Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 1:38 pm:

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Eve replied, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

The dichotomy of Eve’s response is so subtle, yet so powerful, that if it escapes one’s eye in countless readings, the power with which one finally receives it is overwhelming. In the fact that they might eat every fruit of the garden, she does not say, “God said we may eat of every tree in the garden,” but simply, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.” But in God’s command, we find (Genesis 2:16-17):

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And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

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God’s command was not merely the command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. The text points out a truth that is often glossed-over by the Law-bound exegete: Included in the command is the command to be free to eat of every tree but one. The first command about trees that God gave to man is the command to live freely in God’s grace, in His providing. The passage undeniably includes this in the command to man: “LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat…’” “Be free! Live in My love!” It is this first command that Eve forgets.

The text makes the second command a subordinate command, subordinated by the conjunction but. God says, “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” From there, He gives the great explanation of why. “For on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” If Adam were to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, he would die, and thus be unable to fulfill the first command. For man to eternally obey God’s command to live freely in His love, man would have to live eternally. As we shall see, humanity’s violation of the second command was the result of his disbelief in the first, and made his obedience to the first impossible. Even before this, we read a parallel command (Gen. 1:28):

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“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

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Adam and Eve are commanded to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, to have dominion over it. This is a command to live in the gracious providence of God, enjoying the blessings which He has given them. He then commands them note merely to receive His providence, but to see that He has provided for their needs, saying (vs. 29):

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See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

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But Eve does not resort to these commands. She does not point out that, above all else, God has asked them to live in the delight of His grace. She doesn’t quote God until she gets to the forbidden fruit: “God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” In this she simply takes for granted the love of God, His provision by grace of her needs. She does not see the grace as God’s revelation of Himself to her, but simply takes it as a state of reality, apart from God’s grace, that she may eat from the tree. She was, in a sense, praying the dinner thanksgiving prayer of Bart Simpson: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.”

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Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 2:14 pm:

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And in today's language, what would be that one tree?

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BTW, seems to me that not only did she take the first part of God's command for granted, she added to the second part. Do you see any 'neither shall ye touch it' in the original command?

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