January 16th, 2020

The account emphasizes knowledge because knowledge, according to Legaspi, is a God-like trait. Since humans were created in the image of God, they were given a certain level of knowledge necessary to rule over the other creatures of the world. At the same time, Adam and Eve did not know both good and evil, which is emphasized by their lack of sexual desires when they were both naked in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, when they eat from the tree of knowledge, they become aware of sin as well as their capability to sin. This knowledge, in a sense, is God-like, but Adam and Eve did not become God, like the serpent promised they would. Instead, they only gained this knowledge and nothing else, which makes them susceptible to sin, unlike God. Therefore, they now have the ability to act independently and make either sinful or good decisions. This was brought about by the serpent, who gave them an idea directly contradicting God’s message to them. Since Adam and Eve had a choice of eating the fruit or not eating the fruit, they had the ability to make an independent judgement of whether to go against God’s command or to obey it. This independent judgement precedes the actual wrongdoing, and is therefore what gives humans the ability to sin, which is less God-like. Now that Adam and Eve had the independent judgement ability to continue sinning, this may be why God banished them from the Garden of Eden. The blocking of the tree of wisdom is a big hint as to why God did this. God most likely did not want Adam and Eve returning to the Garden because if they ate the fruit again without being deceived, they most likely would have went to hell. The importance of eating, according to Legaspi has to do with the dynamic of being given food by a provider, which is God. God provides Adam and Eve the food they need to survive, but instead of taking being satisfied this gift, they seize a fruit they were commanded not to eat and ate it. This dynamic would not work in the context of looking at something or touching something because you don’t need to do these things to survive.