Throughout study of Biblical exegesis much
has been written about the above quotation. Many thoughts and ideas posited as to the meaning of the fruits
of the garden and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the “midst” of
the garden.
This of course is an opinion but an
opinion born of deep thought. Of light bulb moments.
If it is possible to take that “man”
(humans) have been in existence for an indeterminate eons then it begins to
make more sense.
That human beings slowly evolved from
crass, primitive creatures to modern highly evolved ones is generally
accepted. That human beings were not always the morally, ethically,
technically, spiritually informed creatures is also accepted, so stepping from
this understanding we might have a look at the tree and the fruits found in the
“midst” of the garden.
Traditional thinking has the “fruit” of
the tree in the midst of the garden to be an apple. Of course this is an
allegory. The origins of this thought stems from the word “malum” meaning
“evil” and “mela meaning “apple” put together and hence
the “apple” usually portrayed as the “fruit” which brought evil into the world.
Perhaps we may just leave this
understanding at least for the time being and maybe lets look at other possibilities.
Perhaps a good place to start
investigation might be Gen 9 and God’s covenant with Noah. At the beginning of
Genesis 9 we find God blessing Noah and his family and bidding them to be
“fruitful and multiply and fill the face of the earth “(9:1) At this
place too we see God appointing the “human” governor over all the created
order including the animal kingdom and all types of flora. All created
matter is to be under the dominion of “man” and for the use of man including
the use of it for food.
However,
there is a specification and that specification gives us a first clue what
“fruit” in the midst of the garden might be and the possibility of what the
“garden” might allude to.
“Everything
that moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now
give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood
still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will
demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man too, I will demand an
accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the life blood of
man, By man shall his blood be shed: For in the image
of God has God made man” (Gn 9. 1-6).
The human being as we refer to man/woman
in the fullest sense of our understanding is an enigma. At some point in
time a change occurred which raised the previous hominid to a much more ascetic
level than the previous form. This new ascetic level being the encounter
with God and God breathing His breath of life and thus changing forever that
species’ constitution from one of the perishable into the imperishable. It
introduced a divine element renewing a previous rudimentary creature into a
creature of magnificence in the image and likeness of God. It is this new
“man” which is capable of entering into the domain of God which up until this
stage has been habited by God in His triune family and the angels who had not
revolted against God. Added to this with the new “man” it would be
possible to see new creation enter into the realms of heaven.