Genesis 2:9

Genesis 2:9

In the second of the three accounts of the creation we have an answer to the questions which would naturally be put by an inquiring mind, as to man's present moral state and original moral constitution. Man, though created sinless, was, from the very fact of his creaturely existence, not self-sufficing, but dependent both in body and soul, and thus the two trees of which we read in the text corresponded to those two wants in man's constitution. The tree of life is nowhere forbidden to our first parents. As long as man was able to repair his physical constitution by approaching to and eating of the fruit of the tree of life, so long he remained deathless. We may safely conclude that the tree of life was a natural means of sustaining natural life (and probably also a sacramental means of grace), and that from the act of tasting the other tree there would result a premature familiarity with the knowledge of good and evil.

I. A mere speculative knowledge of that which is good need not be good after all. Knowledge may be a merely barren knowledge the knowledge which speculates and admires, but does not lead on to action.

II. Much more truly is this the case with the knowledge of moral evil. People speak of the narrative of the fall of the temptation by means of the tree of knowledge of good and evil as a mere myth. But it lives over again in the history of individual souls. The knowledge of evil is an irreparable thing. It lives on, and springs up again and again in the memory and the conscience.

III. Creation lies under a law of suffering. Christianity strives, and not all in vain, to alleviate this primeval curse. The universe is a grand and solemn but at present a darkened temple of the Lord God. The day is coming when we shall see it lighted up, when the Gospel of Christ will bring to this earth of ours something more precious than social improvement, great and blessed as that may be.

Bishop Alexander, Norwich Discourses,4th series, No. 2.

Genesis 2:9

I. We call the Scriptures a revelation; in other words, an unveiling.The Bible records were given to us to take away the veil which hung between heaven and earth, between man and God. Their purpose is to reveal God. The actual revelation which has been made to us is of God in His relation to the soul of man. We are not to demand, we are not to expect, any further revelation. Of the secrets of God's power and origin we are told not a word. Such knowledge is not for us. But it does concern us to know of God's moral nature to know that He is all-powerful, all-good, all-loving; and of God's power, goodness, and love, the Bible is one long and continuous revelation. The self-declared object of the Scriptures is that men should know God and know themselves.

II. But the condition on which such an object may be accomplished is this: that the Book of God should appeal to men in a form not dependent for its appreciation upon any knowledge which they may have obtained independent, that is, of the science of any particular age or country. The setting forth of scientific truth in the pages of the Bible would have been as much a difficulty and stumbling-block to some former ages of the Church as what we call its unscientific account of natural phenomena has been to some at the present day.

III. "The tree of knowledge of good and evil." Here, so early in the sacred books, is revealed the fact of the two opposing forces of right and wrong. Take away the reality of this distinction, and the Bible and all religion falls for ever. Make its reality and importance felt in the soul of man, and you have at once whereon to build. Righteousness is the word of words throughout all Scripture. The righteousness which the Scriptures reveal is the knowledge of a communion with God. When our earth has played its part in the economy of the universe, and is seen by the few spheres which are within its ken to pass away as a wandering fire, right and wrong will not have lost their primeval significance, and the souls which have yearned and laboured for rest in the home of spirits will find that rest in Him who was and is and is to be.

A. Ainger, Sermons preached in the Temple Church,p. 280.

References: Genesis 2:9. E. H. Plumptre, Sunday Magazine(1867), p. 712; J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year (Holy Week),p. 446; J. Hamilton, Works,vol. ii., p. 147. Genesis 2:10. C. A. Fowler, Parochial Sermons,p. 151.