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Concept
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Summary
In Judaism and Christianity, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (ʿêṣ had-daʿaṯ ṭōḇ wā-rāʿ, ʕesʕ hadaʕaθ tʕov wɔrɔʕ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3, along with the tree of life. Alternatively, some scholars have argued that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is just another name for the tree of life.
Genesis 2 narrates that God places the man, Adam, in a garden with trees of whose fruits he may eat, but forbids him to eat from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." God forms woman, Eve, after this command is given. In Genesis 3, a serpent persuades Eve to eat from its forbidden fruit and she also lets Adam taste it. Consequently, God expels them from the garden.
The phrase in Hebrew, טוֹב וָרָע () literally translates as "good and evil". This may be an example of the type of figure of speech known as merism, a literary device that pairs opposite terms together in order to create a general meaning, so that the phrase "good and evil" would simply imply "everything". This is seen in the Egyptian expression "evil-good", which is normally employed to mean "everything". In Greek literature, Homer also uses the device when Telemachus states that "I [wish to] know everything, the good and the evil"; although the words used – ἐσθλός for "good" and χερείων for "evil" – are better termed "superior" and "inferior". However, if "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is to be understood to mean a tree whose fruit imparts knowledge of everything, this phrase does not necessarily denote a moral concept. This view is held by several scholars.
Given the context of disobedience to God, other interpretations of the implications of this phrase also demand consideration. Robert Alter emphasizes the point that when God forbids the man to eat from that particular tree, he says that if he does so, he is "doomed to die." The Hebrew behind this is in a form regularly used in the Hebrew Bible for issuing death sentences.
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