Created with the Capacity to Live Forever?

The life of man on earth begins with the following biblical account in Genesis 1:26 “Then God said: Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the beasts, over all the earth, and over every animal that creeps on the earth. " There are many things that can be said about this text; But, for the purpose of our theme, we can only mention that man is created by God with everything necessary for his healthy life on this earth. The time of his dwelling on earth is nowhere mentioned, except in the following text from Genesis 2: 15-17 “So Jehovah God took man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and keep it. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree in the garden you may eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for the day you eat of it, you will certainly die. " The warning is clear "you will die." Until now, man had been created without age limits and with all the elements to live without problems on this earth. There is no mention of anything created with aging or dying characteristics. It is only said that everything was good (כי טוב ki-tov); that is, God was satisfied with what he had done, which was more than acceptable in his eyes.

So why do we grow old and die? The Genesis 2: 15-17 passage is a clear warning of something that could put man in a position to grow old and consequently die. Although it is not only a physical death, but also a spiritual one, the part that made man in the image and likeness of God. When in chapter 3 of Genesis the woman is seduced by the serpent and the man also falls, a transformation occurs in both without turning back. The man and the woman ate a fruit that introduced them to a world unknown to them. They ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Someone may question the fact that God created a bad tree when God Himself says that everything He created was good. The answer is that Moses (to whom this book is attributed) uses the Hebrew term da'at, a word that implies discernment and discrimination without referring to an intimate relationship. Also, this word is used only twice in this book in reference to this same tree. But when he refers to discernment that includes intimate relationship he uses the term Yada, which means knowing by observation and reflection and knowing by experience (Vine, 1999, p.65, emphasis added). The difference between these two terms is found in the following texts:

Genesis 4: 1 where it says: "Adam knew [yada — knowledge by intimate experience] his wife Eve, who conceived and gave birth to Cain, and said: By the will of the Lord I have acquired a man."

Genesis 2:17, where God declared: "But from the tree of knowledge [da'at — discrimination of knowledge] of good and evil you shall not eat."

In conclusion, the science (knowledge) that is spoken of about this tree does not imply any evil, but like the Bible, it offers us an extension of the understanding of the mind to discern between good and bad, just like the Bible herself teaches us about the good to do and the bad to avoid.

Also, we must understand that this tree had nothing to do with evil, much less created by God to tempt man; only the commandment of God, which tests the obedience of man and his love for Him. God placed many attractive trees in the garden for man to notice, and one of them very close to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the tree of life. But, man preferred the forbidden, disobedience to God and the fruit of that option taken led him to aging and death.

How does disobedience to eat a forbidden fruit bring aging and death to man? We will continue this topic in a second part of our next blog where we will analyze the age differences between men before and after the flood and we will begin to see some factors of aging. Until next week. †