Earthling
David Henson
The tree of knowledge of good and bad has been mistaken for everything from sex to knowledge in general but is the point often missed?
The tree was an ordinary fruit bearing tree. No celestial or magic powers. Some speculate that it was a pomegranate tree, but that's only speculation and irrelevant. Jehovah's prohibition was not only against eating but also against merely touching it or it's fruit. It was a representation, a visual reminder of Jehovah God's sovereignty. The Jerusalem Bible of 1966 says: “This knowledge is a privilege which God reserves to himself and which man, by sinning, is to lay hands on, Genesis 3:5, 22. Hence it does not mean omniscience, which fallen man does not possess; nor is it moral discrimination, for unfallen man already had it and God could not refuse it to a rational being. It is the power of deciding for himself what is good and what is evil and of acting accordingly, a claim to complete moral independence by which man refuses to recognise his status as a created being. The first sin was an attack on God’s sovereignty, a sin of pride.”
The tree was a visible reminder to newly created man that he needed God's guidance and protection.
The tree was an ordinary fruit bearing tree. No celestial or magic powers. Some speculate that it was a pomegranate tree, but that's only speculation and irrelevant. Jehovah's prohibition was not only against eating but also against merely touching it or it's fruit. It was a representation, a visual reminder of Jehovah God's sovereignty. The Jerusalem Bible of 1966 says: “This knowledge is a privilege which God reserves to himself and which man, by sinning, is to lay hands on, Genesis 3:5, 22. Hence it does not mean omniscience, which fallen man does not possess; nor is it moral discrimination, for unfallen man already had it and God could not refuse it to a rational being. It is the power of deciding for himself what is good and what is evil and of acting accordingly, a claim to complete moral independence by which man refuses to recognise his status as a created being. The first sin was an attack on God’s sovereignty, a sin of pride.”
The tree was a visible reminder to newly created man that he needed God's guidance and protection.