Q: What was the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ in the Garden of Eden and why weren’t Adam and Eve allowed to eat from it?
A: The Bible doesn’t really actually explain what the tree is though it does seem rather self explanatory. Once they did eat from the tree, Adam and Eve realized that they were naked which they hadn’t noticed before—their innocence was gone forever.
While the Bible doesn’t really tell us why they weren’t suppose to eat from it, the inference is that they were not ready or adequately prepared to handle the choices between good and evil.
But there was another tree in the garden, the Tree of Life which would have given them eternal life. When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden because of their rebellion, sickness and death became part of their life and the lives of their posterity including us. What would anyone today pay to have a Tree of Life whose fruit would give one eternal life? But a ‘Tree of Life’ is available to anyone today and best of all, it is free! Jesus is the ‘Tree of Life’ which can give us eternal life, it is our choice to believe and receive him and his sacrifice as a free gift from Father God:
John 3:16-17:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.