Question 92. What was the first law of obedience revealed by God to man?

 

Question 92. What was the first law of obedience revealed by God to man?

 

Answer. Besides the special command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the rule of obedience revealed to Adam in his state of innocence, and to all mankind whom he represented, was the moral law, or law of religious life.

Genesis 2:8-9 "And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." In the Hebrew Bible, specifically in chapter 2, verse 9,

וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְטֹ֣וב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּתֹ֣וךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת טֹ֥וב וָרָֽע׃

Again translated, "And out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow, every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life in the middle of the garden; and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

God caused all the trees to grow in the Garden of Eden, and when describing all the trees, he expressed two things: a tree that was pleasant to look at and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden. However, there is no special expression for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, it is not that there was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, but that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was separate, like a poisonous mushroom. It is not confirmed whether this tree is in the middle of the garden or on the edge.

So, it is said not to eat the fruit of the tree that is like a poisonous mushroom. It is clear that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not created by God.

Most believers believe that God created the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that God watched whether Adam and Eve kept the command or not. So they say that this was God's first command, and that humans were driven out of Eden because they did not keep the command. Humans speak to Adam as if they were enemies, saying that because of Adam's original sin, all people became sinners.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is like a poisonous mushroom, and if you eat the fruit from it you will die. Who made it? Genesis 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

The story of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden is the story of the angels who sinned in the kingdom of God before the creation of the world. Angels are God's messengers, but among them there were those who did not keep their positions and committed crimes. 2 Peter 2:4 "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of darkness to be kept until the judgment."

The fallen angels thought they could become like God. Since God gave angels special abilities, they wanted to collect those abilities and become like God themselves, which is the collective knowledge of angels, and it is expressed as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The collective knowledge of angels is not separate when it is the knowledge of each individual, but when collected, it becomes an amazing ability, which we can see through artificial intelligence.

Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because the evil angels wanted to be like God, so they shared the knowledge of the angels they created. The reason why artificial intelligence is scary is because it is thought that the intelligence of many people will gather in one place, become real, learn on their own, and surpass human intelligence.

Therefore, “Do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is not a command given in the form of God’s sovereign power, but a prohibition because eating it will lead to death. This is because the knowledge of angels ultimately destroyed the status of angels and they opposed God by wanting to become like God.

The reason adults forbid children to do something is because it is dangerous, and adults know that children will go down the wrong path in the future, so they do it as a form of protection. God’s command not to eat was to save the angels, not to kill them. In order to save the evil angels, the shared collective knowledge of the angels must be destroyed.

God confined them all in the flesh to show what the result of the collective knowledge of angels would be. The result would be self-righteousness, and it would be building the Tower of Babel. Everyone is building the Tower of Babel. However, those who realize it will know that it is against God and will give up. This is what Jesus meant when he said to deny himself.