And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man’s spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And the Gods planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there they put the man, whose spirit they had put into the body which they had formed. And out of the ground made the Gods to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life, also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the Gods took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And the Gods commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob [1]; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning. (Abraham 5: 7-13)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 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. (Genesis 2: 7-10; 15-17)
Many people wonder why God would:
- Put the tree where they had easy access
- Tell them not to eat the fruit
- Banish them from the Garden when they succumbed to temptation which, He knew they would.
Sounds a little Machiavellian of God to create such a no-win scenario. In order to understand it, you have to go back to the pre-earth Council in Heaven and the two-fold purpose of the creation. The first purpose was to provide a home where God's spirit children could be born and gain mortal bodies. This part was all done before God created Adam out of the dust;
And the Gods planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there they put the man, whose spirit they had put into the body which they had formed.
And out of the ground made the Gods to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life, also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Gods took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. (Abraham 5: 8, 9, 11)
The second purpose of creation was to prove them herewith, to see if they would do all things whatsoever the Lord, their God, shall command them (Abraham 3:25.) This life is a time of probation; a time to make mistakes; a time to repent; a time to test ourselves with God's will.
Therefore: Man had to have a knowledge of good and evil in order to use his agency to make those choices necessary from him to learn and grow. BUT God would never coerce him. Man had to make that choice himself and enter into a mortal and fallen world of his own free will. Hence:
(1) the tree was there because it had to be there.
(2) God had to warn Adam of the consequences of partaking of the fruit - mortality and the ability to become a father - and ultimate death. They had to eat, they had to fall.
(3) Once Adam and his wife, Eve, had fallen, they had to leave the garden for their own protection, for in the Garden were two significant trees: the tree of which we have spoken and the Tree of Life. Had Adam and Eve partaken of the Tree of Knowledge and become fallen and then partaken of the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever in their sins and the entire purpose of the Creation would have been thwarted. Banishment was not a punishment: it was a protection, even though it may have felt like a punishment at the time. But life is like that, right?
[1] i.e., 1,000 years
© Gebara Education, 2016
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