January 16th

Knowledge seems to be one aspect that separates man from God. The man and woman are unaware of so many aspects of life until they eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, and then they gain greater sensitivity to the world and themselves. Michael Legaspi writes about several different interpretations of the knowledge Adam and Eve gain in eating the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. One explanation is that they have a sort of sexual awakening, which the text seems to support as the only new thing they discover after eating the fruit is that they are naked and wish to cover up. A different explanation is that the knowledge was of everything, making Adam and Eve omniscient in a similar or identical way to God. Legaspi also claims that eating, as opposed to touching or observing, indicates that man is further separated from God. Man needs food to live, making him a “dependent, embodied creature,” whereas God does not need to eat. Beyond just an act of disobedience, we can describe the fall of man as an exercise of free will that turns out poorly. It shows that the humans can make their own choices independent of God, but have the power to do bad, which God does not. I think that this act of disobedience makes Adam and Eve both more and less God-like. The are more God-like in that they are showing that they have the free will to make choices with concrete consequences, just as God can, and that they now have knowledge possibly equivalent to God’s knowledge. It deteriorates, however, because Adam and Eve are still subject to God’s power and must leave the garden as he instructs.