desirable

There’s a reason “forbidden fruit” has become the cliché phrase that describes things we shouldn’t do. It’s an accurate description, for one thing – there are many things God has put off limits for me. But it also connects us with the original defiance of God that happened in the Garden of Eden.

I read that account again, in Genesis 3. The crux of the problem is in verses 3:6-7 “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

The original sin set a pattern that is so typical we call it human nature. First, for Eve, this forbidden thing was so alluring. Instead of turning her back on that tree and looking at all the other fruit she was permitted to eat, she wanted this fruit. And since she wanted it, she took it. 

Then, she got Adam to go along. That’s a thing we do too – we validate our own choices by getting others to do the same thing. In these two ways, Eve’s sin, even though it was the very first, turned out to be very typical.

The forbidden fruit looks so good, and it seems there’s always a snake somewhere telling me why I should try it. By contrast, obedience looks dull and unfulfilling. I guess that’s why Satan is called the Father of Lies, because those two are whoppers. And when I fall for either one, he must laugh.

The consequences were immediate. At the end of Chapter 3 Adam and Even are banished, and in Chapter 4, one son murders the other and the wandering exile Cain would give rise to the pagan tribe of Lamech. And from that point the world was a place with as much evil as good.

It seems fitting that the other part of our reading that I did today, Psalm 2, describes the nations raging against God. People become societies, and societies become nations, and those nations reflect what their citizens are like. It’s no wonder that so many nations set themselves against God.

I’m reminded that the beauty of forbidden fruit is a deadly lie. And I’m reminded that Jesus’ work of saving those who believe the lies should be my work too.