The long-anticipated post- What’s up with the trees in Genesis 1-3? Are they actually trees that God made? Is there some other way we can understand them?
Let’s look at the first tree, the Tree of Life. The theme of a life-giving tree is not uncommon in the Ancient Near East. I could find eleven instances of the Tree of Life in Scripture alone:
Genesis 2:9, 3:22, and 3:24
Proverbs 3:18, 11:30, and 13:12
Revelation 2:7, 22:2, 22:14, and 22,19
The tree in Genesis is referred to as an actual entity, a concrete item. In Proverbs, the phrase is used more metaphorically, potentially used as an expression to sum up the idea of a tree of life or something life-giving as opposed to a literal tree that has life-giving fruit. The occurrences in Revelation seem to indicate a tangible tree or trees.1 Now, is this a real tree? There is nothing to indicate it is not. With the expulsion from the Garden and God baring the way to this specific tree in 3:24. John Walton suggests “We should view the tree of life as having fruit that extends life rather than instantly grants immortality.”2 Walton argues that the connections to Proverbs suggests not a perpetual result but a temporary state when ingesting the fruit, which also lines up with the uses in Revelation. It would also seem this way because Jesus is the ultimate bringer of life. The Trees in Revelation serve a function in Revelation 22, with the understanding that sustaining life is provided by God and living in His presence.
Now we turn to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. To me, this tree presents the most interpretive, philosophical, and theological difficulty! There is no indication this is also not an actual tree that bears fruit but the only reference to it is in Genesis 2 and 3. If this was such a damaging tree, why did God make it? Walton makes a good point in this conversation:
Knowing good and evil is characteristic of God (Gen. 3:6) but not of children (Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:15—16), the elderly (2 Sam. 19:35), or the inexperienced (1 Kings 3:9). It is something that people are inclined to desire and can use to gain wisdom (see Gen. 3:6). Even though Adam and Eve lacked this knowledge, they could still be held responsible for obedience; and when people gain the knowledge by eating the fruit, they can be legitimately described as being like God.3
It is not that God was attempting to rob the man and woman of this knowledge, but this specific knowledge brings with it further responsibility. God knew this would happen, He knew they would take from the tree and eat, yet He still made it. Why? The best way I can understand this is by equating this situation with raising kids. You do tend to “baby-proof” your house, but no matter what you do, they will still manage to get into things they are not supposed to. The best way to “keep them safe” is to put them in a padded room they can’t open from the inside. Is that any way to live? Does that life bring enjoyment, contentment, and peace? God knew beforehand the heartbreak and loss this tree would bring, but He still made it. And ultimately, the tree itself did not cause the problem. The people did. Many will blame God for the creation of the tree and the ensuing problems, but I seem to recall the woman and the man as the root actors in that part of the narrative. It is truly an act of love that God allows His creation to choose between Him and evil. Which would you choose?
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See especially Revelation 22:2 which seems to indicate possibly several trees that produce multiple types of fruit and leaves that have healing or restorative properties.
John Walton, NIV Application Commentary: Genesis, (Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan, 2001) 170.
Walton, NIV Application Commentary: Genesis, 171—172.
There is a good amount of debate around this very subject and I have some more thoughts on it as well. Look for a future post as I do some writing around it. I hope to have an academic level paper drafted in the next few months to present somewhere next year but as I write that I will most likely put snippets here as well in different words
Great thoughts per usual. Thank you.
I am kicking around the idea that what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil offered that was unique was the knowledge of evil. I think Adam and Eve, humanity, knew good by their experience but not the knowledge of evil.
This tree offered them the new knowledge of both good and evil so they, as you said, could become God like. God knows how to judge between good and evil but we don’t. They didn’t have the ability to see clearly as a child doesn’t know.
So God warns them and they fell and we all now experience this same desire to judge between what is good and evil the way we judge one another and ourselves. We find it easy to give ourselves grace knowing what motivates us, but we assume the worst in other motivations. This is why Jesus tells us to judge not. We think we see clearly but what we actually ignore is the log in our own eye.