Knowledge

DEVOTION

GENESIS

KNOWLEDGE

Gen 2:10-17

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.   14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

NIV

What a vast array of opinions exist in an effort to locate these four rivers and from whence they start. Some would say they have no bearing on the location of the garden as it was only a spiritual place. What the others say is just wishful thinking. There is absolutely no empirical evidence to prove any current location of this garden that God made for the man he formed from the dust of the ground and breathed the breathe of life into his nostrils. Of these four named rivers two still carry the same name today but neither starts nor finishes from the same point. The other two rivers some contend the names are close enough using some form of converting Hebrew to Greek and coming up with existing rivers of today. But that still gives no proof as these two other rivers do not intersect or have their head waters anywhere near the others.  What we are left with is simply all conjecture by a whole lot of people and that is simply the point. If we could find the location, someone would certainly make a temple or shrine or make it a holy place of worship and we would miss out on what God wants us to know about him. Again these four rivers and their current locations today have to be different to some degree after the flood then where they were before the flood. This fact we know from the ever changing flow of rivers today as a result in part from great flooding of their banks. So let us leave these rivers and their investigations to those who need to know for whatever reason. Let us consider that God put the man in this garden wherever it was, which is not the point anyway, for the purpose to work it and take care of it. Again we should be careful with these words work and take care. In the Hebrew this word translated work also carries the meaning to dress it, or till or causatively to enslave. That means to make it do what he wanted it to do. This is the action of farmers, causing the ground to produce what they what from it. This is the action of miners, to cause the earth to produce goal, or other minerals. This is the action of those who drill for oil, causing the earth to give up its energy source. It does not mean to serve the garden to be subservient to the garden, but to make the garden provide that which the man needed to live. The words take care of have a little different meaning in the Hebrew word used. It implies to keep guard, to protect. This could also imply that the man was not to abuse the garden, but to be careful as to how he used the supplies of the garden. He surely was not to stand guard, against who? He was the only one there. The point is that God intended the man to have an interaction with his environment. To both use it for himself and at the same time not abuse it. This seems to be a lost art today. It seems we have divided ourselves into either one or the other. We have the group that wants what the earth can provide, while others would argue we are abusing the land and the environment in the process. Then others would argue that in our efforts to work the garden we are destroying the habitat of the wild kingdom. Yes we need to work the land. But then also we can see another truth here. God never intended the man to just sit around and play all day. He formed the man and placed him in a place he was supposed to work in. Man is designed by God to work. We know that after God had to remove the man and his mate from the garden because of disobedience he told him he would have to toil, to labor hard all the days of his life. Perhaps God did not intend man to labor hard, to toil, but he did intend for him to work. When we do not work we lose out on a portion of how God formed us.

As to those trees in the garden which were there to provide food for the man, God established one rule, one command for the man. Today it seems we have so many rules, so many commands it is difficult to remember them all. But this man, Adam, had but one to remember. He could eat from any tree in the garden except one. It is interesting that God did not tell him if he ate from the tree of life he would live forever, but he told him if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. This takes us back to when we consider that God created evil. He made a tree to grow in the garden which would provide man the knowledge of evil and the knowledge of good, or stated differently the difference between to two. This would have to make us believe that man, who was formed in the resemblance of God was without any other knowledge then everything good. We are not so fortunate, because Adam did eat from that tree, we are faced with knowing both that which is good and that which is evil. We have to make the choice which we are to engage in. We know the progression of doing evil as James so clearly states for us.

James 1:13-15

13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

NIV

We all have this knowledge of evil and it can certainly have a terrible result. It would have been much better if God had never created that tree, but he did and it was for a reason. He wanted the man he formed to choose to listen and remember his one and only command. Adam chose poorly. How do we choose? We have commands of God in regard to what we are to do and what we are not to do. Some people today would make that into a list of do’s and don’ts and of course add some of their own which are actually not in the scripture. But what we do need to do is consider with the help of the Spirit how we should choose wisely. The best choice is accepting Jesus who has covered all our sin with his blood. He has reestablished our place in the garden. Will we ever be free from the knowledge of good and evil? Maybe not in this life, but surely in the life to come. Can we live the perfect life God intended the man to live in the garden? Not as long as we have the knowledge of good and evil. But a day is coming when all that will change.

1 Cor 15:50-54

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed . 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  

NIV

So for now we have to be content having this knowledge of good and evil and live accordingly under the blood of Jesus. What it all comes down to is what do we do with that knowledge.