Knowing good and evil

Gen 2:17  but from the tree of the knowledge of goodH2896b and evilH7451b you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

What exactly is "the knowledge of good and evil." Whatever it is, it was not something *Adam and Eve originally possessed or experienced.

Hopefully, the following analogy will be helpful.

Just as loving ^[1]parents bring a child into the world and nurture it, so did God with Adam and Eve. In the same way, a child has no concept of what it's like to no longer have parents caring for them (no more than a fish would know what it's like to be out of water), Adam and Eve had no concept of what it would be like to no longer be connected to God and under his care and direction. Once they did, they started to experience "evil." Before that, they only knew good.

The all too common rebellion and ^[2]pulling away by adolescents from their parents is not unlike what Adam and Eve did in the garden. They rebelled from dependence and trust in God and decided they could be like God and call their own shots, i.e. become their own god. They choose to believe (they had no proof) they knew what was better for themselves than God (even though God alone is all-knowing). A lot like what kids do with their parents when they get older. 

As a child develops and matures, it often begins to take for ^[3]granted the care of his or her parents, believing they can better care for themselves; so it was with Adam and Eve regarding God.

Yet if we have truly loving, wise, and caring parents, they always know us in a way we don't know ourselves (we all have blind spots), and spiritually and emotionally healthy parents usually know us better than we know ourselves.

They also desire something we want or need. If nothing else, their love and desire are normally for our best. It is expressed differently as we age but is always there. 

Plus, we will always be our parent's children and they will always be the cause (humanly speaking) of our existence. Therefore, they will normally desire and seek our best. The story of the prodigal son comes to mind. No matter how rebellious his son was, the love of his father never waned. The father looked for his son's return, even in his rebellion. So much so, he spotted him coming home when He was still far away. 

And lastly, good and loving parents will have greater wisdom acquired through life experience. They simply have been around longer and know more about how things work because of the life lessons they have gone through. 

Of course, all these things are true with God but on an infinitely higher level. In this sense, even the most perfect parents will never be like God.

So why the rebellion?

We know what we know, but it's what we don't know that often "eats at us" -- we don't like being finite and having to trust. We like being in control and independent. We may be tempted to think, what if I can do things better than God (or my parents in the case of a child) or we may even be convinced we can -- even though we have no actual evidence through life experience. Taking this posture is one of faith.

When you stop to consider this regarding God, it is the height of arrogance. How could Adam and Eve ever know all things or be the provider and sustainer of all things -- and therefore know what was best for them compared to God? Wasn't this exactly the question and point God made with Job who went through such great pain.  

Possibly we have an example here of the expression "familiarity breeds contempt." Adam and Eve had regular access to God, so their participation in fellowship with him was a common experience. God was always available. They had never experienced a time he was not a part of their lives. Possibly over time they took him for ^[3]granted and lost sight of how great he truly was (maybe the extent of his greatness could not have been fully appreciated unless contrasted with no longer participating in it. Like the brightness of a light is most evident the darker the night. For more on this click here). 

We are curious creatures in that we do not fully appreciate the good we possess or experience until we no longer have it. It's as if we must lose something of value first before we can fully appreciate and value it for it's actual and true worth or be truly grateful for it (the ^[4]greater the value the more significant the loss but also the greater the potential learning opportunity and appreciation for what has been lost. For more on this click here). 

What exactly is good and evil?

From the verse at the beginning of this article, here are the definitions found in the original Hebrew. Emphasis my own:

Good - H2896b  טוֹב - tob  (375a); from H2895; a good thing, benefit, welfare: — enjoy *(1), good (66), good thing (3), good things (2), goodness (1), graciously (1), happiness (1), happy (1), pleasant (1), prosperity (8), richer (1), well (1), what is good (1), what is good (4).

H2895  טוֹב - tob (373b); a prim. root; to be pleasing or good: — any (1), did well (2), done well (1), fair (1), go well (1), good (1), good (5), high (1), merry (3), please (2), pleased *(2), pleases (4), pleases *(2), pleasing (1), well (8), well-off (1). 

Evil - H7451b  רַע - ra  (948c); from the same as H7455; evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity: — adversity (7), calamity (4), disaster (2), evil (94), harm (2), harmful (1), hurt (1), ruin (3), surely (1), trouble (2), unpleasant (1), wickedly (1), wickedness (1).

H7455  רע - rôa‛BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs') Definition:1) badness, evil 1a) badness, bad quality 1b) wilfulness 1c) evil, badness (ethical) 1d) sadness

Based on the context of this verse we could sum these definitions up as follows:

Good - God himself and all the benefits, provision, and pleasure that come with knowing him and being with him.

Evil - Injury or harm (e.g. death) that comes due to the absence of God and all the good things he provides. 

Before man's rebellion, it doesn't say they did not know good, it says they did not know good and evil i.e. good in contrast to evil. Adam and Eve obviously experienced good because they walked with God and enjoyed the garden. They also enjoyed the companionship and joy of union with ^[5]each other. 

The bottom line... they only knew good, not evil. They only knew of his total care and provision. They had no concept of what it would be like to lose him or his ^[6]provision. They had nothing to compare and contrast this provision and good to in their personal experience (Possibly Adam's seeing the animals having partners when he did not have one, came close to this. But this wasn't harm or loss but something lacking and may have been a greater concern of God's than Adams). 

All they knew about evil is what they were told i.e. the day they ate they would die. They had no concept of pain, death, loss, distress, misery, injury, calamity, adversity, disaster, harm, hurt, ruin, trouble (knowledge of evil) because they had never seen or experienced any of it. What they did know however was God said it was not a good thing and they were asked to trust and believe this warning (a kind of promise in reverse if you will) from God. They chose to experience this 1st hand instead of trusting God's warning.

However, they definitely knew what good was (even though they had nothing to contrast it with). It was what they were experiencing daily. With a little deductive reasoning it could be argued they could have at least concluded evil was certainly not the same as good and possibly the opposite of it. Enough, you would think, to deter them from wanting to know what it was with certainty, through first-hand experience. Regardless, God said do not eat. That should have been (in their eyes) and was (in God's eyes) sufficient. 

What is interesting is when tempted, Eve (with Adam right beside her) bought into the promise of being like God versus the promise (warning) that they would die if they ate. She (and Adam) definitely chose between these two very contrasting and competing options offered by two completely different sources, God (the Creator) vs the *serpent (a mere and inferior [to Adam much less God] creature). 

Some might argue that it's unfair for God to expect them to heed his warning without knowing the full meaning of it. However if one fully trusted God, this should and would be sufficient. Trust was unavoidable regardless. They simply wound up trusting the wrong party i.e. they trusted the creature (ultimately themselves i.e. their own understanding vs God's explanation, encouraged by the suggestion of the serpent) vs the Creator. 

We can only conclude that the primary point of the instruction by God to not eat of the forbidden tree was to trust (not doubt or question) God in those instructions. It was a warning they were expected to believe and heed regardless of whether they ^[6]fully understood or experienced first hand what evil was or was not (isn't this often the very case now? Aren't we often called to trust God even when we don't always understand). 

But why trust? The fact is man will never know all things apart from God simply because he is finite and God is infinite. To say it another way, man was never intended to be all he was designed to be apart from God and his dependence on (trust in) him. 

Man will always need to depend on God for true knowledge simply because God is infinite and we are not...something that sticks in our crawl even today if we are honest. The heart and essence of the desire to "be like God" was (and is) a rejection of this dependence and the necessity to trust. 

It is this very disposition of independence that God is reversing in and through Christ. Ironically, he uses pain and suffering (evil) from our attempts at inappropriate independence, to do so. 

God uses evil for good

Now that we experience loss, the ongoing lesson God seeks to instill in all of us (using our loss to aid in this) is all we are and have - all good - comes from God. So even though evil is not good, the harmful consequences/loss of our pulling away from God is the means of helping us to understand a vital reality; distrust of (independence from) God is bad and trust of (dependence on) God is good. To say it another way, all good comes from God, all bad is due to the absence of God. Evil is incorporated to aid us in seeing this. Or as I once heard it said, "if God could not use evil for good, evil would not exist"(source unknown).

Knowing that all good is in God alone and only comes from him is the simple reality of how things are and how our world was and is designed to operate. He alone is God, the provider and sustainer of all things. When God calls us to recognize this, he is not on an ego trip, he's seeking our good. It simply is the reality of how things are; what is; how things are designed to operate and how they operate best when adhered to i.e. God is the giver and sustainer of all things, so if you wish to live life fully as intended, live life according to God's design-will. In doing so you will find the greatest meaning purpose and joy simply because this is who we are and who God is. Believe it or not. 

Posts on related topics:

What occurred at the fall? 

How does God use evil for our good? 

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/grace.

Why is there ¹pain, suffering and evil?

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^[1]Of course the analogy breaks down in that the gap of understanding, wisdom and love between God and mankind is beyond comparing to that of our earthly parents. God is perfect. Our own or any earthly parent is not. God alone is perfect in love, wisdom and he alone has total ability (is "all powerful") to put all his other attributes fully into play i.e. he alone is able to fulfill all his promises and insure we experience his love and wisdom to the fullest extend possible; human parents are not e.g. a human parent can't absolutely insure a particular outcome or prevent irreparable destruction due to a child's poor choice, or use our bad choices for our good, whereas God can and does use all things to bring about our ultimate good when we are His child.

^[2]Leaving our parents is not necessarily a bad thing if we leave in a posture of fullness and not in order to find it i.e. we don't leave to "get away" from our parents but to honor them. When we do, we seek to pass along and multiply what we received from them, thereby bringing them honor. Possibly this would have occurred if Adam and Eve had not rebelled. They were, after all, originally mandated to be fruitful and multiply before the fall. 

I am also aware some who read this may not relate at all to what it's like having loving parents or possibly the support of biological parents. 

What if you didn't have such perfect parents growing up? Most of us don't.

The good news is if you are his child you have a perfect parent now. 

If you are not his child, he offers to be for you what you never had. 

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Psalm 27:10 (KJV) 

(CEV)  Even if my father and mother should desert me, you will take care of me.
(ERV)  Even if my mother and father leave me, the LORD will take me in.
(ESV)  For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
(GNB)  My father and mother may abandon me, but the LORD will take care of me.

^[3]Taking for granted the goodness of God and the blessings Adam and Eve experienced may have actually been the true "original sin" or at least the soil out of which it sprang. The eating of the fruit was merely the outward evidence of an inward disposition that had developed and already existed, whether only for a brief moment before the eating... or developed over a more extended period. 

Though there is no indication of an extended period of time regarding this decline in disposition, this alone does not mean it didn't exist. The bible is often very concise and only touches on key points in conveying the most important events that may have occurred over an extended period of time, such as Lot's wife turning to salt. (This is believed by some commentators to be the natural result of exposure to the air of the very salty Dead Sea after she died from the heat of burning sulfur, instead of a sudden event as depicted in the Hollywood version). We also see this in the gospels when one gospel will have a more concise explanation of an event and another a more extended version.

What we do know is both trees were there from the beginning and were also next to each other in the center of the garden where neither could be missed or avoided. It is probably safe to assume they ate from the tree of life and possibly often over a period of time since they were allowed to eat of all tree's except the one forbidden. And since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was right there next to the tree of life, you can be sure they passed by it often and likely saw it often if not continuously since it was in the center next to the tree of life. This could have very well resulted in questions arising over time about the forbidden tree and if it was really all that bad. 

The fact that Eve said they also could not touch the tree suggests touching it had crossed her mind or possibly Adam added this caution to insure Eve would not even go near it at all. If so, why would Adam give this added instruction, assuming he did? Maybe he himself had felt the allure of the tree? Since we don't know, we can only speculate within the boundaries of scripture and that is all this indented comment is; speculation. But certainly questions worth considering. A question we will likely get an answer to now but get when we set into eternity. 

Gen 3:6  So when (however long that took. It appears to all be within a brief period, if not in the moment itself) the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 

The availability of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was simply the opportunity and means of displaying their trust in God or taking God for granted and the resulting distrust and ingratitude.

^[4]The reality is complaining about what we do not have or what we lost is to not understand everything we are and have is a gift from God to begin with, not a right or something we are owed, have earned or that is deserved. 

This is not to say however, God does not want us to have these things. If he did not, he would have not given them to begin with.    

^[5]Possibly they lost sight that the joy of their relationship as husband and wife was a gift from God as well and therefore they thought their relationship would be just as good without God as it was with Him i.e. since they had each other, they didn't need God, not realizing that the actual joy they found in each other was by and from God indirectly. To say it another way, they had not experienced evil therefore they had no concept of what loss felt like.  

^[6]God allowed man to continue having access to and enjoying his creation. What does this say to us about how we handle others in terms of showing kindness and doing good deeds for them in their rebellious independence from God i.e. what can we learn from God who allowed Adam and Eve to continue to participate in the good gifts of life (creation) even in their rebellion? Wouldn't he have been justified in letting them die immediately on the spot? In the earliest records in scripture we see grace towards God's rebellious image bearers; we see God seeking them out and hinting of a future provision while providing for their immediate need. God is good and loving even in our rebellion. 

Yet, after their rebellion, God did not allow access to the garden itself for their own good. God already knew man would abuse the creation and use it to maintain his independence from him. So being put out of the garden [which is the location of the tree of life and where God manifested his earthly presence at that time] and experiencing the curse of thorns and thistles due to Adam's breaking away from God, was God working for their ultimate and eventual good.

It appears that knowing evil was a necessary part of more fully appreciating and enjoying good. In truth evil accentuates the beauty of good as long as we do not allow it to embitter us to the point we no longer can trust in good again.  

^[6]We see no indication of God explaining evil or death to Adam (Eve found out of God's warning from Adam, since she was created after the caution was given). We simply see God cautioning Adam of it.

However we must remember God himself knew good and evil (Gen_3:5,22) so this knowing in itself could not be wrong or bad (at least not for God) as there is only goodness in God. This knowing by God was simply an awareness of harm and death in contrast to goodness and the bliss of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit. 

The knowing of good and evil may not in itself have been Adam and Eve's problem either but rather how they acquired that knowledge was i.e. they obtained it illegitimately by going against God's warning. Possibly if Adam and Eve proved they were able, God would have eventually allowed them to know both but when He knew it was best. 

But we may wonder how and when did God ever have first hand knowledge and experience harm or loss i.e. evil?

The possible explanation is God is everywhere present as well as all knowing. This not only addresses the spatial but also the temporal i.e. It applies to time as well as location. 

There is no time with God. Everything is in the present for him i.e. everything simply is for him. This seems to be God's point when Moses asked God what to tell Israel to call him. God simply said tell them "I AM" sent you. God is. There is no "it will be one day" or "it was a long time ago" with or for God in the ultimate sense. Everything already is for God, always has been and always will be throughout eternity. Hard to grasp but this is a key difference between the infinite and the finite. All of history and all future events as well as present experience and observation is not something that occurs in a linear progression for God (even though he somehow really and truly stepped into time through creation and the incarnation and now fully and gladly participates in it. But this addresses Gods experiencing time. It does not mean he is limited or constrained in his infinite knowledge by it). 

To say it another way, time is a part of the created order, it is not an inherit part of God. Before God created, God is; there simply is no time for God. God can and certainly does participate in time but it only became so when he created things that operate in time, not before. And it is only because he willingly chose to participate, not because he had to as we do. Once God created, not only the material world came into existence but also time itself began as a part of it, for the first time. His participation in time reached its pinnacle when God the Son took on flesh and walked among his creatures and creation.

What is intriguing is in a very real sense, once we step into eternity, we too will no longer be restrained by time as we now are (though we may very well continue to experience and participate in it). 

To get a little sense of what it might be like to not participate in time, think of the expression "time flies" when we are engaged in something we enjoy. It is the enjoyment itself that is our focus not time. If we had no restraints of the ebb and flow of energy and resources, we would be oblivious to time. This may give us some idea of what things are like for God and will be like for us as well. Once we enter into eternity, time will no longer matter to us in the same way it does now since those things we usually associate with time will no longer exist i.e. it may be an aid but not a burden.

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* though it is something that God possessed:

Gen 3:22  Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”

(GNB)  Then the LORD God said, "Now these human beings have become like one of us and have knowledge of what is good and what is bad. They must not be allowed to take fruit from the tree that gives life, eat it, and live forever."

If this is a quality of God himself, it cannot be bad or he would not possess it. The issue is it was not suitable for Adam and Eve to possess, at least in their current state of spiritual immaturity.

**It is worth noting, Adam being the last thing created, did not observe the rest of creation when it occurred. He came in after the fact. So his believing other creatures were created by God was a posture of faith, not first hand observation and experience i.e he did not see God create anything other then Eve herself (and even then he was asleep when she was created).

As a separate point from the above, He did participate in a kind of creative process by God having him name the animals. Nevertheless he had to accept God created everything simply because God said he did. Adam was not a first hand witness to it. There were many things about God, Adam was expected to accept solely by faith.