The Bible begins by saying that all the trouble in the world was caused by Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the only thing God denied them. But then the rest of the entire Bible exhorts people to do everything in their power to gain knowledge of good and evil! It exalts wisdom and knowledge as one of the highest goals every person should strive for.
Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you,
Proverbs 8:7 "For my mouth will utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 "All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. 9 "They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge. 10 "Take my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choicest gold. 11 "For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things can not compare with her. 12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion.
And when Solomon became king, he asked God for a blessing:
1 Kings 3:7 "And now, O LORD my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 "And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people who cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 "So give Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Thine?" 10 And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
God was pleased that Solomon asked for the ability to discern between good and evil. He answered Solomon's prayer so that Solomon became the wisest king ever to live. Obviously, knowledge of good and evil is one of the highest values. We see this value also exalted in the New Testament:
Hebrews 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
This concept reaches its apotheosis in Jesus Christ, the Word of God "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).
The story of the fall of Adam and Eve looks very strange in this context:
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
So we have a very strange contradiction at the very inception of the entire Biblical narrative. That which was forbidden and which caused all the problems in the world becomes the very highest of values!
This is another example of the curious absence of any references to the "mythological chapters" of Genesis in the rest of the Old Testament. The story of Adam and Eve is never mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament outside of the Garden story (Genesis 2-3). Indeed, it seems that the writers of the Old Testament were completely ignorant of the ten chapters of Genesis 2-11. I discussed this in my recent article
Where's Adam? The Mystery of the Missing Mythological Chapters of Genesis.
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Originally Posted by The Challenger
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I might do that....thats really striking, thanks for bringing my attention to it,
Scott Today, 05:22 PMim headed to work tonight but ill toss that around in my head