Why didn't the snake feed Adam & Eve from both trees?

[amorphous_constellation]

If both trees were in the garden, couldn't the snake have given them a sampling of one of each? It seems the two things go hand in hand. It's kind of pointless having unlimited potential for knowledge if you just die as a mortal, so their was something incoherent about the tempting actions of the snake. I can't see what the motivation would be, other than maybe the snake thought God would get angry, kick out Adam & Eve or kill them, and leave the garden to the snake. Maybe the snake thought if he gave them the fruit of both trees, they would take over the universe, dethrone God and maybe have no use for snakes either.

The snake then, may have given the fruit of the one tree to humankind as an insurance policy, knowing full well they'd eat from both trees out of curiosity anyway, and he couldn't stand the idea that God was taking such a considerable risk in carelessly planting such power near humankind. So again, he fed them of the one to incite God against them and make God realize he couldn't operate like that. However, both God and snake have failed, for with the tree of knowledge, hypothetically man can now create their own tree of life in time.

 

[Iti oj]

maybe the point was not to empower the individual but empower the whole species.

 

[Moni_Gail]

I was taught that this is an etiological tale to explain mortality and their way of life in general, tilling the land.

 

[Kolibri]

There is no mention of the "tree of life" until after they sinned. Perhaps they, even Satan, did not know of the significance of the tree until it was already too late.

 

[Awoon]

The A&E story is about human civilization going out on their own, instead of running around the backyard naked. Read people read. The "players" are not what the Story is about.

 

[Christ's Lamb]

If both trees were in the garden, couldn't the snake have given them a sampling of one of each? It seems the two things go hand in hand. It's kind of pointless having unlimited potential for knowledge if you just die as a mortal, so their was something incoherent about the tempting actions of the snake. I can't see what the motivation would be, other than maybe the snake thought God would get angry, kick out Adam & Eve or kill them, and leave the garden to the snake. Maybe the snake thought if he gave them the fruit of both trees, they would take over the universe, dethrone God and maybe have no use for snakes either.

The snake then, may have given the fruit of the one tree to humankind as an insurance policy, knowing full well they'd eat from both trees out of curiosity anyway, and he couldn't stand the idea that God was taking such a considerable risk in carelessly planting such power near humankind. So again, he fed them of the one to incite God against them and make God realize he couldn't operate like that. However, both God and snake have failed, for with the tree of knowledge, hypothetically man can now create their own tree of life in time.

From a Christian prospective, the story, according to numerous early Church Fathers, is a foretelling of what is to come. The whole story is describing how man "fell" and thus needed a redeemer/savor. Eve disobeyed God, Mary obeyed God. Through Adam, all men die, through Christ all men live.

The Tree of Life is a foreshadowing of the cross. So, they were made in the image of God in paradise, were kick out because they disobeyed God, and thus now needed redeeming. Christ comes and is crucified. We eat of the tree of life through this, this redeems all men and restores us to the likeness of God. The Crucifixion is a invitation to be saved. It allows us to receive God's Grace, thus saving us and allows us to enter into the paradise that is eternal life.

One must remember, we are redeemed by the Crucifixion of Christ, we are saved by God's Grace. We ultimately accept or reject salvation but still Christ redeemed all men. So all men have the ability to accept his invitation to salvation or reject it.

 

[rosends]

The snake's goal was to have humankind engage in an act which would ultimately be to its detriment. The knowledge of good and evil and the power to choose evil leads to downfall. Immortality would be a good thing. Why would the snake want to give Adam and Eve that benefit?

 

[Kolibri]

The snake's goal was to have humankind engage in an act which would ultimately be to its detriment. The knowledge of good and evil and the power to choose evil leads to downfall. Immortality would be a good thing. Why would the snake want to give Adam and Eve that benefit?

The idea is to have rebels granted the right to live forever - preventing God from putting them to death. Actually via the ransom, rebels, who are such by imperfection, have the opportunity to be restored to a spiritually clean situation whereby eating of that fruit would no longer be barred from humans. So many churches of Christendom take the earthly hope of living in a restored paradise away by pushing heaven, heaven, heaven, when Jesus always said those that would live with him in heaven would be a 'little flock.'

 

[Katzpur]

If both trees were in the garden, couldn't the snake have given them a sampling of one of each? It seems the two things go hand in hand. It's kind of pointless having unlimited potential for knowledge if you just die as a mortal, so their was something incoherent about the tempting actions of the snake.

The knowledge we gain (and indeed the knowledge Adam and Eve gained) was unlimited in its potential, but there is no reason to assume that its full potential would be reached during mortality. The result of Adam and Eve having eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was exactly what we might expect it to be: They gained a knowledge of good and evil. God himself even noted that in that regard, "the man is become as one of us." In eating the forbidden fruit, though, they were subject to expulsion from the Garden and to separation from Him from that time forward. I believe it was to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life that God took steps to prevent it. He didn't want them to live forever in their sins, but to have the opportunity to experience mortality -- of which death is an essential part.

So again, he fed them of the one to incite God against them and make God realize he couldn't operate like that. However, both God and snake have failed, for with the tree of knowledge, hypothetically man can now create their own tree of life in time.

I disagree. I believe that God knew exactly what He was doing and that it was probably His desire that man be able to create his own tree of life in time.

 

[Awoon]

The story is not about any sins. That is religious 20th century BS. I said before it's about children growing up and getting shown the door from the home nest. How many in here over 25 still live with Mommy and Daddy? Those who left home, was it because you sinned? Or grew UP and went on your own?

 

[Christ's Lamb]

The story is not about any sins. That is religious 20th century BS. I said before it's about children growing up and getting shown the door from the home nest. How many in here over 25 still live with Mommy and Daddy? Those who left home, was it because you sinned? Or grew UP and went on your own?

Is this your own personal opion, or do you have any historical evidence that proves the early Jews who wrote this believed this?

 

[Awoon]

Ask some Semites about "sins" and their children.
The story is not historical. Keep your hands out of the "cookie" jar when your Mom tells you and you wont lie to your Mom when you get caught.

 

[catch22]

It's important to note there was no command not to eat of the tree of life. It's very likely they had, and it was meant to sustain their physical bodies as long as they were in the garden.

It was an act of mercy on God's behalf to not allow them to be immortal AND cursed with sin.

I doubt satan cared either way.

 

[Awoon]

Christians just seem to love sin & death, Why?

 

[Kolibri]

Christians just seem to love sin & death, Why?

the bible connects the two.

"For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:33
"And the last enemy, death, is to be brought to nothing." - 1 Corinthians 15:26

It is not that we glorify in it, but we are looking for an end to death as dying is an unnatural state for humans.

"[God] has even put eternity in their hearts;" - Ecclesiastes 3:11b

 

[ChristineES]

The story to me is an allegory. The story wasn't about feeding but about deception and disobedience.

 

[Tiapan]

I would have said it was purely metaphoric defining, early on, differentiating socialized and unsocialized humans which over time leads to a dominance of socialized co-operative group that is eventually stronger than the smaller fragmented "more animalistic - survival orienated" primitive aggressive tribes.Language and dialect seem the root core of any society, all those who sound different are from a different tribe.

 

[roger1440]

It's important to note there was no command not to eat of the tree of life.

Indirectly there is a command. Mankind was evicted from the Garden in the beginning. All of scripture is the means to return to where we were in the beginning. And where was that, in the very presence of God.

"You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy"

 

[Etritonakin]

Ummmm a snake would have difficulty giving them stuff

But, seriously -They were already eating from the tree of life because they were obedient to God -even if that meant literally eating from one real tree and not another.
They were eating from the tree of good only.

When they disobeyed God -which is inherently evil because God would not steer them wrong (though allowed the interaction between them and the devil for a purpose -not steering them wrong but allowing them to steer themselves, as it were -or allowing them to choose to be steered by another) -they then ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil -even if it was literally just by eating a piece of fruit.
It says they saw it was good for food -and to make one wise -but it would have been more wise to refuse to eat it and learn without experience.

They were kept from the tree of life -that is, living forever -while they learned the one lesson their choice could teach -which is to never make that choice again. Many beings living forever in conflict would simply lead to eternal misery.

If all are not willingly subject to perfect government, things go wrong -so the damage was limited, contained, managed -until such time as it would be safe to allow greater things.

What would have happened if they did not eat of tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Few think about that.

Adam and Eve were informed, but still naive -they had the word of God -and the word of his adversary (an angel who had deceived himself and attempted to overthrow God) -but they did not know either very well.

What has happened since is so we all might know the difference eventually -make the right choice -and never again make the wrong choice.

Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

The snake's goal was to have humankind engage in an act which would ultimately be to its detriment. The knowledge of good and evil and the power to choose evil leads to downfall. Immortality would be a good thing. Why would the snake want to give Adam and Eve that benefit?

Well, Elohim knows good and evil and supposedly is immortal, but their power to choose evil doesn't seem to lead to downfall. The lesson in that seems to be that immortality would convey a being over that hump of immaturity where they might choose evil. So what I don't understand is, why God didn't then allow Adam & Eve to subsequently eat from the tree of life, knowing that eternity would teach them to choose the good.