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Tuesday, March 30, 2004

The Garden of Eden 

According to Jonathan Magonet (A Rabbi's Bible, 1991 London: SCM Press) the use of the term 'knowledge of good and evil' elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible indicates that which a child lacks, or more general wide-ranging knowledge (good and evil being opposite poles). Magonet seems to interpret it as being knowledge of the possibilities open to us. Possession of such knowledge thereby involves a burden of responsibility that Adam and Eve did not previously have. The subsequent awareness of their nakedness, also based on other biblical use of the word, Magonet interprets as the awareness of helplessness, weakness and dependence. Magonet also interprets the warning about death to indicate a change in Adam's awareness of the death that is ahead of him.

In my view the 'knowledge of good and evil' has the same implication whether it is seen as moral knowledge (what it says on the can) or knowledge of possibilities. Either way, it indicates that the knowledge is of alternatives. Magonet is correct in seeing this as conferring responsibility, for whatever the knowledge actually consists of, it implies the responsibility to choose between alternatives. As long as there is ignorance of the alternatives that exist there is freedom from the burden to choose any particular alternative. When ignorance is replaced by awareness of a range of alternatives there comes with that awareness the burden of having to choose among them.

In the story, Adam and Eve are initially unaware of any alternative to obeying God's command not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. All they know is that if they eat the fruit then they will die, so for them there really is no alternative. Their obedience is unquestioned. The snake suddenly presents them with an alternative, by suggesting that they won't die but will become like God. I think Magonet may be correct in saying that at this point in the story a change has already been effected in Eve, before the fruit has been taken. In a way the fruit is unnecessary; it exists to provide the alternative.

The responsibility to choose also implies the possession of autonomy. Adam and Eve have moved away from their unquestioned obedience to God to having to decide for themselves between good and evil. Their relationship to God has changed forever. Even if they always choose good or choose God, it is their own choice to do so.

The first result of this changed awareness and relationship is the awareness of nakedness. There is a kind of safety in not having to take responsibility. Making choices moves you out of that comfort zone, for you might make bad choices. Responsibility brings with it vulnerability.

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