16
Education
that it was because of its wonderful properties for imparting wisdom
and power that God had forbidden them to taste it, that He was thus
seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development and find-
ing greater happiness. He declared that he himself had eaten of the
forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power of speech; and
that if they also would eat of it, they would attain to a more exalted
sphere of existence and enter a broader field of knowledge.
While Satan claimed to have received great good by eating of the
forbidden tree, he did not let it appear that by transgression he had be-
come an outcast from heaven. Here was falsehood, so concealed under
a covering of apparent truth that Eve, infatuated, flattered, beguiled,
did not discern the deception. She coveted what God had forbidden;
she distrusted His wisdom. She cast away faith, the key of knowledge.
[25]
When Eve saw “that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” It was grateful to the taste, and,
as she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined herself
entering upon a higher state of existence. Having herself transgressed,
she became a tempter to her husband, “and he did eat.”
Genesis 3:6
.
“Your eyes shall be opened,” the enemy had said; “ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:5
. Their eyes were indeed
opened; but how sad the opening! The knowledge of evil, the curse of
sin, was all that the transgressors gained. There was nothing poisonous
in the fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in yielding to appetite. It
was distrust of God’s goodness, disbelief of His word, and rejection
of His authority, that made our first parents transgressors, and that
brought into the world a knowledge of evil. It was this that opened the
door to every species of falsehood and error.
Man lost all because he chose to listen to the deceiver rather than
to Him who is Truth, who alone has understanding. By the mingling of
evil with good, his mind had become confused, his mental and spiritual
powers benumbed. No longer could he appreciate the good that God
had so freely bestowed.
Adam and Eve had chosen the knowledge of evil, and if they
ever regained the position they had lost they must regain it under the
unfavorable conditions they had brought upon themselves. No longer
were they to dwell in Eden, for in its perfection it could not teach them
the lessons which it was now essential for them to learn. In unutterable