cheryl

Paula: Thanks for the questions!

“The man†who has become like us keys in on the one whom God said would be tempted to eat from the tree of life. God is specifically talking about the man here, but because the woman also ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, obviously she too would have been like God in knowing good and evil. However, she wasn’t the problem one. Adam was the one who sinned with knowledge and by his own choice without his being deceived. He was the one in rebellion and was charged with bringing sin into the world. Although we can assume that Adam and Eve were both knowing good and evil because Eve also ate the fruit, we cannot assume from scripture that God also kicked out Eve from the garden. God tells us only that Adam was kicked out of the garden. Unfortunately the TNIV takes the literal Hebrew and puts their interpretation into the text. Instead of saying “the man†as most translations render this verse, they assume God means both Adam and Eve because we do know that both of them left the garden. The assumption is that God kicked them both out of the garden but the text doesn’t say that. A much better answer is the prophecy that God gives to Eve that she would desire her husband and obviously her desiring him would cause her to want to be with him. It is also understandable that his sinful rule over her would not have allowed her to stay in the garden. He wasn’t leaving alone!

So to summarize, the Hebrew for Genesis 3:22 is not plural but is accurately translated as “the man†and God’s mentioning Adam becoming like him in knowing good and evil cannot be used to say that the woman did not also know good and evil. The emphasis on this verse is the rebellious man.