NOTES for Gen 2:15-17
And so the first prohibition appears. Do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we freedom-loving people immediately feel offended: what does that mean, everything is allowed, but this is not? Why plant it then? Did He want to torment us? He planted it Himself and then forbids it? And why is it forbidden? Let us sort it out. First, who told us that everything planted in Eden had to be for man? Why, in fact, could God not have His own plans for this tree? And second... What is knowledge? In biblical language, knowledge is not only and not so much information as possession, authority. Can a "brand-new," still very "small" human being be entrusted at once with power over good and evil? Too early. Not everything can be entrusted at once. So even if God planted this tree precisely for man, it was more than reasonable on His part to postpone the moment when man would become acquainted with its fruits. As for what happened when man decided to hurry, we have already read that... in the next chapter.