Pastor's Blog

What's with all the trees?

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Pastor Tom

The narrative continues to describe the garden itself. The Lord God fills the garden with an abundance of trees. Verse 9 – And out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So first of all, notice there are many trees that are beautiful and good for food. When the trouble happens in the next chapter, it’s not like Adam and Eve had only two trees to choose from. There were all kinds of trees. Two are mentioned by name. The tree of life is beyond the original life breathed into man. Continuing to eat from the tree of life renewed life and prevented aging or death. The first man and woman had access to this tree.

Then there is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now if we could ask God anything about the Garden in Eden, I think many would want to ask about this tree. What might we ask? God, why did you even put this tree in the garden? This is paradise. So why even put something that has knowledge of evil? We might also ask “what does knowledge of good and evil really mean?” Some suggest it is the ability to know the difference between good and evil. That would indicate that the first man and woman did not have that ability. But if that were the case, then why would they be held accountable for their sin in Genesis 3? If they had no ability to discern whether or not something was good, would God be just in sentencing them? Others suggest it is ethical knowledge. Another possible explanation is that this refers to God’s knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge in God’s mind is under control and perfectly managed. God knows things about evil that only He should know. If man and woman were to get ahold of that knowledge they would not be capable of handling appropriately.

When we were in Alaska last summer, we went to one of those lumberjack shows. They did log rolling, sawing competitions and pole climbing. But they also did chain saw carving. It was amazing to see these guys with their chain saws carve some pretty neat stuff. They were experts with the chain saw. But give that chain saw fully gassed up with motor running to an inexperienced child and that would be a very different story. It would be dangerous, damaging and maybe even tragic. That seems to describe well what man has done with the knowledge of good and evil. But we’re not in Genesis 3 yet.
Let’s spend some more time in paradise. God has created man and given him life. He provided a place – a garden in the East, in Eden. He causes all kinds of beautiful trees to grow there. He provides water for the garden from this great river in Eden.

Next time – The first man gets to go to paradise

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