(614) Don’t desire the knowledge of evil. “Then Yahweh, God, took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And Yahweh, God, commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but 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.’” (Genesis 2:15-17) Adam and his bride were given an enclosed, protected environment called Eden (from the Hebrew root ‘adan, meaning enjoyment or pleasure) in which to live. It was quite literally “paradise”—a word that means “a walled garden.” Here, sheltered and provided for in every way, they were set apart from the animal kingdom (including any proto-hominids Yahweh had introduced into the biosphere) by God’s gift of the neshamah—the “breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). This made humans unique: in addition to having a soul (nephesh) which made our bodies alive (like all animals), the neshamah gave us the capacity for spiritual life, that is, the ability to be indwelled by and respond to the eternal Spirit of God.

In this perfect environment, Adam and Chavvah (Eve) already had the knowledge of good—it was all they knew, for evil was kept at bay by God’s provision and presence. Yahweh had provided this paradise for them because of His love: in fact, we were unique among His creatures in having been created for no other purpose than to share a loving relationship with Him. But having created animals and angels, Yahweh knew that love came with a catch: in order for love to be given, it must be possible for it to be withheld. Love requires choice; in order for the concept to have any meaning, it must be possible to choose not to love.

Animals have no capacity for real spiritual love. Without a neshamah, they operate purely on instinct, emotion, and intellect, no matter how much devotion, loyalty, or affection they might display. On the other hand, though angels do have the requisite spiritual nature, Yahweh created them without the privilege of choice. They’re like soldiers in an army who, though capable of autonomous action, are not given the prerogative of disregarding their commander’s instructions. Like any soldier, of course, they have the capability to disobey, but not the legal right. If they do, they become rebels, outlaws, demons whom Yahweh will incarcerate when it suits His purpose. Without the privilege of choice, the concept of love is meaningless for angels; and for animals without the capacity for spiritual life, it is equally meaningless. Man is the only created being with both the capacity and the privilege of choosing to reciprocate God’s love. It is what we were made for.

Which brings us back to Eden. Why did Yahweh place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden if He didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from it? Because He wanted to give them a simple, binary way to demonstrate their trust. If you trust Me to provide for all your needs, then obey My voice in this one small matter. Your choice will reveal your love for Me, for it will reveal your understanding and acceptance of my love for you. Chavvah thought she was trading innocence for wisdom. In reality, she was exchanging her innocence for mere experience—a bad bargain however you slice it. As we would learn much later, “The reverence for Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding [binah: discernment, insight].” (Proverbs 9:10) Experiential knowledge of evil, on the other hand, leads only to death.

We shouldn’t gloss over the apparent contradiction of the warning, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam and Chavvah both went on to live very long lives—Adam lived to be 930 years old! So did God lie? No. Physical death (the separation of the soul/nephesh from the body) was only a metaphor for the more serious sort of death about which Yahweh was warning them: spiritual death, the separation of His Spirit from their neshamah. That happened immediately, and life could only be restored, it turned out, through the shedding of innocent blood.

If you are dying and refuse the cure, the doctor is not punishing you.