By Rick Brunson
The Two Commandments
Given to Adam
In
the Garden of Eden, God commanded Adam and Eve to “multiply and replenish the
earth ” (Moses 2:28). However, this was
something Adam and Eve simply could not do unless they first partook of the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
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| The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil |
The tricky part of this situation was that partaking of the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden by God (see Moses
3:17).
Why
then, did God give Adam and Eve a commandment that they could not keep, unless
they first broke another one of God’s very own commandments? To quote Joseph Fielding McConkie, “They could
not keep either commandment without transgressing the other.”[1] In this complicated situation, was there
anything Adam and Eve could have done that would have allowed them to be
obedient to all that God commanded them in the Garden of Eden? How then, can we reconcile this problem with
the knowledge we have that God cannot contradict himself? In other words, according to LDS scholar
Alonzo Gaskill,
It is not in God’s nature to give
contradictory commands. Nor is it in accordance with His plan to give His
children two or more commandments that require that at least one be broken in
order that the others might be kept.[2]
Why then, did God apparently do this very thing in the
Garden of Eden? To further complicate
things, is it God’s nature to then punish us for breaking one commandment, when
we are only doing it to keep another?[3] Was this fair to Adam?
To find answers to these difficult questions, we must take a
closer look at the second of these two commandments, the commandment to not
partake of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the book of Moses, we read,
And
I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is
given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die (Moses 3:16-17).
At first glance, it appears
that God is commanding Adam and Eve not to partake of the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. But is this really the
case? A more in depth look at what God
is forbidding here may help to answer our difficult question.
Thou
Mayest Choose for Thyself
The first thing we should
point out is that this commandment is very different from any other commandment
the Lord has ever given in any dispensation, for this is the only time the Lord
has given a commandment followed by the phrase, “nevertheless, thou mayest
choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee.”[4] In other words, “the Lord did not say, ‘Thou
shalt not commit adultery’ and then say, ‘Nevertheless thou mayest choose for
thyself, for it is given unto thee.’”[5]
Why then, in this situation, did
the Lord give a commandment to Adam and Eve and then immediately suggest that
disobedience was an option?[6] It is clear that we have to treat this
command from God a little differently.
Thou
Mayest Freely Eat
Let us take another look at
Moses 3:16-17, and see if we can find out what it is exactly that God is
forbidding.
And
I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat,
The key word in this verse is
“freely.” The Lord is here telling Adam
that he can eat of every tree in the garden “freely,” or in other words,
without consequences. This is important
to remember as we continue with the rest of the statement:
But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it
[freely],
In effect, the Lord is saying
to Adam that he can partake of any tree in the Garden of Eden “freely” (or without
consequences), except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That is the only tree that cannot be partaken
of “freely.” In other words, that tree is the only tree which will bring
consequences to those who partake. The
Lord continues,
nevertheless,
thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I
forbid it,
Remember the Lord does not
give commandments and then suggest that disobedience is an option. What then, is the Lord forbidding? He is not
forbidding Adam to partake of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Rather, He is forbidding Adam to partake of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil freely. There is a big difference. The Lord is simply forbidding that Adam
partake of this tree consequence free.
What would the consequence be if Adam were to partake? The Lord continues,
for
in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Moses 3:16-17).
It is interesting to point
out that while in the Garden of Eden one day was equal to 1000 years.[7] Adam lived to be 930 years old, nearly one
day in Gods time, thus the phrase, “in the day thou eatest thereof, thou should
surely die” can be taken literally.
Contradiction?
With this
new information, we can again ask ourselves, “Why did God give Adam and Eve a
commandment that they could not keep, unless they first broke another one of
God’s commandments?” The answer: He didn’t.
A careful reading shows that God was not forbidding Adam and Eve to
partake of the fruit; he was forbidding that they partake of the fruit
consequence free.
On one
occasion, President Joseph Fielding Smith stated in his own words what the Lord
was telling Adam and Eve in Moses 3:16-17.
He writes,
The Lord said to Adam, here is the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. If you
want to stay here then you cannot eat of that fruit. If you want to stay here then I forbid you to
eat it. But you may act for yourself and
you may eat of it if you want to. And if
you eat it you will die.[8]
This
explanation tells us that Adam and Eve were not given contradictory
commandments in the Garden of Eden. It
tells us that Adam and Eve were able to keep all of Gods commandments, and they
did not have to break one of Gods commandments in order to keep another.
For Thy Sake
It should also be noted that God did
not punish Adam and Eve for partaking of the forbidden fruit. When the Lord hands down the consequences to
Adam and Eve, He makes the following statement: “Cursed shall be the ground for
thy sake” (Moses 4:23). Note that it was
the earth, not Adam, who was cursed.
Also note that the earth was cursed not to punish Adam, but for Adam’s “sake.” This teaches us that the Fall was a blessing
for not only Adam and Eve, but for the rest of us, for without the fall, there
would be no atonement, and without the atonement, we would not be able to
become like our Father in Heaven.
Notes:
[1]
McConkie, Answers: Straight Forward
Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, p. 185.
[2]
Gaskill, The Truth About Eden, p.
140.
[3]
Gaskill, The Savior and the Serpent, p.
14.
[4]
Moses 3:17. This insight came from the
following references: Gaskill, The Savior
and the Serpent, p. 140; Smith, Doctrines
of Salvation 1:114; Campbell, Eve and
the Choice Made in Eden. p. 37.
[5]
Parker, The Fall of Man: One of the Three Pillars of Eternity, in The Fullness of the Gospel: Foundational
Teachings from the Book of Mormon, p. 87, as quoted in, Gaskill, The Savior and the Serpent, p. 140.
[6]
Gaskill, The Savior and the Serpent, p.
140.
[7]
Abraham 3:4. Although this scripture
states that this day of reckoning is unto the Lords time according to the
revolutions of Kolob, it will be remembered that the earth was created near
Kolob, and when Adam fell, the Earth fell from its then present location in
space, to its current location in our Solar System (see Journal of Discourses, 17:143).
[8]
Smith, “Fall-Atonement-Resurrection-Sacrament,” Charge to Religious Educators, p. 124.