Daily Question: The Apple

God is distinguished from human beings since he is all powerful and has infinite knowledge. Yet, humans are limited beings, so they contain a finite amount of knowledge. The possession of knowledge in the passage from Genesis is what separates God from Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are originally not ashamed for being naked because they lack the knowledge that God has. Yet, by obtaining the knowledge from the tree, Adam and Eve are accumulating some of that power God has. In this way the act of eating the apple makes Adam and Eve more like God. However, by eating the apple and acting disobediently, Adam and Eve are less god-like. Therefore, through this action, Adam and Eve become both more similar to God and more different. According to Legaspi, ruling knowledge and responsibility is what can be communicated by eating of “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” In the first passage of Genesis, human beings were instructed by God to be the rulers of all of the other creatures on Earth. However, humans were not given the knowledge needed to rule. If Adam and Eve did not have knowledge of what was morally good and morally bad, how were they to rule over the other creatures properly? Legaspi continues to explore the act of eating. Humans need to eat to survive, and this establishes them as dependent creatures. The act of eating creates a relationship with God as the giver and humans as the receivers. Adam and Eve cannot survive without God just as they cannot survive without food. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they failed; however, they also failed since they submitted to the will of the devil. Not only did they ignore God, but they followed the figure representing his exact opposite. 

It is merciful that God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden because originally God declares the day they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they “shall die.” Both Adam and Eve were warned of the consequences of what would happen if they ate from the tree. So I think God was being kind by letting them live.