The Tree - Moses 4:6-17; Genesis 2:5-17; Abraham 5:5-13

The creation of “man” is explained in various steps throughout the beginning of Genesis, Moses, and Abraham, which means that this is a story told in pieces and I’m kind of frustrated because I wanted to do the whole thing in order and now that we are 6 days into the creation, there is all this added stuff about spiritual creation and Satan being cast out, so I’ll try to circle back the best I can. Yesterday when we learned that the Gods created “man,” there was a very simple reference to who he was and his companion, saying, “male and female, created I them.” We don’t find out here their identity or their significance. In fact, it’s not until later in Genesis 2, Moses 3, and Abraham 5 that we find out that they weren’t even created at the same time, together. When the Gods formed the man, they took the elements from the earth or as they called it, “the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man because a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also.” The concept of a “living soul” is when the spirit and the body are joined. Here we have this guy, created by the Gods from the elements of the earth, “and the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” The Man is given responsibility for all the plants and animals in the Garden, and told “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.” Here’s the question that has always bothered be, why was Adam told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if that’s what needed to happen for the plan of salvation to move forward for the rest of us? Pretty shady if you ask me. Some of the things that I’ve reasoned over the years about this concept have to do with agency, justice, and the nature of God. Why did God command Adam and eventually Eve to not partake of the fruit? It couldn’t be an arbitrary rule that didn’t have any significance, it had to be something purposeful. We can answer this question with another question, why does God give us commandments at all? Because He wants to help us avoid pain as much as possible, God gives us commandments so that we can follow the path of happiness. God knew that if they ate from the tree, they would have to be kicked out of the garden and would have to live miserable lives in the fallen world. God had to warn them that eating the fruit would have dire consequences. Adam had to choose to partake of the fruit of that tree knowing full well that he had been commanded by God not to do so. He had to willingly break a commandment, especially the one that facilitated the fall. If Adam had not chosen and God had just kicked him out into the world anyway, that would be unjust and God couldn’t do that. But here’s the part that I think really highlights the wisdom of God, the whole plan of salvation centered around Adam and Even disobeying God. God didn’t want for them to disobey, but he knew that they would do and planned for it. I think one of the biggest lies Satan tells us is that the plan was for Adam and Eve to live in the garden forever and because he convinced them to be disobedient, God is just trying to play catch up for the entirety of human existence. The other important point here is that after God commanded Adam not to eat the fruit, only Moses and Abraham recount God’s continued counsel, saying, “nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This part is important because without it, the account in Genesis implies that God hadn’t even considered the possibility that Adam and Eve would disobey, which feeds into Satan’s narrative that he outsmarted God.