Sunday: The Very First Commandment
Daily Lesson for Sunday 27th of April 2025
The Garden of Eden was a classroom for God’s first people, a place where their interaction with the creation would endlessly teach them and their offspring more about the Creator. “The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God,” Ellen G. White pointed out, “but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. . . . The mysteries of the visible universe—‘the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge’ (Job 37:16)—afforded them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 50, 51.
Read Genesis 2:9-17. What was the first command, a prohibition, that God gave to humanity, and why was it so important?
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The first use of the root verb tswh, “to command,” that God gave to humans was in Genesis 2:16-17, the command not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. How can some knowledge be forbidden? Isn’t it always useful to experience and to know more?
Not according to Scripture: God was intent on educating His people thoroughly while sparing them from the long-term suffering that some knowledge would cause, such as what would later happen when people chose to rule themselves rather than to be ruled by the Lord Himself.
Millennia later, when Israel asked for a king, the Lord laid out the consequences (as we discovered last week), and He informed His people that the decision to step away from His direct rule would last until the end of time.
As the kings of Israel became progressively more wicked, God’s covenant people became so worldly and so removed from their purpose that He gave them even more of what they wanted: human government.
Approaching the book of Daniel with this background in mind can be enlightening. Not only is the march of empires depicted in the book’s visions an indictment of “the nations”—the Gentiles—it is also an indictment of Israel’s failures, their refusal to follow His _mitswot _(commandments). Centuries of subjection, instead of the freedom first given in Eden, would become a new classroom in which willing hearts could witness the striking contrast between the kingdoms of this world and God’s kingdom.
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Think about the kinds of knowledge, even now, that many of us would be better off not knowing. How does this help us understand what was forbidden in Eden? |
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We sometimes trivialise the temptation by describing it as curiosity. I went to Thailand and it wasn't long before I was tempted to try Durian. I was curious. I wanted to know its taste because I had heard so much about it. But, the temptation in the fall was driven by something other than simple curiosity. The Bible describes it thus:
She sought wisdom and was deceived into thinking that acquiring knowledge was wisdom.
Selfish acquisition to achieve power or dominance over others has been a driving force for kingdom building ever since. It is in opposition to the great principle of God's Kingdom, to love and serve others.
Incidentally, my decision to taste Durian had its own consequences. Six hours later, Carmel arrived in Thailand and as soon as she kissed me, she asked, "What on earth have you been eating?" (I will leave it to the reader to figure out if there is a lesson in that!)
The author asks the question:
I would like to consider a variation of that question: What knowledge do we have already that, in wisdom, we should not use? The problem that we face today is when we use knowledge to demonstrate superiority or exercise control over others for personal or institutional advantage. Are we guilty of deceiving ourselves?
God’s command not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was not to keep Adam and Eve in ignorance, but to keep them in innocence. This was not a command for control but for protection. It was not God’s intention to restrict their freedom, but He was inviting them into a relationship based on trust and love. The fruit of the tree did not bring enlightenment but death. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12, KJV). Sadly, Adam and Eve wanted to have the knowledge of good and evil independently of God. The desire to know what is good and evil on their own terms brought sin, shame, and death. This profoundly reminds us that outside Christ, there is no life but death.
God did not want Adam and Eve to know evil through experience. Once they disobeyed (sinned) against God, the reality of evil became evident to them. The Bible warns against knowledge that destroys. "...I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil." (Romans 16:19). Paul is simply telling us to mature in goodness but to be innocent (simple) about evil. Some knowledge (evil) brings sadness, fear, brokenness, guilt, and bitterness. Some knowledge is better left out (Genesis 3:7, Ecclesiastes 1:18). God intended mankind only to have knowledge that brings joy, peace, wisdom, and happiness through a relationship with Him.
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” – 2 Peter 1:2-3, NIV.
In Eden, God’s prohibition against eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil wasn’t about denying Adam and Eve information — it was about protecting them. Some knowledge, like firsthand experience of sin, leads to pain, guilt, separation from God, and death. It’s a reminder that not all knowledge is beneficial; some experiences fundamentally damage our innocence and trust in God. Even today, exposure to certain evils — violence, addiction, corruption — scars us. God’s original command was an act of love, to shield humanity from destructive knowledge that would burden them forever.