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.… The tree of knowledge of good and evil was so called not merely as a test for proving man, and showing whether he would choose the good or the evil — nor, merely because by eating it he would come to know both good and evil, and the evil so that he would know the good in the new light of contrast with the evil. Both these were involved. But it was set also as a symbol of the Divine knowledge to which man should not aspire, but to which he should submit his own judgment and knowledge. The positive prohibition was to be a standing discipline of the human reason, and a standing symbol of the limitation of religious thought. Man was to have life, not by following out his own opinions and counsels, but by faith and the unqualified submission of his intellect and will to God, No reason is here given for this, except in the name of the tree, and the nature of the penalty. God would not have him know evil. Sin was already an invader of His universe in the fallen angels. Evil was, therefore, a reality. Man was interdicted from that kind of knowledge which is evil, or, which includes evil — because of itself in its own nature, it leads him to death. Thus this is, therefore, not a mere arbitrary appointment. It has grounds in the evident nature of things. Nor was the penalty denounced against the transgression arbitrary. The disobedience was itself necessarily death. The curse could not have been less than it was. The act itself was a disruption of the tie which bound man to his Maker, and by which alone he could live. The knowledge of evil, sadly enough, lay in the partaking of that tree. Man already had the knowledge of good, and a moral sense of the eternal distinction between right and wrong. But good and evil, in all their mutual bearings, he could not presume to know by contact and experience as he aspired and claimed to know them under the promise of Satan. We hear no more of this tree. It served its purpose in the garden. We hear of the tree of life. The act of partaking was an encroachment upon the Divine prerogative. This tree was set to be to man the occasion of the highest Divine knowledge, in the training of his thoughts to subjection, and in the contemplation of God's prerogatives of knowledge. The highest reason accords to God this claim — and renders the profoundest submission of the human mind and will to God — to His plan of Providence and grace. So the renewed man cries out, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Christ crucified is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, unto salvation. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Man was prohibited from laying hold of this fruit that was held to be under the Divine prerogative. And it is just at this point that Satan has always plied his most artful and powerful temptation. And just here, in taking what is forbidden — and in refusing all subjection and limitation of religious thought, man has always fallen under the curse. "Professing themselves to be wise they became fools." This is the spirit of our fallen race, that in every age, keeps man out of paradise. And this is the mark of Anti-Christ "sitting in the temple of God, showing (exhibiting) himself that he is God," (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Hence, also, cherubim — the angels of knowledge — are set with the "flaming sword to keep (guard) the way of the tree of life" (chap. Genesis 3:24). This tree was also, as Luther says, a sign for man's worship dud reverent obedience of God, and so it would represent the homage due to God's word, as the revelation of God's truth — of His mind and will to men. (M. W. Jacobus.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. WEB: Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.