Evil isn't in Knowing, as Evil is in Partaking
And Jehovah ... causeth to sprout from the ground every tree desireable for appearance, and good for food, and [additionally] the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9, with bracket information added to the Young's Literal Translation, for clarity
And out of the ground made the Lord ... to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; also the tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge and evil. Genesis 2:9, a paraphrase based on reading the King James Version, for clarity
Out of the ground the Lord ... caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9, from the New American Standard Bible
This is a little like preaching to the choir, but I think we sometimes have to be mindful that some of our Bible translations need us to seek a little more deeply. And, when we seek a little more intentionally, we need to keep prayerful, knowing we sometimes will find error.
One thing we ought to keep in mind to avoid error, is understanding that everything we see of God's word is a translation. Some translations of the Bible were not written with modern punctuation, and some things about ancient languages aren't clear to us right away.
A simple example of how a punctuation error can have an affect on some people's reading of the Bible, is in Psalm 4:8, which some people have mistakenly read as if to say, I will lie down in peace and sleep for you only, Lord; you make me dwell in safety. The mistake in punctuating the Psalm this way is in that the mispunctuation causes it to seem as if David prayed that he would lie down and sleep for God, because God gives safety. But that's not what David meant in this prayer!
Instead, David is thanking the Lord for the good sleep he will have, because he knows the Lord always keeps him safe from any violation of any kind. David was not praying that some man, a proxy for God, would allow him to sleep in security and so, okay, for this man I lay myself down.
Oh my God, no!
But the scripture, clearly worded and punctuated, can be like this:
I will lie down in peace and sleep. For you alone, Lord, always cause me to dwell in safety.
David was being faithful, trusting that Heaven always kept him safe.
So, again, it becomes important, sometimes, to keep working on our understanding of scriptures we feel are somehow being misused or misinterpreted, even those printed translations that seem a little ill-aligned with the Holy Spirit.
For example, Genesis 2:9 is a scripture I realized couldn't be what a minister was saying it is, when I heard a message that said everything in Heaven's garden of Eden was good to eat, including the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
I knew that wasn't right.
Genesis 2:9 does not say the forbidden tree was good for food. It says the garden of Eden had every kind of seed-bearing plant that was good for food, and, in the middle of the garden, another kind of tree.
When someone goes to a restaurant and sees side items on the menu, and there are instructions saying you can have a green vegetable and fries, that person wouldn't have any problem understanding the importance of the word and — in that moment or in that context. So, why choose a reading of GOD's word that omits the fact that there really was an indication in the original Bible text that, in addition to trees good for fruit, there also was a tree that wasn't for sustenance?
When we get that right understanding of the word, we don't wind up off course in acknowledging how awesome our heavenly Father really is.
Having a wrong understanding, some people have written and have preached, in very public ways, that God gave Adam and Eve a forbidden tree in order to test their obedience. But that's not it!
God made this world complex, and He always has allowed some amount of unpleasantness in the making of our habitat. He used dinosaurs, for example, to prepare rich soils and fuels he knew we would need. And he mandated that Satan leave Heaven and be in this world even before Adam and Eve.
God knew this world, His complex creation, would be very slow to bring to a point of harmony. He knew the problems mankind would have to work through. He knew the sin nature that was first apparent in Satan, who has the same free will that God meant each of us to have.
God also knew the things he would provide for specific purposes, not ever meaning to tempt us with anything (James 1:13).
Sometimes I wonder whether the forbidden tree in Eden, was a medicinal plant, meant only for use by the skilled physicians who would be born one day. Misuse of the tree, like misuse of any medicine, surely would bring about death.
The Lord, being our heavenly parent, knew to give instructions just as sure as the many parents He would eventually bring into this world. Like any earthly parent, He gave instructions so that we could learn to manage in life.
In managing our lives, there are times we encounter and have to negotiate serious problems (Matthew 10:16), even problems among our own loved ones or church families.
In fact, it's in that sense that I'm writing this post: to say that the freedom we have as Christians isn't freedom to continually meddle and sin against ourselves or one another. That's just a Gospel fact.
God has given us guidance: some clear guidance, but also some words to us a little lost or muddled through years of translation. Yet if we keep close to the Lord, living prayerfully and seeking Jesus through His word (the way Heaven has told us to), we can not only find our help in life, but can also help interpret or magnify God's words — so that others of us can forsake the errors of their way and find the better, more harmonious way.
By the way, God's giving of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn't to say we're supposed to go through life ignorant of this world's evils (again, Matthew 10:16).
As mature Christians, we are supposed to be aware and able to defend ourselves. We're supposed to be aware of our health and able to seek medical help.
Think about it: The Bible doesn't call Jesus the great physician without reason. Jesus is our very real healer, and, through granting us knowledge, skills, natural resources, and the capacity to work together, He vests in us the ability to cope with the truth of our circumstances and to aid our healing.
Can you imagine the great physician, who enables doctors to be good, wanting us to walk in ignorance or without any truth. Nothing good or healing happens without truth!
It's just a fact of life that, sometimes, we do confront problems that have to do with knowledge of both good and evil. But godly guidance says to handle both good and evil with discernment that comes through praying, waiting on God for answers, and so on.
Overall, this is to say that, as Christians, we don't partake of or "eat" from the knowledge of evil. But we do have an awareness that helps us to know how to get along better in a world that, for now, is complex, imperfect, and in need of Jesus.
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