In the Book of Genesis, the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the
tree of knowledge (occasionally, the
tree of conscience) was a
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the middle of the
Garden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
. .
GodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
directly forbade Adam (
EveEve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...
having not yet been created) to eat the fruit of this tree. A serpent tempted Eve, who was aware of the prohibition against eating the
forbidden fruitForbidden fruit is any object of desire whose appeal is a direct result of knowledge that cannot or should not be obtained or something that someone may want but is forbidden to have....
of the tree of knowledge . The serpent had suggested to Eve that eating the fruit would bestow
wisdomWisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
upon them. Eve and then Adam ate the forbidden fruit, and they became aware of their nakedness . After confronting their disobedience, God banished the couple from the garden in order to deny them access to the Tree of Life, which would have bestowed
immortalityImmortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
onto them. God cursed both the snake and the ground, obliging Adam to survive through
agricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
"by the sweat of his brow." He told the woman that her
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
pains would be greatly increased and that the man would rule over her. God set guards (Cherubim) at the east side of the garden to protect the way to the tree of life from Adam, Eve, and their descendants.
Translation issues
GordonCyrus Herzl Gordon , was an American scholar of Near Eastern cultures and ancient languages.-Biography:Gordon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lithuanian emigrant and physician Benjamin Gordon...
and Rendsburg have suggested that the phrase "", translated
good and evil, is a
merismIn rhetoric, a merism is a figure of speech by which a single thing is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its parts, or which lists several synonyms for the same thing....
, i.e. a figure of speech whereby a pair of
oppositeOpposite may refer to:* Opposite , a word that means the opposite of a word* Botany: "Opposite" is a kind of arrangement of leaves* Additive inverse, in mathematics, taking the negative of a number...
s are used together to create the meaning
all or
everything (as in the English phrase, "they searched high and low", meaning that they searched everywhere). They conjecture, therefore that the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil means
tree of all knowledge. This meaning can be brought out by the alternative translations
tree of the knowledge of good and of evil (the word
of not being expressed in the Hebrew) or
tree of knowledge, both good and evil. The phrase occurs twice as applied to the tree, , . It also occurs twice as describing the knowledge gained and where it may be translated perhaps
with knowledge, both good and evil.
In Judaism
In Jewish tradition, the Tree of Knowledge and the eating of its fruit represents the beginning of the mixture of good and evil together. Before that time, the two were separate, and evil had only a nebulous existence in potentia. While free choice (apparently) did exist before eating the fruit, evil existed as an entity separate from the human psyche, and it was not in human nature to desire it. Eating and internalizing the forbidden fruit changed this and thus was born the yeitzer hara, the Evil Inclination.
RashiShlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
notes that the first sin came about because Eve added an additional clause to the Divine command:
- "Neither shall you touch it." [By saying this, Eve] added to the command, and thereby came to detract [from it]. This is as it is written [Proverbs 30:6], "Do not add to His Words."
In Kabbalah
KabbalahKabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
explains that the sin of the Tree of Knowledge (called Cheit Eitz HaDa'at) brought about the great task of
beirurim, of sifting through the mixture of good and evil in the world, to extract and liberate the sparks of holiness trapped therein. Since evil has no independent existence, it depends on holiness to draw down the Divine life-force, on whose "leftovers" it then feeds and derives existence. Once evil is separated from holiness through
beirurim, its source of life is cut off, causing the evil to disappear. This is accomplished through observance of the 613 commandments in the Torah, which deal primarily with physical objects wherein good and evil are mixed together. Thus, the task of
beirurim rectifies the sin of the Tree and draws the Shechinah back down to earth, where the sin of the Tree had caused Her to depart.
In Christianity
In
Christian theology- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
, the tree of knowledge is connected to the doctrine of
original sinOriginal sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...
(Gen 2:17 and 3:1-24).
Catholic teaching
Catholic interpretation goes back to
Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, who taught that the tree should be understood both symbolically and as a real tree - similarly to Jerusalem being both a real city and a figure of Heavenly Jerusalem. Another example was Sarah and Hagar, real persons representing two covenants:
OldThe Mosaic Covenant or Sinaitic Covenant are terms used for the biblical covenant between God and the Israelites...
and
NewThe New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...
(Gal 4,24n). Augustine underlined that the fruits of that tree were not evil by themselves, because everything that God created
was good (Gen 1:12). It was disobedience of Adam and Eve, who had been told by God not to eat of the tree (Gen 2:17), that was obnoxious and caused disorder in the creation. Augustine also taught that humanity inherited sin itself and the guilt for Adam and Eve's sin.
This doctrine of inherited guilt was accepted by the Roman Catholic Church at various
CouncilsAn ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
, including
CarthageCouncils of Carthage, also referred to as Synods of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the town of Carthage in Africa...
(418),
Second Council of OrangeThe Councils of Orange comprised two synods held at Orange, France. The first dealt with various church issues. The second affirmed Augustine's teaching against Pelagian challenge.-First Council of Orange:...
(529), and
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
(1546). Catechism published after
Second Vatican CouncilThe Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
states clearly that Adam and Eve's "human nature depraved of original holiness and justice" is "transmitted by propagation to all mankind" (
CCCThe Catechism of the Catholic Church is the official text of the teachings of the Catholic Church. A provisional, "reference text" was issued by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic...
404). Consequences of the original sin, which remain in the human nature even after baptism, are not bound to sexual dimension alone, but "it can refer to any intense form of human desire ... It unsettles man's moral faculties and, without being itself an offence, inclines man to commit sins" (
CCCThe Catechism of the Catholic Church is the official text of the teachings of the Catholic Church. A provisional, "reference text" was issued by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic...
2515). By eating of the fruit of the tree, Adam and Eve sought to be like God.
Other Christian traditions
Some Christians debate over the Western doctrine of original sin and the Eastern doctrine of
ancestral sinAncestral sin is the object of a Christian doctrine taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Some identify it as "inclination towards sin, a heritage from the sin of our progenitors". But most distinguish it from this tendency that remains even in baptized persons, since ancestral sin "is removed...
. There is a minority of Christians that affirm the doctrine of
PelagianismPelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...
, which believes every individual faces the same choice between sin and salvation that Adam and Eve faced and that ultimately each person can by themselves and without God's assistance (grace) overcome sin or temptation. There are some non-denominational Christians who do not accept the idea of original sin, because they believe that we are not born into sin, we are born into a sinful world. Therefore children are innocent until an age of accountability and the decision to accept Jesus Christ is possible with full understanding. Illuminism as per gnostic
mysticismMysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
has been associated with the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To the Christian, the
tree of lifeThe concept of a tree of life, a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related, has been used in science , religion, philosophy, mythology, and other areas...
is Jesus Christ, and not by higher knowledge, but only by faith in the atonement brought by His blood, true life in Him can be found and restored.
In Islam
The
Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
doesn't name this tree and it is always referred to as "the tree". Muslims believe that when God created Adam and Eve, He told them that they could enjoy everything in the Garden but this tree, and so,
SatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
appeared to them and told them that the only reason God forbade them to eat from that tree is that they would become Angels or become immortals.
When they ate from this tree their nakedness appeared to them and they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden. As a result of their sin, they were removed from heaven and placed on Earth to live and die. Consequently, they repented to God and asked for his forgiveness and were forgiven. It was decided that those who obey God and follow his path shall be rewarded with everlasting life in
HeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
, and those who disobey God and stray away from his path shall be punished in
HellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
.
Trees in other religions
Similar trees appear in other religions. Stories with male, female, serpent, and tree can be found depicted on Mesopotamian cylinder seals dating as far back as 2200 B.C. But they are very unlikely to constitute a source for the author of Genesis because they do not connect very well with the Genesis account. According to
Toledoth Hypothesis, sources probably did exist for the writing of Genesis that extend into history even earlier than 2200 B.C. but they would have belonged to someone in the genealogical line of Abraham. In the closest, most relevant comparison, the iconic image of the tree guarded by the
SerpentSerpent is the term used to translate a variety of words in the Hebrew bible, the most common being , , the generic word for "snake"....
appears on
SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian seals; much later, it is the central feature of the
Garden of the HesperidesIn Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean....
in
Greek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, where the guardian serpent receives the name
LadonLadon may refer to:*Ladon , one of the dragons in Greek mythology*Ladon in Arcadia, Greece*Ladon, Loiret, a commune in the Loiret département of France*Ladon, the dragon god in the video game Breath of Fire III...
.
In Indian Mythology the Tree Similar to the Tree Of Knowledge is known as Kalpvruksh and can grant any wish.
In Norse mythology,
YggdrasilIn Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed. Its name is generally considered to mean "Ygg's (Odin's) horse".
In Theosophy
According to the Theosophical teachings, eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the point in evolution when humanity acquired a mind and self-consciousness. This made human beings recognize themselves as individuals, symbolized by Adam and Eve becoming aware of their nakedness.
Being expelled from Eden is a symbol of the fact that, by acquiring a mind, humanity steps outside the realm of animals, which are taken care of by Nature. Human beings now have to work to build shelter and to get food. Besides now having the ability to distinguish between good and evil, humans became responsible for their actions.
In this view, being expelled from Eden is the natural result of evolution and not a punishment, and a necessary step to awaken the spiritual consciousness through self-directed efforts.
New Age interpretation
According to some, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis may mean the beginning of dualistic thinking, and the Garden of Eden represents the previous spiritual world, a world of enlightened mankind, a world of oneness.
IshmaelIshmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution...
, a 1992 novel by Daniel Quinn, discusses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as representing the story of the Fall Of Man.
Book of Enoch
The pseudepigraphic
Book of EnochThe Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
31:4, dating from the last few centuries before Christ and purporting to be by the
antediluvianThe antediluvian period meaning "before the deluge" is the period referred to in the Bible between the Creation of the Earth and the Deluge . The narrative takes up chapters 1-6 of Genesis...
prophetIn religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
EnochEnoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
, describes the tree of knowledge: "It was like a species of the
TamarindTamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
tree, bearing fruit which resembled
grapeA grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!"
Talmud
In the
TalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, several opinions are proposed as to the identity of the fruit:
- Rabbi Meir says that the fruit was a grape, made into wine. The Zohar explains similarly that Noah attempted (but failed) to rectify the sin of Adam by using grape wine for holy purposes. The midrash states that the fruit was grape, or squeezed grapes (perhaps again alluding to wine).
- Rabbi Nechemia says that the fruit was a fig
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
, as it was from fig leaves that G‑d made garments for Adam and Eve upon expelling them from the Garden: "By that with which they were made low were they rectified."
- On the other hand, Rabbi Yehuda proposes that the fruit was wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, because "a babe does not know to call its mother and father until it tastes the taste of grain." On this, Tosafot there explains, "And this is called the Tree of Knowledge."
Christian art
In Western Christian art, the fruit of the tree is commonly depicted as the
appleApples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit. One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that as late as the 17th century, the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all fruit other than berries, but including nuts...
, which originated in central
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. This depiction may have originated as a Latin pun: by eating the
malum (apple), Eve contracted
mālum (evil). or simply because of religious artists' poetic licence.
Other
Proponents of the theory that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere in what is known now as the Middle East suggest that the fruit was actually a
pomegranateThe pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
, partly because it was native in the region. This ties in with the Greek myth of
PersephoneIn Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
, where her consumption of four pomegranate seeds leads to her having to spend time in
HadesHades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
.
See also
- Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
- Adam and Eve (LDS Church)
- al-Qurnah
Al-Qurnah is a small village in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of Basra, within the town of Nahairat. Qurna is located at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers join to form the Shatt al-Arab....
- Dream of the rood
The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. Rood is from the Old English rod "pole", specifically "crucifix"...
- Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
- Fall of Man
- Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
- Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
- Original sin
Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...
- Pelagianism
Pelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...
- Tree of life (biblical)
External links