Fruit

Gen 3:1-7

Here, the serpent approaches Eve and brings her attention to the tree that’s in the midst of the garden. The serpent asks a question. Did God tell you that you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Eve responds, that they can eat of trees, but should keep away from the tree in the midst; if they touch it or eat it they would die. The serpent then corrects what they think about God and tell them that they will not die. He tells them that when they eat, their eyes will be opened and God knows this. Eve will be like God and will know good and evil.

So, she sees the fruit is “good for food” and “a delight to the eyes”, so she eats and she shares it with her husband. Their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. They made clothes to cover themselves.

I have a few questions here. First of all, when did evil enter the Garden, and why did God allow this? The million dollar question I’m sure, but it would make sense if God just didn’t allow evil to enter. Also, why was there a “tree in the midst”, that was “good for food” and “a delight to the eyes” right in front of Adam and Eve? It seems that God set them up for failure. Then again, I’m not God, and I don’t know what the alternative would be. I wonder if these factors were in play because of free will and because God wants his creation to choose him. Adam and Eve had to make a choice. They had to decide to listen to what God tells them, or to not listen. They chose to not listen, and really I don’t blame them. I would have done the same. The fruit was probably magnificently beautiful, at least that’s how I imagine it. I don’t see the apple like a lot of the old paintings show. I think of a fruit that was maybe glowing in brilliant colors. I picture a much different Earth here, and I see an Earth pre-fall as beautiful beyond what I can imagine. I imagine this to be heaven. The fruit was probably impossible to resist.

Genesis is still a hard one for me. As a Christian, I was brought up to understand Genesis as a word for word exact account of actual history. I don’t think I have to look at it that way. I think I can see truths, but word for word actual history? Maybe not. But then again, maybe so. I think there are deeper points than reading Genesis as actual history.