The Hidden Meaning of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

This blows a lot of our minds, because it appears that God has arbitrarily given some kind of weird command for no good reason, and atheists and skeptics have had a field day with this part of the story.

If God didn't want her eating from it, why did he put it there? Why did he make it so appealing, so attractive? It's as if the tree looked like it was good for food. It was obviously very appealing. If God didn't want them to eat from it, why didn't he make it unappealing?

Why did he make it tempting? If anybody is deceiving here, it's God.

It seems like it wasn't Adam and Eve who bestowed upon humans a tendency to sin, but God himself, since that tendency was already there before the fall, and indeed, was responsible for the fall. And so, if not sin, or a proneness towards sinning, what exactly was inaugurated by Adam and Eve's eating of the fruit?

What if I told you that most people, both in and out of the church, miss the thrust of this story completely? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil isn't just about a forbidden fruit. It's about something far deeper.

Something that explains everything about who we are, why we sin, and why the whole story of the Bible unfolds the way it does. Are you ready to see it for yourself? Then let's dive in. Welcome back to Wise Disciple.

My name is Nate, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you are meant to be, which includes understanding what really happened in the Garden of Eden.

Amen?

Make sure to like, sub, and share this one around if it blesses you.

All right.

Creation, the Garden, and the First Command

The story of the fall takes us to the very beginning in the Bible. Genesis chapter one. And Genesis one tells us there was a creation of the whole world, and this creation was.

Good. Look at this.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Verse 31,. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Now, if you were like me growing up, you were taught this story in a very straightforward manner, and yet it was incomplete.

Why?

Well, because we typically don't learn this story the way that an Israelite would have heard this story. I can tell you, I was taught this story from a 20th century Western mindset, and that basically stays right on the surface level of understanding.

In other words, my pastor and my church spent time with the actual words on the page, praise God, but they did not try to hear them as an early Israelite would. And I'm going to show you what I mean. So we move forward in the story, right?

God makes man in his own image, and he sets mankind in the garden to work and to keep it, but then he gives some interesting boundaries. Look at Genesis chapter two, verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it, and the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but here it is, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

Now, right here, a lot of us tend to think like the atheist and the skeptic, you know?

Wow.

Look at God making up some silly rule, right? Why would he do that? Things don't look any better when this happens next. Genesis three, one. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

Neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the servant said to the woman, you will not surely die for God knows. And when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

Here's a question. Was the serpent lying or was he telling the truth? For those of us who know the rest of the account, Adam and Eve don't fall over dead once they eat the fruit. So was the serpent telling the truth?

Is God really the villain here? You see how these questions start to stack up if we don't do the work of understanding what's really going on in Genesis. By the way, you tell me, you know, maybe you're here because you're not a Christian, right?

Maybe you're here and you used to go to church, but you've left now and you're starting to come back around or, or maybe you are a Christian, but you don't fully understand the story either. What do you think is going on in the fall?

What were you taught? All the elements of the plot are here, friends, you know, they're all set. You have a woman or excuse me, a man and a woman. Uh, you've got a tree with a forbidden fruit. You've got the command by God not to eat of the fruit.

And then you have a serpent who makes its way into the garden, telling them to eat it and they'll be fine. Hey, what's going on, right? Let me know what you think in the comments. I think it's important that we discuss it, you know, well, in order to figure this out, we need to finish the story and then I'll show you what's really going on.

Okay.

Watch this verse six. So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate.

Now notice that key phrase to make one wise. That's what the tree could do. If you ate of that tree, it could make you now the word for wise in the Hebrew here has some connotation to it. You know, it includes this idea of being prudent.

It includes this idea of having insight. So in other words, Eve saw that the tree could give her insight or wisdom. Now the question is, why does she need that? You know, if she continues to walk with God in the garden, um, as does her husband, Adam,.

Right?

Shouldn't the all knowing, all powerful God provide wisdom to them both as they remain in close relationship to him. Won't they gain wisdom and insight from him, the thing that she's looking for from this tree now.

Now, if you're wondering why I'm thinking along these lines, it's because this is what the Bible goes on to teach us. As we read past the story of the fall, what the Bible teaches us is God is the source of wisdom.

And so to gain wisdom, uh, to gain insight, one must remain close to God and obey him. As a matter of fact, uh, the same root word in the Hebrew for wisdom here in Genesis chapter.

Three.

Wisdom, Tree Imagery, and the Choice Between God and the Tree

So again, Eve is looking for that from this tree. This word is found all over the place in the old Testament, and it's used to teach us something particular that wisdom comes from God. Watch how this plays out in Proverbs chapter three, as a matter of fact, take note of the specific formula or the, or the progression in Proverbs three, all right.

Verse one, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace. They will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Now that phrase right there, good success. It takes us back to Genesis three. It's the same root word for insight or wisdom. This is what Eve was looking for in Genesis three.

The Proverbs says you get it another way. If you obey God's commands, um, but also, I mean, you notice that verse three, uh, more than that, if you remain faithful and loving by reflecting God's character, uh, which I would argue comes out of the overflow of being in relationship with God, well, then you will have the type of insight and wisdom that Eve desired in Genesis chapter three.

That's the formula given to us in Proverbs three.

Okay.

So, so let's just pull over for a moment. If you really think about what Proverbs three is saying, uh, and then obviously the picture given to us in Genesis, the Bible really is giving us a picture of two choices.

You know, either the wisdom of God or the wisdom of the tree, which will we choose? Genesis chapter two and three says, if we choose the wisdom of the tree, we die. If we choose God, we live, but it's actually even deeper than that.

All right.

Uh, Psalm one tells us the same thing, but, uh, but it does so by giving us a very familiar image. Uh, see if you catch this, look at this. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And on his law, he meditates day and night. So again, Psalm one, these are the first two verses, uh, we have here, this idea of obeying God's commands, but more than that, right? Cause cause love is involved.

Do you see that? Um, it's not just that we obey, we delight in it. We find joy in it. You know, that that's actually relational that's so now I'm going to use a very particular Christian term here. That's abiding out of the overflow of our relational dynamic with God.

We obey God, amen. And guess what? That's Eden. That's what was originally happening with Adam and Eve before the fall. Psalm one says, if we do these things, um, if we delight in and, and obey God's commands, this is what we will be like, uh, like watch this verse three.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither in all that he does. He prospers.

Hmm.

That's interesting. He will be like a tree that yields a certain kind of fruit that never dies. This is the fall. Ladies and gentlemen, the fall is here. The, the, the imagery, the, the concept, the idea, the theme it's here.

In Psalm one, you see how the fall is constantly played with in terms of imagery all throughout the scripture. Someone is saying, obey God, stay close to God and out of that overflow, you will reverse.

The fall.

This right here, this is an Eden reset. Ladies and gentlemen. I mean, did, so did you notice this, right? Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked. Wait a second. Which wicked council would that be?

The serpent. See, it's not that we're given the story of the fall, uh, in Genesis one time, and we never engage these concepts ever again in the Bible. The opposite is actually true. Something so dramatic has happened in the garden of Eden that it keeps getting brought up over and over and over again in order to teach the same important lesson.

And in order to understand this lesson, we need to know what really happened in the garden. You know, now, as it turns out, um, the clue here, that's really going to help us figure this out. It's in thinking more like a biblical Jew.

Uh, when we go to the story itself, and I'm going to show you what I mean, it's in looking at it as if, uh, we were biblical Jews. Now, did you know that the phrase, the knowledge of good and evil is a Hebrew idiomatic expression, and it has a very particular meaning.

It refers to having the moral authority to determine right and wrong for oneself. In other words, uh, the fall of mankind was not based on learning morality, but determining morality. Do you understand?

The tree was not about information. It was about independence. How do we know that? Well, there's a principle in biblical hermeneutics called the rule of first usage or the law of first mention.

All right.

The idea is that the first time a concept shows up in scripture, that initial context establishes its foundational meaning, you know, which then carries forward throughout the rest of the biblical story.

You know, there's actually a really great example of this, uh, with regard to the first use of the word faith. You should take a look at that. Actually. I can't go into it. A separate Bible study. It comes from Moses.

So think of this, right? It comes from Moses faithfully, keeping his hands raised during battle in Exodus. That's the first time that we find the word faith in Hebrew. When it comes to, uh, this phrase that we're concerned about the knowledge of good and evil, we see that it's actually uniquely defined in other places of the scripture.

All right now, um, I'm not going to show you every single example of this, but take a look at second Samuel with me.

All right.

With, with, there's an example here with King David. So in this passage, there is a woman of Tekoa who praises King David for his ability to discern good and evil. But the concept is exactly the same.

So let me start in verse 17, look at this. And your servant thought, this is a woman speaking the word of my Lord. The King will set me at rest for my Lord. The King is like the angel of God to discern good and evil.

And just so she makes herself clear, she repeats the same sentiment again in verse 20, but she uses slightly different words. Look at this. Uh, but my Lord has wisdom. Here it is again, like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the.

Earth.

What is she saying? She's saying David has wisdom to know all things good and evil. In other words, he has the ability to determine what is right and wrong in the same way that a divine being like an angel of God does.

She's saying that's David's ability.

Why?

Well, because he's King, uh, because he's wise because he can make those moral judgments with authority. Are you starting to see how this phrase is idiomatically understood? This is about having the discernment to determine what is right and wrong for oneself and not only for oneself, but you know, very often for others as well.

All right, look at this. So in this passage, Solomon asked the Lord for an understanding mind so that he can perform his duties as a King in a very specific way. And here comes that phrase again. It says, give your servant, therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this, your great people.

It's the same concept in the Hebrew friends, knowledge in this case, applied knowledge or discernment between good and evil. It's not that Solomon has no idea of what good and evil really was. It's that Solomon wants to determine what is right and wrong with authority.

Wait a second. Wait a second. Would you look at that? Solomon did it the right way. Did he not remember what was the fall? Remember seeking moral autonomy, seeking moral authority to determine right and wrong apart from God, right?

What does Solomon do? He rejects the tree and he goes to God.

Amen.

He wants to lead his people well as King. And so he goes to God for that kind of moral authority. To be clear, you know, this phrase is not merely reduced to moral autonomy. So in other places in the scripture, you know, if you keep doing your studies, you'll find it describing moral maturity.

The point is, the point that I'm making is in Genesis, this is elevated to the level of divine prerogative, the right to define good and evil.

All right.

Now, what I'm telling you right now is also what biblical scholars have noticed both Christian and Jewish biblical scholars, by the way. So Bruce Waltke says, says it like this in his commentary on Genesis, the tree is good, but it belongs exclusively to God.

Sin consists of an illicit reach of unbelief, an assertion of human autonomy to no morality apart from God. The creature must live by faith in God's word, not by a professed self-sufficiency of knowledge.

Tremper Longman agrees in his commentary. This is what he says. The point is that by eating of the fruit, Adam and Eve actually partake in evil. They also assert their own moral independence from God.

In essence, through their act, they say to God, we will not allow you to define what is right and what is wrong, but we will make our own ethical judgments. Here's what John Walton says as well. The wisdom represented in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not itself the source of wisdom.

God is. They were to gain their wisdom, Adam and Eve were to gain their wisdom from him, perhaps through the tree eventually, but only as and when they were ready for it. But it's not just Christians.

The medieval Jewish commentator, Nachmanides points out that the will or the determination to choose is what was awakened in the garden. Watch this. The fruit of this tree gives birth to the will and desire that those who eat it should choose a thing or its opposite for the good or the bad.

This is why it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because Da 'at in our language refers to will or intention.

All right.

Now, to be fair, Nachmanides spoke at a time before the enlightenment. So terms like autonomy, moral autonomy, they were not a thing. So you're not going to find that particular phrase here, but it is understood that this is precisely what Nachmanides is talking about.

He's talking about moral self-determination. Now he goes on to link other concepts as well to the tree, but the consistent thread of moral autonomy is understood here in this story. That's why we find this over and over in the scripture, ladies and gentlemen, it's because the sin of Genesis chapter three, it didn't end in the garden, in Eden.

It actually set the pattern for all human rebellion. It redefined good and evil on our own terms. And once you see that, you can't unsee it. It's all over the place in the scripture. So in Genesis chapter four, instead of trusting God's way of worship, Cain decides what's acceptable for him.

The result, he murders his brother, he's exiled and he's alienated, right? In Genesis chapter 11, humanity unites to create a tower of Babel, not under God's rule, but to make a name for ourselves. Do you see that?

This is moral autonomy in the form of an ancient ziggurat, right? In the age of the judges, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Are you seeing the pattern? This is the Hebrew equivalent of saying everyone determined for themselves what was good and what was evil.

Then we get to the anointed kings of Israel from first Samuel to second Kings, right? These men were supposed to administer God's justice. Instead, they redefined it, exploited others. They worshiped idols of their own making.

This is why we get to the prophets and we find Isaiah saying this, Isaiah 520, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,.

Right?

The fall and that tree of knowledge is behind all of this. This is even why we find the prophet Jeremiah saying this, Jeremiah 17, nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it, right?

Humanity's internal moral compass is broken precisely because we took God's place as moral authority. Do you understand? Now, a moment ago, I asked the question, was the serpent lying? You know what I mean?

Again, let's, uh, let's take a look at this. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Let's stop right here.

Okay.

You see how the serpent takes something that God said and flips it upside down.

Okay.

Look at what God actually says, uh, in chapter two, verse 17, the Lord God said, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. You see how this statement is actually filled with freedom and options.

You can eat of every single tree, look around you. It's all there for you, except for one. That's the way that God frames it. The serpent reframes this to, did the, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

You see how now God appears to be restrictive and limiting, which by the way, you can't eat of any tree. That's a ridiculous question because they don't eat anything. They're going to starve, right? So that's not even what God said at all, but what the serpent did was he took the elements of what God said, and then he twisted it around to be reframed in a manner that was advantageous to him, to his purposes.

Okay.

That's what the Bible is talking about. When it says that the devil is a liar, you with me so far, uh, verse two. And the woman said to the serpent, you may, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

Neither.

Shall you touch it? Lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you'll not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

Again, a part of this is true. And a part of it isn't when Adam and Eve chose moral autonomy over God, they broke their relationship with him. They severed it. That means they could no longer remain in that dynamic, that relational dynamic they once had.

And so God sent them away from his presence. But that's the thing to be away from God, to be severed in this way, relationally is to not know him in a biblical sense and choosing not to know God who is the creator God.

He is the God of life and a flourishing choosing not to know him in this intimate way is death. That's what the Bible is communicating. This is spiritual death. This is the opposite of eternal life, right?

And what they'll gain is what the serpent said would happen. Their eyes will be opened. They will display a form of moral autonomy like God. This is literally what God says in verse 22, behold, the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil, right?

Determining morality for themselves. So that is true, but at what cost? That's the question. At what cost? The serpent makes Eve believe that there is no cost. What there is on the other side of this is liberation, freedom from the restrictions.

Of God.

The Bible tells us that there is a devastating cost that is separation and alienation from what is truly good. And that has brought the curse of death upon the whole world. Ladies and gentlemen, this story is that the fall is behind so much of what the Bible is teaching us.

Like I said, if you continue to go past Genesis chapter three, you're going to find this as the backdrop of so much of what the Bible is teaching people, you know, and once you see it, you can't unsee it.

So a moment ago I was in a Proverbs chapter three, you know, but here's how the whole thing finishes. Watch this. So again, verse one, my son, don't forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace.

They will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God.

Again, good success is that same route for wisdom that we find Eve reaching for in Genesis chapter three. But now watch this verse five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Do you see the fall here? Is that not what Adam and Eve did in the garden? Do you understand? This is everywhere. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. So if you obey the Lord, but again, more than that, you know, it's not mere obedience. If you love and, and you let love and faithfulness, um, if you let that carry with you, uh, in this dynamic you have with God, you will have proper wisdom and you will have, uh, healing in your flesh and bones.

That's, that's, that's an interesting way to say that, right? Until we understand, uh, what Proverbs is communicating is a reversal of Eden. Again, it's the reversal of the curse again.

Why?

Because the backdrop, uh, behind this particular teaching is the fall. What we have here is a promise of restoration. You know, the reversal of the curse of sin in the fall, it's right here in the Proverbs, which a lot of us, we go to the Proverbs and we're looking for, you know, principles that we can just go about our daily lives.

It's still here. The wisdom of God is all over the place in Proverbs. Ladies and gentlemen, who knew, right? I'm not, the point is I'm not overstating how much we find this in the scripture. Let me show you one more and, and then I'll close.

I'm going to, I'm going to read this with you, but again, I want you to, uh, put your garden of Eden glasses on, you know, and, and tell me what you see as I'm reading this. Watch this Romans one verse 21 for, although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking.

And their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be what wise. They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Who is Paul talking about here? They knew God, they knew the truth, but they did not honor him as God, but instead they chose their own wisdom. Does this sound familiar to you? Verse 24, therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.

Amen.

You see how, do you understand? You see how the choice of the tree over God leads to a moral autonomy, self-determination and ultimately, and this is Paul's point, self worship, because if you are your own moral judge, you get to say what is right and wrong in your own, in your own mind.

And you're in your own life. You walk around long enough pretending to be this type of person with this kind of authority. You are the one who sits as king and presides over your entire life. And when that happens, guess what happens?

You leave God out of it. You deny the truth because God is the king of the universe. And the longer you sit in this posture of self-determining, self-worship, your mind becomes warped. Your thoughts become corrupted and you do what you ought not to do.

And the expressions of this are manifold. You know what I mean? They become manifold over time. This is the whole point. Like if you thought and were taught that the curse of sin is some event, guys, it took place a long time ago.

That has nothing to do with me today. I'm walking around and the aftereffects of something that has nothing to do with me. You are sorely mistaken. The tree of knowledge was not about information, but independence from God.

The fall was not over curiosity. It was over control. Humanity said, we are going to entrust ourselves to our own moral compass. Not you, God. And mankind continues to do this to this very day. We are all participators in this curse, ladies and gentlemen.

The Bible leaves no person exempt from participating in this type of curse. We are all guilty. From Genesis to Revelation, the story of sin is always the same. Humans reach for the right to rule themselves, to be their own moral authority as if like.

Fruit.

And every time it ends in ruin. This is why we need a savior, ladies and gentlemen. We need a God who loves the world that he made so much that he gave his only son so that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life.

Actually, let me say the same thing using different words. This is why the God who loves his people, the people that he has created for himself would not let us go. He invites all who are willing to come back to him, to come back, to return to that Edenic style relationship in the garden before everything went wrong.

And that's the gospel. Actually, the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to be with him, to know him again, to love and to serve him and to abide in him the way that we were originally designed to be. And in this divine relationship, in this return to the garden, we will find redemption.

We will find peace. We will find rest as Jesus offers all of us who are willing to lay down our lives, you know, in our own self-determination and our own autonomy. This is what he says. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.