Why Did Adam Eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?

[BrookeGF]

1Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate ⌊it⌋; she also gave ⌊some⌋ to her husband, ⌊who was⌋ with her, and he ate ⌊it⌋. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. Gen 3:1-7 (HCSB)


You find the reason here for why Eve ate of the tree.
6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate ⌊it⌋;
And in 1 Timothy it says that Adam was not deceived but Eve was.
14[And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.
1 Tim 2:14 (HCSB)


I'm not really wanting to get into the order of creation and gender roles, but rather what was it that made Adam want to eat of the tree. Of course, God gave him the choice but why would Adam, not having the sin nature that we are all born with, make him want to eat of the tree? I mean did he eat for the same reason that Eve ate, because it looked good for obtaining wisdom? Maybe the answer is just simply that Adam wanted to disobey God.

 

[OzSpen]

Brooke,

God gave Adam and Eve and all human beings who followed, the ability of free will. They had the ability to choose. Aren't we glad that we can choose between healthy food and KFC?

God tells us what was appealing to Adam and Eve:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [or, to give insight], she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (Gen. 3:6 ESV).

However, there was also the evil influence of the serpent/Satan.

Do we need to know any more?

Oz

 

[James-49]

Adam ate of the fruit because his wife gave some to him. What made it wrong was that God said not to eat it.

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (KJV)

I think I understand your question, and what I consider is the times my wife had prepared something new for dinner and said to me, "Try this." And I would try it. Now I'm a man with the sinful nature and the knowledge of good and evil. Suspicion is part of my make up, and uncertainty, so I would search her eyes for some degree of reassurance - yet I would try it because my wife offered.

Adam did not have the knowledge of good and evil, so deception was an unknown concept to him, and suspicion was not part of his makeup. So when the helper suitable for him, made by God, offered him something he did more than a suspicious man would do. He said yes without reservation.

 

[BrookeGF]

Adam ate of the fruit because his wife gave some to him. What made it wrong was that God said not to eat it.

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (KJV)

I think I understand your question, and what I consider is the times my wife had prepared something new for dinner and said to me, "Try this." And I would try it. Now I'm a man with the sinful nature and the knowledge of good and evil. Suspicion is part of my make up, and uncertainty, so I would search her eyes for some degree of reassurance - yet I would try it because my wife offered.

Adam did not have the knowledge of good and evil, so deception was an unknown concept to him, and suspicion was not part of his makeup. So when the helper suitable for him, made by God, offered him something he did more than a suspicious man would do. He said yes without reservation.

I used to think the same thing. But the Bible says that Adam was not deceived.

 

[James-49]

I used to think the same thing. But the Bible says that Adam was not deceived.

I also say he wasn't deceived. My thoughts as to why he ate are based on the relationship he had with Eve, his wife, in comparision to how such relationships exist after the fall. I would say yes, but with a degree on uncertainty. Adam didn't have the uncertainty so he just said yes.

Eve was deceived because she was talked into eating by the serpent. Adam wasn't talked into it - his wife offered and he said okay.

 

[BrookeGF]

I also say he wasn't deceived. My thoughts as to why he ate are based on the relationship he had with Eve, his wife, in comparision to how such relationships exist after the fall. I would say yes, but with a degree on uncertainty. Adam didn't have the uncertainty so he just said yes.

Eve was deceived because she was talked into eating by the serpent. Adam wasn't talked into it - his wife offered and he said okay.

Why do you think God punished that? You have a good point.

 

[James-49]

Why do you think God punished that? You have a good point.

I used to read God's response, and project my own feelings into the verses, so God was very ticked in my view. God was the angry Dad who's child snuck the ice cream after they were told not to.

But now I see God as the Dad who looks on His child with pity because they have a stomach ache from the ice cream, and now He must administer the somewhat unpleasant cod-liver oil treatment to help them on the road to recovery.

I consider that fellowship and growth were all part of God's design, and growth required the knowledge of good and evil, because by that knowledge man can choose to love God, instead of just love God. Could Adam have received that knowledge if he said "no" to Eve's offer? I think so, because he would have still been exposed to the choice between his own opinion and God's. Exposure to that choice - the experience - is what opened his eyes to that knowledge.

So I don't think God punished so much as said, "Okay, option B". The path of Option A I'm sure was the easier

 

[BrotherLuke]

My Mother used to tell me Adam ate because he was dense in the head. LOL. But in fact he was the first human God created so if that were true, then we're all dense in the head. Oh, I guess we are, sort of. But you get what I mean.

I support what James-49 says.

 

[BrookeGF]

My Mother used to tell me Adam ate because he was dense in the head. LOL. But in fact he was the first human God created so if that were true, then we're all dense in the head. Oh, I guess we are, sort of. But you get what I mean.

I support what James-49 says.

James 4:9?

 

[James-49]

James 4:9?

Sometimes ... but not as my username.

 

[BrookeGF]

Sometimes ... but not as my username.

Oh I get it lol. I didn't see the above poster

 

[jpcedotal]

I also say he wasn't deceived. My thoughts as to why he ate are based on the relationship he had with Eve, his wife, in comparision to how such relationships exist after the fall. I would say yes, but with a degree on uncertainty. Adam didn't have the uncertainty so he just said yes.

Eve was deceived because she was talked into eating by the serpent. Adam wasn't talked into it - his wife offered and he said okay.[/quote]



Adam picked his relationship with Eve over his relationship with God.

 

[jpcedotal]

A question that comes to my mind is:

Adam & Eve were not told to stay away from the tree of life. I wonder who would have been waiting on Eve if she went there first?

Of course, the Bible does not say Eve and the serpent had their conversation at the tree of knowledge just that she ate from it afterwards. It is also kind of implied that Eve hadn't even seen the tree before this conversation, just that she knew from Adam about not eating from it.

 

[BrookeGF]

Another interesting thing is that she says to the serpent, "God has said you must not eat from it or touch it" ...or something along the lines of that. Notice how she added to God's Word. I only noticed this when I read a commentary on it. It's left unsaid of whether Eve exaggerated this or if Adam did when he told Eve not to eat from it. I just find it interesting because this would be kind of like lying...even before they knew about lying. Don't call me a heretic just yet, it's just something I was thinking about. I know God gave them free will, but how can you lie if you don't know what lying is? I don't know, maybe I'm just totally off and over thinking it.

 

[jpcedotal]

Another interesting thing is that she says to the serpent, "God has said you must not eat from it or touch it" ...or something along the lines of that. Notice how she added to God's Word. I only noticed this when I read a commentary on it. It's left unsaid of whether Eve exaggerated this or if Adam did when he told Eve not to eat from it. I just find it interesting because this would be kind of like lying...even before they knew about lying. Don't call me a heretic just yet, it's just something I was thinking about. I know God gave them free will, but how can you lie if you don't know what lying is? I don't know, maybe I'm just totally off and over thinking it.

Naw, I read something myself about how Eve added to the command of God. Why did she do that? Was it intentional or just a natural slip-up? Either way, the first sin wasn't the eating of the apple but the adding to God's Word...right? I am going to see if I can find that commentary to see how he put it.

 

[jpcedotal]

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible:

The woman gives the natural and distinct answer of unaffected sincerity to this suggestion. The deviations from the strict letter of the law are nothing more than the free and earnest expressions of her feelings. The expression, “neither shall ye touch it,” merely implies that they were not to meddle with it, as a forbidden thing.

BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY:

Notice the steps that plunged the human race into sin. First Satan insinuated doubt about the Word of God: "Has God indeed said?" He misrepresented God as forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of every tree. Next, Eve said that they were not to eat or "touch the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden." But God had said nothing about touching the tree. Then Satan flatly contradicted God about the inevitability of judgment on those who disobeyed, just as his followers still deny the facts of hell and eternal punishment. Satan misrepresented God as seeking to withhold from Adam and Eve something that would have been beneficial to them. Eve yielded to the threefold temptation: the lust of the flesh (good for food), the lust of the eyes (pleasant to the eyes), and the pride of life (a tree desirable to make one wise).

The Bible Knowledge Commentary:

Eve either did not know God’s command very well or did not want to remember it. By contrast, Christ gained victory over Satan by His precise knowledge of God’s Word (Mat_4:4, Mat_4:7, Mat_4:10). (See the chart “Satan’s Temptations of Eve and of Jesus,” near Mat_4:3-11.) Eve disparaged the privileges, added to the prohibition, and weakened the penalty — all seen by contrasting her words (Gen_3:3) with God’s original commands (Gen_2:16-17). After Satan heard this, he blatantly negated the penalty of death that God had given (Gen_3:4).

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible:

here the woman is charged by some both with adding to, and taking from the law of God; and if so, must have sinned very heinously before she eat of the fruit; but neither of them are sufficiently proved; not the former by her saying, "neither shall ye touch it", which though not expressed in the prohibition, is implied, namely, such a touching the fruit as to pluck it off the tree, take it in the hand, and put it to the mouth, in order to eat it:

Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament:

She was aware of the prohibition, therefore, and fully understood its meaning; but she added, “neither shall ye touch it,” and proved by this very exaggeration that it appeared too stringent even to her, and therefore that her love and confidence towards God were already beginning to waver.

 

[jpcedotal]

Eve added to God's Word when she said "neither shall ye touch it", but who did she hear the command from originally...God or Adam? Maybe Adam added it for whatever good intention he may or may not have had...

Just another twist that came to mind while researching this for ya...Eve may have been "innocent" in what she said but definitely not in what she did.

 

[stan1953]

Eve added to God's Word when she said "neither shall ye touch it", but who did she hear the command from originally...God or Adam? Maybe Adam added it for whatever good intention he may or may not have had...
Just another twist that came to mind while researching this for ya...Eve may have been "innocent" in what she said but definitely not in what she did.

Great observation....NEVER NOTICED that. She could have added it to re-enforce to the serpent, the gravity of eating it was just as bad as touching it so she wouldn't have to pick it. If not, then it definitely came from Adam, as a means of re-enforcing it to her, given what God said in verse 11. He only commanded Adam, not Eve, as shown in 2:17, which was before He created Eve. It is apparent based on 3:17, that God expected Adam to be responsible for his wife's actions.

Nice catch.

 

[ReformedPharisee]

Why did Adam eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?

Because, even though he knew God told Him not to, he wanted to please his wife. So he took a bite when she asked him to.

 

[holyrokker]

James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Adam sinned for the same reason we all sin today. He was enticed, and gave in to that tempation. The pull of desire was more important to him than faithfulness.