The mysterious case of the golden apple

THE FOURTH IN A SERIES OF FOUR ARTICLES BY PIERRE GILBERT. BASED ON GOD NEVER MEANT FOR US TO DIE: THE EMERGENCE OF EVIL IN THE LIGHT OF THE CREATION ACCOUNT (EUGENE, OR: WIPF & STOCK, 2020).

From all eternity, God planned the emergence of a creature that would have the ability to relate to him and be his representative on earth. By necessity, this creature would need to be endowed with free will.

But as I explained in my previous article, because God is both the originator and the primary object of human free will, a primordial choice of infinite significance was needed for the full implementation of this attribute. The test is described in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden’; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”1 It was in the actual experience of this critical choice that the process would be completed. We know, of course, that Adam and Eve ended up disobeying God. If the rest is history, there are nevertheless several questions that need to be considered. In this article, I will address two.

The first asks why God would set up a test that, according to many readers, Adam and Eve were condemned to fail. The second explores why such a seemingly innocuous act as eating from a fruit tree entailed such dire and far-reaching consequences for Adam and Eve and the rest of humanity.

That Adam and Eve (or one of their descendants for that matter) were fated to fail the test is a common view. While I cannot fully develop the argument here, a careful reading of the text reveals an entirely different picture. The key to capturing what the significance of the text is found in a careful consideration of God’s injunction to Adam and Eve. The command to refrain from eating the fruit is best described as a curse and blessing formula. While the blessing is implicit, the curse is signaled by the death threat that follows the injunction.

1  Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version c 2011.

Curses were widely used throughout the ancient Near East from at least the second half of the third millennium BC. Their primary function was to warn against committing specific actions such as disfiguring a monument, moving a border stone, or rebelling against a suzerain. While some of the inscriptions include a blessing for those who obey the terms of the inscription, most simply declare the destruction of the violator. The curse formula always assumes the reader’s freedom to respect the terms of the inscription or violate them.

Another reason for reading this passage as a curse and blessing formula derives from the precise language that is used in the expression: “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

The Hebrew noun, daat, “knowledge,” is derived from the verb yada, “to know,” which is often used to refer to experiential knowledge. When, for instance, the text states that the “man knew (yada) his wife Eve” (4:1), the implication is that Adam gained a personal and intimate knowledge of Eve. This is the tree of the experience of good and evil.

Similarly, “good and evil” does not refer, as is often believed, to some ethical abstraction. The purpose of this expression is to offer Adam and Eve the opportunity to determine their destiny: life if they obey (implicit) and death if they disobey (explicit). “Good” (tob)

alludes to the blessing, the good, and life, which is entirely consistent with its repeated usage in Genesis 1. “Evil” (ra’), on the other hand, denotes the curse, the opposite of the good, and death.2

Assuming then that “knowledge” more specifically refers to experiential knowledge and that “good and evil” more accurately reflects a curse and blessing formula, then a better translation would be: “the tree of the experience of the blessing and the curse.”

Adam and Eve chose to distrust God. While this decision successfully triggered the final step required for the full integration of human free will, this new understanding came through disobedience, which tragically resulted in the deployment of the curse as described in Genesis 3. The world as we know it is the outcome of this original act of disobedience.

The significance of this curse and blessing formula is twofold. First, it implies, as I suggest earlier, that Adam and Eve were completely free to obey or disobey God. No loaded dice here. Second, it also means that if had Adam and Eve had chosen to obey God at this critical juncture, they would have experienced the blessing. In as much as humanity was locked into the sphere of death because of Adam and Eve’s transgression, had they obeyed, humanity would have been locked into the sphere of life!

One could be forgiven for asking why such a seemingly trivial transgression as eating an “apple” entailed such severe consequences. Let me try to explain.

Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience represented more than an error of judgment resulting in a superficial rift between the humans and their creator. The severity of God’s decree banning them from the garden in 3:22 and the structural pervasiveness of God’s judgement in verses 7–21 suggest that the test of loyalty was linked to the very core of ultimate reality. It hints at an inescapable, primary, and organic connection between the vertical and horizontal spheres of human existence.

The type of decision Adam and Eve were to make can best be described as structural. While the decision would take place on the physical plane, it would instantly reverberate into the spiritual dimension. This is therefore why the test was of such magnitude and the consequences were so profound and far-reaching.

Let me try to illustrate further. We all make decisions that have greater or lesser significance for our lives. Whether I have a Coke or a Pepsi is inconsequential. What profession I choose, however, has lifetime implications. The more fundamental a decision is, the more consequential it will be. If what I have for breakfast is trivial, the decision to marry changes everything. To choose to become a follower of Christ is yet another example of a structural decision. It is a choice that not only transforms one’s mindset but one’s very being. It initiates a process of transformation that starts in this life and extends into eternity.

2  While the expression ra’ is most often translated as “evil,” particularly when alluding to evil perpetrated by men, it is frequently used to refer to disaster, destruction, or judgment. It is important to clarify the range of meaning of this word, especially in passages where a careless translation appears to ascribe moral “evil” to God (see, for instance, 1 Sam 16:23; 18:10; 19:9; 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 21:12; Job 42:11; Ps 140:11; Isa 47:11; Jer 4:6; 6:1; 16:10; 18:11; 21:10; 31:28; 39:16; Ezek 14:22; Mic 2:3).

The choice Adam and Eve were given was unique to them and reached into the very core of reality. This process had therefore the potential to transform them into the glorious creatures God intended them to become, a condition the text only hints at. Tragically, however, the First Two disobeyed. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, at that moment, a new species was born, but not the one God had envisioned. If the new species was still human, it was diminished, broken, marred, and irremediably tainted by evil.

Surely such a creature could never be redeemed. But as the apostle John proclaims: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And that says it all. Infinite love entails infinite commitment. The moment God envisioned humanity, he also foresaw the Fall and its horrific consequences. In that instant and without hesitation, He imagined a plan to redeem the creature.

The price would be terrible. It could not be otherwise. In the same way the offense reached into the very core of reality, infinite in significance, so would the cure need to be. Only the death of the Son of God could meet the awful imperatives of justice and ultimate reality.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col 1:19-20).

PIERRE GILBERT, PH.D. is associate professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at Canadian Mennonite University and MB Seminary.

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