Why were Adam and Eve told not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
February 22, 2026 The theme of ‘temptations’ runs across all three readings of today. A nd I have spoken about Jesus’ temptations in a couple of earlier blogs. ( Jesus' temptation and Shortcuts to the Kingdom ). But the first story of temptation that we read about in the Bible, is found in the first reading of today, and is one that not just Christians, but many others too are familiar with. And the most obvious question that arises when one reads this account is this : Why would Adam and Eve have been prohibited from eating of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Isn’t knowing good from evil actually a good quality that God would have wanted Adam and Eve to have? To answer this we must acknowledge first of all that this is not a historical story in our understanding of ‘history’ - a theme I have explored in various earlier blogs. Today’s first reading actually underscores ...
