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Was God limited when He walked in the Garden of Eden? And was knowledge from the Tree of Good and Evil limited?
First, regarding the Tree of Good and Evil...Genesis 3:7 says, after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree, that they realized they were naked. Apparently, they knew enough from eating of the Tree that they were naked. A question arose as to whether they wondered if the fig leaves they wore were enough to cover their nakedness. Well, they either knew but they couldn’t find anything else to cover themselves, or the Tree did not bestow enough knowledge for them to know whether or not the fig leaves were enough. If the latter, it would make one wonder if the Tree enabled them to think for themselves, or if not. They may have gotten the nakedness part right, in other words, but they couldn’t think enough, at that point, to determine whether the fig leaves were sufficient.
Perhaps their ability to think was in its infancy, and that ability grew with successive generations. Maybe there is some evolutionary aspect to man, after all, considering in this day and age, man has adopted varying degrees of nakedness, and to the extent that some nakedness is OK In the U.S., most people don’t have a problem with people wearing sandals that expose their feet; some don’t have a problem with women walking around topless in Times Square; nudist camps don’t have a problem at all.
Does the Bible address the issue of covering ourselves? Seems the closest the Bible comes to directly addressing the issue is 1 Corinthians 11:5 which says, “But every wife who prays or prophesies with her HEAD UNCOVERED dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.” Seems it only becomes an issue in that instance.
Does God say not to walk around naked? Ironically, God in Verse 11 seems to disapprove of Adam and Eve covering themselves. Seems that if they didn’t eat from the Tree, then nowadays everyone would be walking around naked in places like Times Square, weather permitting, and nobody would look twice! Ironically, though, the issue of nakedness leads to a morality issue, since the nakedness of some could lead others to the temptation of committing adultery, with the ironic part being that if Adam and Eve didn’t eat from the Tree, man may not know of such evil.
As for the fear part, we know that in Verse 8, Adam and Eve attempt to hide themselves from God. We can presume they hid themselves because they knew they disobeyed God in eating from the Tree. What is really intriguing is Verse 9 in which God, walking around in the Garden of Eden, calls to them and asks, “Where are you?” You might think upon the first reading that God in human form is unable to see everything like He can when he’s in the heavens. At least one commentator, though, asserts that God knew where they were, and the question He asks is not referring to where they are, but is referring to the state of morality they put themselves into, as in, ‘Look at yourselves, now that you have botched things up by eating from the Tree. You wouldn’t need to hide from me if you didn’t eat from the Tree.’ That probably makes more sense, since God is omniscient.
First, regarding the Tree of Good and Evil...Genesis 3:7 says, after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree, that they realized they were naked. Apparently, they knew enough from eating of the Tree that they were naked. A question arose as to whether they wondered if the fig leaves they wore were enough to cover their nakedness. Well, they either knew but they couldn’t find anything else to cover themselves, or the Tree did not bestow enough knowledge for them to know whether or not the fig leaves were enough. If the latter, it would make one wonder if the Tree enabled them to think for themselves, or if not. They may have gotten the nakedness part right, in other words, but they couldn’t think enough, at that point, to determine whether the fig leaves were sufficient.
Perhaps their ability to think was in its infancy, and that ability grew with successive generations. Maybe there is some evolutionary aspect to man, after all, considering in this day and age, man has adopted varying degrees of nakedness, and to the extent that some nakedness is OK In the U.S., most people don’t have a problem with people wearing sandals that expose their feet; some don’t have a problem with women walking around topless in Times Square; nudist camps don’t have a problem at all.
Does the Bible address the issue of covering ourselves? Seems the closest the Bible comes to directly addressing the issue is 1 Corinthians 11:5 which says, “But every wife who prays or prophesies with her HEAD UNCOVERED dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.” Seems it only becomes an issue in that instance.
Does God say not to walk around naked? Ironically, God in Verse 11 seems to disapprove of Adam and Eve covering themselves. Seems that if they didn’t eat from the Tree, then nowadays everyone would be walking around naked in places like Times Square, weather permitting, and nobody would look twice! Ironically, though, the issue of nakedness leads to a morality issue, since the nakedness of some could lead others to the temptation of committing adultery, with the ironic part being that if Adam and Eve didn’t eat from the Tree, man may not know of such evil.
As for the fear part, we know that in Verse 8, Adam and Eve attempt to hide themselves from God. We can presume they hid themselves because they knew they disobeyed God in eating from the Tree. What is really intriguing is Verse 9 in which God, walking around in the Garden of Eden, calls to them and asks, “Where are you?” You might think upon the first reading that God in human form is unable to see everything like He can when he’s in the heavens. At least one commentator, though, asserts that God knew where they were, and the question He asks is not referring to where they are, but is referring to the state of morality they put themselves into, as in, ‘Look at yourselves, now that you have botched things up by eating from the Tree. You wouldn’t need to hide from me if you didn’t eat from the Tree.’ That probably makes more sense, since God is omniscient.
