Jon: So today on the show, we'll dive into the meaning of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's pretty cool. And so they make the wrong decision, God shows up and it's like, "Oh, no, really, you ate from the tree I commanded you not to." Tim: Arum. Within this protected space, this orchard planted in the delightful region, are two trees that are central (quite literally) to our story. And so he exiles them from the garden. God commands humans to enjoy the gift of eternal life. He wants to make them know what is good and evil but on His clock not by their covetous desire. That tree was a very slow grower. Jon: God plants the garden. Although her hair was nearly white, he recognized the same tenderhearted Gardner he knew from so long ago. That kind of thing. The first command it doesn't place the tree of life off- limits, and then if you obey the command, then you get to the tree of life. He lowered his branch so the boy could reach it. Tim: Game over. You're helping me be consistent. They were destroyed by the evil beings Ungoliant and Melkor, but their last flower and fruit were made into the Moon and the Sun. YES! But more often, it's just, "Man, there's two routes. Jon: It's something that we can take and experience eternal life. The first tree is not living with open senses to the world around, but instead is more concerned with his need to search for external acceptance. Avoid it. The snake's head will be crashed. He became angry and shouted at the storm. Tim: That's right. Why would God put in this good garden such an incredible test,? ", Jon: But then God says, "You can't eat of the tree because now you know good from the bad because you are like me. A Tale of Two Trees - Serpents of Desire, Part 2 by Rabbi David Fohrman Mankind's undetermined nature, perched precariously between mortality and immortality. Jon: So a test in Hebrew is the idea of a moment where your true quality is exposed. So it's very important. It means responsibly making moral decisions and being responsible for them, which is a good thing. This is awesome!”. It's the tale of two trees so to speak. The permanently corrosive effects of taking from the tree are illuminated further at Mount Sinai, when Moses meets God at a tree (the burning bush) on a high place and receives God’s commands. We've talked about this before. One spring they each grew several pink blossoms on their small branches. Jon: People are trees - to be a metaphor? [foreign language 00:49:05], By using this website, I acknowledge that I am 16 years of age or older, and I agree to the. It shares lots of similarities to what people mean and how they are and the role they play in the story. It's also beneficial and harmful, life-giving, catastrophic, harm, death-bringing kind of thing. So the humans, they still are kind of childish in their ability to know good from bad. At the end of the story, see information regarding the self-esteem and parenting philosophies used in the story. But instead of trusting God to give them this knowledge, humans took it for themselves. Tim: Yeah. Tim: Exactly. So what nobody does in the story is say "I did it and I'm sorry." “It’s good that at least I have apples,” declared the first tree, “or else they would not want to visit us.”. Copy. You shall eat eat. I got it. So I will take what I want. Welcome to the story of Abraham. So the warning about the tree of knowing good and bad is eating from the tree of knowing good and bad will result in forfeiting the thing that is already yours. It is a famous children’s book that can be read as a basic primer about human beings in relationship to nature. Tim: I'm pretty sure it's going to be the tree of life. In one sense they did become like elohim, knowing good from bad. Tim: We shoot in the dark a lot of times. 22:2). Jon: He's crafty. That's right. Jon: On page two of the Bible, God plants humanity in the garden. The first command is to eat of all the trees. Tim: It is not a god, but it is a gift of God. From her canteen, she poured some water into each hole to help the seeds start growing. It feels not a test I would want give anyone. Now in the next episode, we talked about there are two specific trees in the garden narrative in Genesis 2. • Episode 3. Jon: God wants to rule with us, we're incapable of doing it, we've failed the test. Tim: Yeah, that's right. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Tim: So getting back to the wording here, first command is "from all the trees of the garden you may eat eat but from the tree of knowing good and bad you shall not eat because in the day you eat from that tree you will die die.". A light breeze blew across the valley and over the hillside. Trees frequently appear in the Bible, and they often serve as a metaphor for people (see Psalm 1-2). “Don’t pick so many,” scolded the first tree. And God says to Adam and Eve, "Eat of any of these trees." Both trees, fulfilled by the Gardner’s visit, lived many happy years on the grassy hillside. That's always the choice. It's a gift. That's Genesis 2. And you can find out all that we're up to on our website, thebibleproject.com. “Now, everyone will pick my apples. Tim: Yeah, eat eat. That God planted it. Just blatant inversion of God's words. Tim: And Moses will go on to say in the book of Deuteronomy, "These commands are life. The Tale of Two Trees Adrian Rogers Genesis 2 Genesis chapter two, and verse fifteen, "And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The second seed also began to push his roots into the ground. You could have life this way.". Tim: "It was the serpent. Tim: And this is where I might be pondering the story for the rest of my life. Jon: Right. A Tale of Two Trees. And that's what's going to happen in the narrative. Sometimes it doesn’t. Let me tell you what God knows because I've heard Him talk about it." Can a partridge live in a pear, even if it's not in a tree? In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Two Trees of Valinor are Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree, which brought light to Valinor, a paradisiacal realm also known as the Undying Lands where angelic beings lived. So I kind of can understand that. So the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, one is, hey, I'm hungry, that'll satisfy my desire, but it was also beautiful. No, no, no. In the middle of the garden is the tree of life, a common image in ancient cultures. We'll start again.". When God shows up and says, "Hey, have you eaten..." He asked them a question. The second tree enjoyed the buzzing of the busy little bees. 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