WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE FRUIT?
And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "...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 die." Gen. 2:16, 17, R.S.V.
This verse has suffered terribly at the hands of casual readers through the centuries. To many it seems little more than a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, complete with magic apples that cast spells. Only, in this case, an evil serpent peddles the fruit and an angry God casts the spell.
Other popular views end up with perceptions of God that are almost as distasteful. It is commonly held that God simply picked a tree at random in the garden, then told Adam and Eve not to touch it. It was merely a test of their obedience to arbitrary commands. An arbitrary command, since it has no inherent consequences for disobedience, must be upheld by the threatened wrath of the Law-giver. Thus God is one who deals in an arbitrary manner with His intelligent friends, and then threatens to kill them if they don't submit.
Isaiah tells us that Lucifer wanted to make himself like God (Isa. 14:12-14)--as one who himself could sustain life. How absolutely vital it is that the whole universe be able to know the truth about who the Life-giver really is!
And so God identified two trees to Adam and Eve. To eat from the tree of life expressed their ongoing choice to draw life from the Life-giver. There was no magic in the fruit; God Himself was the source of eternal life. To go to Satan's tree would be a fatal mistake, not because God was angry with them, but because they would have traded the Life-giver for a fraud.
Satan wasn't just offering fruit; he was appealing for a shift of loyalties. He implied that God was not telling them the truth, that God was keeping them in line through false threats. He claimed he could take better care of them than the Father could, by helping them experience immediate growth. "Trust me as your life-giver," he said. Sadly, they did. Having broken their relationship with God, they rightfully should have died--and the second death at that!
But God had another plan in mind for upholding reality. On a rugged hill near Jerusalem, Jesus Himself revealed to the universe what happens when people separate from the Life-giver.
And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "...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 die." Gen. 2:16, 17, R.S.V.
This verse has suffered terribly at the hands of casual readers through the centuries. To many it seems little more than a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, complete with magic apples that cast spells. Only, in this case, an evil serpent peddles the fruit and an angry God casts the spell.
Other popular views end up with perceptions of God that are almost as distasteful. It is commonly held that God simply picked a tree at random in the garden, then told Adam and Eve not to touch it. It was merely a test of their obedience to arbitrary commands. An arbitrary command, since it has no inherent consequences for disobedience, must be upheld by the threatened wrath of the Law-giver. Thus God is one who deals in an arbitrary manner with His intelligent friends, and then threatens to kill them if they don't submit.
Isaiah tells us that Lucifer wanted to make himself like God (Isa. 14:12-14)--as one who himself could sustain life. How absolutely vital it is that the whole universe be able to know the truth about who the Life-giver really is!
And so God identified two trees to Adam and Eve. To eat from the tree of life expressed their ongoing choice to draw life from the Life-giver. There was no magic in the fruit; God Himself was the source of eternal life. To go to Satan's tree would be a fatal mistake, not because God was angry with them, but because they would have traded the Life-giver for a fraud.
Satan wasn't just offering fruit; he was appealing for a shift of loyalties. He implied that God was not telling them the truth, that God was keeping them in line through false threats. He claimed he could take better care of them than the Father could, by helping them experience immediate growth. "Trust me as your life-giver," he said. Sadly, they did. Having broken their relationship with God, they rightfully should have died--and the second death at that!
But God had another plan in mind for upholding reality. On a rugged hill near Jerusalem, Jesus Himself revealed to the universe what happens when people separate from the Life-giver.
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