Forbidden

So many beginnings take root here in the first three chapters of Genesis. I find myself going back to the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The recognition that evil already existed. And it did. Satan had already established himself on the earth, scattering his own seed about.

God so desired to guard his beloved’s heart from knowledge (experience of) of that evil. But one must note that the tree was more than knowledge of evil, it was also knowledge of good. To participate in one is to see into the other. Talk about a paradox.

When Eve ate of that forbidden tree, she was choosing to participate, share in, spread iniquity. James delineates so beautifully that digression, that fall into death. Desire was never forbidden, only tasting the fruit of its vine when the desire diverged from God’s way, God’s directives.

Evil is first mention in Genesis 2, contained in the fruit of a tree. Had Eve any inkling of what would manifest as the worst contagion earth has ever known? Or did fulfilling her desire take precedence over any and all inklings she might have had.

We will never know, but when next evil is mentioned, it is outside of the Eden, and God lays bare the chilling consequences of that ‘foothold’ gained in a garden called Delight:

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (6:5)

Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;" (8:21)

Nothing had changed. Everything had changed. Yet still, God allowed Adam to name his wife LIFE ... and this, after her choosing a way other than God’s … Grace! Grace! Grace!