Why did God deny Adam & Eve the knowledge (from the tree)?

Question

but then turned around and punished them when they weren't smart enough to NOT eat the fruit?

Why did he want them to remain stupid? And why did he put that darn tree there in the first place?
And why was Eve punished when it was really Satan who tricked her? She was naive and innocent and yet God punished her.

Does he not sound like a cruel God?

If you had a young daughter, would you leave her in a room with chocolate cake, tell her it would give her super powers, then tell her not to eat it, then have someone come in and tell her it's OK to eat it so she does, then punish her?

Answer 1

On the surface- it does seem like putting temptation in the way of naive children and then chuckling at their failure to resist temptation. So if on the surface it is such a silly story- why would God have put it into the bible- and if you are an atheist and don't believe in God and are busy claiming that it was really written by men- why put such a tridiculous story in since it is so easy to pick apart?

Obviously then, there must be something to it than is deepr than a mere cursory, surface reading of the story is telling you. As such- many Rabbis over the millenia have delved into this to get to what lies below the surface and thus waht is being taught. The explanation below is based on what Rashi and Ramban have to say on the subject.

The first issue is the difference between the manifestation of the "yetzer ra", evil inclination, in the Garden of Eden and after the Garden of Eden. In Judaism, there is no evil figure in opposition to God, no devil out to tempt us- that comes from the "yetzer ra" our innate desire to do wrong. In the Garden of Eden- the yetzer ra was very weak- like an external voice that could easily be ignored- thus the figure of the snake in the story- a concrete manifestation of that desire- tempting Eve to do wrong. But the snake has no free will- only humankind has free will- and thus the snake was carrying out its assigned role.

So why did Eve give n to this external desire- when internally she was being pulled the wrong way? Both Adam and Eve had the power of prophecy- they spoke to God, they saw the direct results of His actions, so why so quick to disobey his commandment? The answer given is that it is because of that power of prophecy that she sinned- she was able to see that existence in the Garden of eden would have been ultimately incorrect for her descendants. The purpose of this world is to grow spiritually, and for spiritual growth we need challenges, adversity, the making of difficult moral and ethical choices. Eve could see that in the Garden of eden such choices and decisions would be absent- and thus the purpose of the world would never be fulfilled. It is also brought that this world was created for the sake of the Torah- and in the Garden of Eden there would have been no need for the Torah- and thus the purpose of creation would have been nullified.

This was the choice that Eve was faced with- acceot an idyllic existence- bereft of real meaning, or a meaningful existence which would ultimately fulfill the purpose of creation. Eve chose what would be the best for future generations- knowing that in doing so she would be punished. Adam, too, saw the same choice and made the same decision. After eating from the forbidden fruit- they then had to face the reality of their decision. Regardless of their reasoning behind the choice, regardless of how justified and correct their decision might have been, they had to be punished for disregarding the express command of God. In a way, their punsihment was for not trusting that God would find a way to make the existence in the Garden of Eden as meaningful as outside it would be, that God would make the Torah relevant within the Garden of Eden- but rather relying on their limited human perception of the situation- no matter what the level of their prophecy may have been.

Answer 2

It's all rather stupid, isn't it?
God tells them they can eat any fruit in the garden, but not from some magical tree which will make them go from innocent and stupid to knowing good from evil. But Eve somehow knew they wouldn't die like God had said they would, but they would become "God-like" and know good from evil. What I don't understand is how Eve knew God was wrong about them dying if they ate the fruit, if she was so innocent and stupid at the time. This God was apparently lying to them. He is indeed a cruel God for punishing Adam and Eve for something they were convinced by evil to do (which they didn't know was evil telling them to eat the fruit anyway!) See why I'm not Christian!?

Answer 3

you have a lot of questions...God told them with clear instructions not to eat from the tree he didn't deny them the knowledge. They decided to use the free will that he gave them to do as they pleased (the same thing we do now) Example:We know the consequences of smoking crack is deadly, but we do have free will to smoke it anyways. God blessed us with the same common sense he blessed adam/eve w/ and they had a MUCH BETTER advantage than us b/c he spoke to them personally. They couldn't misunderstand him, he spoke directly and clearly to them. We had to find out in a much harder way that crack wasn't no joke. I feel he put the tree there as a way of showing them about the importance of being obedient. You know that wasn't the only tree that was in the garden? There was also the tree of life. They were instructed to only eat from that tree. If they would've done that then it wouldv'e been all good. Why do children put their fingers in sockets? Curiosity. Why do grown people drive fast knowing it could cause death to self or others, run stop signs etc. lawless. Do you think God put that stop sign there to tempt us to run it? Why god didn't just make us into robots and he control our every move? Then we wouldn't be able to have free will. God only mission is to get us to cling to him so he can guide us and save us. They got punished because he said that they would if they ate from the tree, and with him being God he gotta keep his word or else we wouldn't take him serious enough to follow him.He dont think like us (non-consistent) go back on our word, let people slide. Yes he do forgive, but we reep what we sow because he said so. Its evident even today that we cant just take people word for it, alot of times we gotta go through and learn the hard way. But if you got any kinda sense, it normally make you a stronger person. I bet you if adam an deve could do it over they wouldn't look at that tree. Its called helping us grow. Adam and Eve was humans just like us today and its evident from the way we act that not much has changed. I use their story as a reference to help me along the way, so should you. Sorry so long

Answer 4

He wanted them to be pure and to not know evil and it's odious ways. To know evil is to not suddenly become intelligent. Knowing evil just puts a big, black cloud over everything and you have to fight it everyday. Are your parents cruel? Did they ever tell you NOT to do something, you did it anyway and were subsequently punished for it? Did you learn anything and maybe wish you never did what they said not to do? Did you learn that maybe your parents were RIGHT? God gave them paradise and Himself. He asked as a Father one little thing. They blew it and were punished. Why blame Satan? If a crack dealer offered you crack and you got busted with it, you'd be in jail. So, is it the crack dealer's fault or yours because you KNEW it was wrong? I'd love to live in utopia where there was only one stinking request. If I had paradise after living on Earth, I'd gladly blow off eating from that tree no matter WHO told it would be great. I'd like a life with only one little rule. Father God was generous. When I was growing up, I had more rules than you can imagine. And if I disobeyed, I was punished for it. But guess what? My parents were fair with me and only asked things of me to make me intelligent and show that they cared about my development. They were right about the things I blew them off on. After Eve ate the fruit and they got cast out, they then knew they blew it too and should've stuck to the rules. It's not like God killed them for doing wrong. He just made them work for a living. And he even gave Cain a break for murder. So, what makes God cruel? He's given us more breaks and we keep messing up. But he's always there to help us pick up the pieces. Everytime, just like a good parent would.

Answer 5

That story is not meant to be taken literally but is meant to explain God giving humanity free will, which most judeo-christian religions believe to be His greatest gift to Humanity. There are always things we can choose to do or not do and free will is what makes humanity not pre-destined. The fact that she didn't know why she couldn't eat of the tree is of little significance, because life always throws things at us that we know are wrong, for one reason or another, and yet we choose to do them anyway. I have not read any theologies about the significance of her not knowing the reason why. Considering the writer is painting the first humans as naive and child-like in the paradise, they have no need to know why, just as a child doesn't need to know why you say "don't touch that!" or "stop doing that!" The point is, they knew it was wrong, she did it because G-d gave us free will and ultimately gives us control over our lives (according to the writer)

Answer 6

these literary works are tools to teach not to be taken literally.
just as mythology was a clumsy means of explanation the works of the bible are meant to instruct . So learn to think and take it for what it's worth as applicable to your life . You will never see a talking snake except in cartoon city but the inherent dangers of knowledge of good and evil are real .
Gain good judgment ;study hard and take life seriously.
if superstitious beliefs come into perspective you have gained some understanding and will be able to go even further . Strong minds make for strong lifes.

Answer 7

God does not want Adam & Eve to have the knowledge of good and evil.

Answer 8

Adam and Eve is a Myth placed in the Bible to teach us that when we choose to disobey God, there are consequences to our actions. This is the knowledge gained by this story.

Answer 9

The Tree of Life occurs again in the book of Revelation, where it stands in the New Jerusalem. It is a reward for the faithful.

Answer 10

The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was not some fruit that when eaten gave a person knowledge.

It was the symbol for the test of obedience to law, to God's rule. Thus those that obeyed it showed that they recognized God as the source of knowledge of good and evil and that he had the right to determine what is good and evil.

By eating this fruit, Adam demonstrated 1. his self-rule, 2. his self-determination of what is good and evil. 3. his rejection of theocracy. 4. and the rejection of God's guidance. 5. his rejection of God's protection and cure of ills.

We now suffer self-rule with all its problems and this is why there are disasters, war, etc.

See these links:
http://bythebible.page.tl/Evil__Why-f-.htm
http://bythebible.page.tl/God%5C-h-s-Payback.htm