Welcome to Bible Trivia Tuesday, where we ask a question, give you the answer with a little context, and read the entire Bible verse that is related to the question and answer.
This week’s Question: Of what, specifically, was man not allowed to eat in the Garden of Eden? Scroll down to see the answer!
March is Women’s History Month, and I’m continuing trivia concerning the courageous, humble and even flawed women of the Bible. Last week we talked about Rahab the prostitute who helped Israel at Jericho. We even gave a nod to Eve, our subject this week. Eve, and her husband, Adam, were both flawed Biblical characters but were an important introduction to sin and redemption of God’s people.
But back to our question: Of what, specifically, was man not allowed to eat in the Garden of Eden?
Answer: a Forbidden Fruit. Specifically from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Not apples. The fruit is not translated as apples, just fruit. The website Answers in Genesis points out that God told Eve and Adam they could eat of the fruit of any tree with seeds in them (Genesis 1:27-29)
Many people blame Eve for her transgression, and then blame Adam for not being strong enough to resist his wife’s temptation. We know the pair failed God’s original plan — to have real communion with mankind. Their sin banished them from the Garden. While this hurt God, I like to think how Eve felt about this.
The Bible tells us that after they ate the fruit they were ashamed and hid themself. Just imagine how this must have made the first woman feel. If we can believe that the first woman was a prototype for all women, her feelings can’t have been much different than a modern woman’s.
Here she was, a daughter who had not only disappointed her father, but put angst between her and her husband. Before, she was able to wander freely and talk with God. Now, that was all over.
Musician Rita Springer explored Eve’s downfall in her book, “Finding Eve.” Springer writes in Eve’s voice:
“The choice changed my life as I knew it … I lost my peace and became acquainted with fear. That day I lost my identity. I am now in search of it again.”
From Genesis: Chapter 2:6-24, New International Version.
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some 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 realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Next week, In Bible Trivia Tuesday, we’ll explore what happened to Tabitha/Dorcas.
