Hey guys welcome back to Critical Thinking Aloud. Today we are going to be answering the last question I received while we were going through our massive 8 part teaching on Why is the World the way it is? During that series we had a blast looking at how the world has become the way it is through the eyes of the ancient Near Eastern Biblical authors. If you haven’t had the chance to check out that series yet, what are you waiting for? Do so now by clicking here.
While going through that teaching I received amazing feed back from you guys and got some really good questions as well. I decided to answer these questions in a three part series of which today is the concluding segment. If you have not been able to catch the other two installments yet, you may want to go through those first by clicking here.
Today in order to answer our last question we will be looking at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
How we are going to learn
Today I want to use scholarly sources from experts in their field of studies on ancient cultures to cement my case that what I teach is in fact what the ancient Near Eastern biblical authors worldview was on this topic. We will be using two amazing sources which we highly recommend.
- Faithlife Study Bible: This is an amazing resource that is free if you download the app or use it online. To download the app or use this resource online visit their website here. This resource is also available in print which you can purchase here.
- The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: This is my favorite resource for gaining a better understanding for the ancient Near Eastern worldview of the Biblical authors. This is available in a multitude of variations all of which you can find on our resource page here.
Let’s get started.
Ancient worldview
Remember that while we may have certain ideas about common everyday things, people living in the ancient Near East possessed a vastly different concept concerning the same topics. Here is a helpful insight from the Faith Life Study Bible to refresh our memory of what we have covered so far concerning the ancient Near Eastern worldview of the Biblical writers.
Mountains:
People in the ancient Near East thought of mountains as divine abodes because they were extremely remote...
Faithlife Study Bible: Cosmic Garden and Mountain Imagery in the Old Testament Article under the Notes on Genesis 2:9
Gardens:
“In the ancient Near East, garden imagery was used to describe the abode of deities, representing luxury and abundance… The divine abode represented the place where heaven and earth met.”
Faithlife Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 2:9
Trees:
“The Old Testament often connects trees with divine encounters and sacred geography Genesis 21:33; 35:4, Josh 24:26, Judges 4:5; 6:11, 19“
Faithlife Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 2:9
As we noticed in the last episode all of these concepts are intertwined to form a matrix of ideas that are coherent to the person living in the ancient Near East. The conclusion we drew last time at the end of our teaching is this:
“God dwells at the top of His mountain, exactly where the Tree of Life is said to have presided. This Tree grants eternal life, which is a capability that only God can extend. Access to both God and the Tree of Life are barred when Humans became sinful. The Tree of Life is God and God is the Tree of Life. Only God gives beings eternal life and only by consuming Gods own life is eternal life attainable.”
The Tree of Life
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
If God is the Tree of Life and if by eating from Him is how one is sustained eternally, then we must conclude that a similar idea rests behind the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is in fact what is going on in the Biblical narrative.
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'”
Genesis 2:16-17
God knows what is Good and what is Evil. From their creation Humans were asked to trust Gods judgement in all things by obeying what He deems good and evil. Gods commanded for Humans to eat from all the trees in the Garden including The Tree of Life which was good. In fact all was good except one thing, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
What this tree represented and the result that eating from it would produce on His creation was the reason that God deemed this tree to be bad.
Here is a quote from the Faithlife Study Bible to help us out.
“This tree was located within Eden- the dwelling place of God and His heavenly host… This particular tree represents a counterpart to the tree of life, which could bestows immortality.”
Faithlife Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 2:17
The counterpart
The true source of eternal life which flows from God is at the heart of the Tree of Life. If the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to be a counter part to this concept then we can conclude that a false source of eternal life which ends in death from rejecting God is at the heart of this tree.
The Nachash:
It would be an injustice to this study to leave out the mastermind behind the first rebellion “The Nachash” which is the spiritual being known to most of us as the snake. Nachash is a Hebrew word that means “snake or “serpent” which is where our translations draw upon.
Here is another quote from The faith Life Study Bible to help understand other meanings that our associated with this word nachash.
“Proper nouns of people or cities that include the Hebrew nachash indicate that the term may also mean ‘bronze’ or ‘diviner’. Conceptual parallels between Genesis 3 and ancient Near Eastern material- which also forms the backdrop of passages with similar language (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28)- suggest that the nachash in Genesis 3 could be understood in two ways. The narrative may refer to a shining divine being- a member of God’s heavenly host or council…- in serpentine appearance. In addition, the serpentine imagery may be used to convey the motif of threatening disorder associated with other serpentine figures in the OT…”
Faithlife Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 3:1
We have gone over this topic in both of our series What is Sin? and Why is the world the way it is? Part 1. Here was our summary of this spiritual being.
“In our Thinking Aloud sessions on this topic we took a look at the three main passages that deal with the fall of The Devil, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, and Genesis 3. We pointed out how in each of those passages there was a benevolent action by the Creator to create this spiritual being as something unique and gave him a position above all other created beings, but because of pride by the malevolent actions of his own free will sin was found in him and he was cast from the mountain of God.”
Critical Thinking Aloud: What is Sin?
In those prior episodes we also went over how the Seraphim in the Old Testament is a Cherub in serpentine form. If you are interested in this topic check out those other teachings for more information.
At the heart of this false tree of life is a desire to become a god unto ones self. The spiritual rebel who is offering a counterfeit eternal life by the consumption of his lies is all too eager to stage his coup against the Most High by using His own creation against Him.
The tragedy of this story is that Humans were already granted divine status by their trust in God’s ability to deem what was good and what was evil in their lives. Sadly we read this:
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5
High places
Mankind is always trying to get back what we lost on Gods mountain. Ever since their forced departure from the Garden of God, Humans have been obsessed with regaining access to the spiritual realm.
We build counterfeit mountains to contact the divine, and as mention last time the concept of the sacred tree as a means to communicate with Yahweh has been prevented to worship false deities. These are known in the biblical account as “high places” which were man made trees (poles with an idol on top).
Lastly I want to leave you with a quote from our favorite resource here at Critical Thinking Aloud The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Speaking on the topic of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they write:
“In Genesis disobedience figures prominently, and the category of godlikeness is distinct. Furthermore, the consequences of the attempt differ. Adam and Eve do achieve a level of godlikeness (like Enkidu), but with significant negative repercussions. At the same time they lose their access to immortality (like Gilgamesh and Adapa) and also suffer in their lost relationship with God, which is not an issue in any of the others. This is then an excellent example of how the comparison between the Bible and the ancient Near East shows a similar landscape but with important variations in the essential nature of the issue.”
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 3:5 pg. 12
Yes the ancient Near Eastern biblical authors share the same concepts as the nations surrounding them, but only the Biblical authors posses the truth concerning God.
I want to leave you with something to still be desired so this is where I am going to leave it for today. Pick up your copy of these resources by clicking here and start digging out some biblical treasures with your new ancient Near Eastern lenses on.
Citations:
Faithlife Study Bible. J. D. Barry et al. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012.
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Grand Rapids, Michigan USA Zondervan 2016
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If you are interested in this topic and want to learn more then check out this incredible podcast on Trees in the Old Testament by clicking Here
Check out this short video from the Bible project on The Tree of Life and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is incredible!
Let us know your thought about our series in the comment section. If you have any topics you would like to suggest please let us know and we will add them to the list of future subjects we will covered. Peace and Blessing!