Eden: Our Internal World

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

And the snake was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the God had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of all trees of the garden?’”  The woman replied to the snake, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the snake said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and lustful to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths (Gen. 3:1-7).

The Snake

Maimonides says the snake spoke only to Eve (Guide, book III chap. xxx). Her receipt of the prohibition of even one fruit, weighed heavy on her. This explains her conflict. That one prohibition weighed far greater than it truly was, explaining why the snake said, “Did God prohibit all fruits?” What prompted this extreme sentiment? It was another psychological desire to be fully unbridled, as the instincts repel any and all restriction. To Eve, although literally all else was permitted to eat, that single restriction was intolerable. “Did God really prohibit all fruits? No, only one fruit is prohibited.” She intended to minimize the restriction, but she failed. 

Eve and Adam were created as adults, with full knowledge. So they knew angels existed, and they knew angels aren’t physical and cannot enjoy food. This made them both feel greater than angels in one respect. But with that elation over angels, they experienced frustration that there was one restricted tree. But that was not what caused their sin. They sinned as Rashi says because “God created the angels” (Avos 4:21). Meaning, the restriction on one food was not sufficient to drive them to sin. They had to justify eating that fruit: they imagined being like divine beings (angels): “God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad” (Gen. 3:5). Again, this was Eve talking to herself. Eve and Adam sinned as “God created the angels” (Rashi, Avos 4:21) means God’s creation of these higher beings presented Adam and Eve with the desire to be higher beings too. Although the restriction on the one fruit generated a desire for it, they were not compelled to sin until they imagined the honor that they would attain by attaining knowledge of good and evil. Man must justify his wrongdoings, as man cannot knowingly harm himself (Rabbi Israel Chait). 

The Prohibition

But why did God give this restriction? This much we can say: Man cannot exist without a divine command. For man must know his relationship to God: we are subservient. God created man to benefit by observing God’s will. A divine command teaches this relationship. Without a command, man can study the universe and arrive at God’s great wisdom. But nothing in nature conveys the idea that man should obey and serve God. Without a command, man would see other animal life, and by comparison, he would recognize he has intelligence so that he engages it. But the relationship as a servant of God would not be observed from nature. Therefore, as soon as man was created he was given a command. Now man is enabled to employ his free will and choose to follow God’s will over his own and enjoy the best life, that of wisdom and obedience for his own good, and inherit the afterlife. Thus, a command teaches man he is to obey God. It also entitles man to reward.

Multiple Account of Man’s Creation

But it is interesting and noteworthy that the first description of man’s creation, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:27) refers to God giving man intelligence, an “image of God,” but there is no command given in connection with this intelligence alone. The second reference of God creating man refers to creating him from the dust of the earth and giving him animal life (Gen. 2:7). Also noteworthy is that here God states that man can eat of all fruit trees (Gen. 1:29), but still no mention of the prohibition to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. The prohibition is only stated later in 2:17, after the description of the trees, and the 4 rivers. The one river branched into 4 rivers which are called 4 heads, Torah mentions Zahav (gold), Gichone (a stomach), Ashure (happiness) and Piras, fruitful. One energy source flowing towards 4 areas. King Solomon too opens his work Koheles describing a river. Rabbi Israel Chait explained the river:

“All the rivers flow to the sea; but the sea is not full; towards the place where the rivers flow, there they return again to flow” (Koheles 1:7)

Rabbi Chait: Koheles 1:5 teaches the cycle that man takes with his emotions. Verse 1:6 tells us that this cycle cannot operate without a bit of reality: that man feels he is getting somewhere, i.e., north, south. However, this is a delusion. There are two causes for man following this foolish cycle. One cause is what King Solomon stated in verse 1:6: man thinks he’s getting somewhere. But this is only a secondary cause. The primary cause is based on a need. That need is man’s great reservoir of psychological energy, depicted as a river; a relentless force. “The sea is not full” means that man’s desires are never quenched. Man is never satisfied because his energies (rivers) are great: “To the place where the rivers flow , there they return again to flow.” Man’s sense of progress is a rationalization. But this drive is not the primary cause for man’s actions. Rather, it is man’s great amount of energy which is relentless in its search for satisfaction. Psychological energy is the cause which underlies the rationalization: man’s intense energy drives him into a situation where he finds himself rationalizing his progress.

This verse is an exact analogy to the workings of the psyche. The rivers flowing to the sea are the emotions flowing to the desired object. “Yet the sea is not full,” i.e., man is not satisfied. This is because the desire is only as enjoyable as it is a novelty. Once novelty fades, so does the desire for the object. This is what is meant by “there they return again to flow.” Since novelty fades away, the waters (man’s energies) gather to flow towards yet another desired object.

Furthermore, when one fantasizes about a desired object, he must incorporate into his fantasy the illusion that his satisfaction will be endless. As stated, fantasy requires the desired object, and the feeling that the enjoyment is eternal.

Death and Immortality

Speaking of eternal, God created the Tree of Life in the center of Eden (Gen. 2:9). Man requires the central immortality fantasy to chase desires. For if man accepted his mortality, thereby understanding that all desires and satisfactions are short-lived, he would not chase what is temporal. But for every desire man chases, based on his feeling of immortality, he imagines that enjoyment will be endless. Immortality essentially drives man’s fantasies.  It is the needed driving force behind every desire. Maimonides said, “The tree of life extends over an area of five hundred years' journey, and it is from beneath it that all the waters of the creation sprang forth” (Guide, book II, chap xxxi). 

Tree—aytz—means counsel. Maimonides notes that Job lived in Utz, advising the reader to take “counsel” of Job’s story: “The name Uz therefore expresses the exhortation to consider well this lesson, study it, grasp its ideas” (Guide, book III chap. xxii). Again, “God planted the world in man’s heart” (Koheles 3:11). God also made other trees “desirous in appearance and good to eat” (Gen. 29), for man operates by fantasizing or imagining before he acts. 

Why is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil not also located “in the center” of the garden (man's psyche)? Because this knowledge was not initially planned to be part of man's psyche. Man would have been better off as God first created him: involved solely in matters of truth and falsehood, not good and evil, the latter is a distraction from the former higher area of truths and fallacy (Maimonides). 

For the Torah reader, understanding the mind, the emotions and man’s primary desires is the necessary backdrop for understanding the dynamics and justice of a divine command. Only once God refers to the rivers and the trees, does He command Adam and Eve in the forbidden fruit. 

(Although God refers to different aspects of man’s creation (intellect, physicality, pcyhe), there was only one creation of man which contained all aspects.)

God recounts Eve’s steps before sinning so we appreciate her psychological dynamics: 

And the snake said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and lustful to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took its fruit and ate. 

Eve denied mortality, strengthening her desire, and justified eating the fruit. 

The Creation of the Conscience

With this understanding, we can appreciate God’ subsequent creation of the conscience to help Adam and Eve to not sin again so quickly. This newly created capacity of the mind that made them aware of their nudity, also provides a sense of guilt, which acts as a secondary brake system to prevent man from sin. Guilt can assist man in refraining from sin, far better than without it. But we would not understand the need for guilt and a conscience to be created, had God not first recorded man’s ease in sinning so quickly. 

Man now knew he was mortal. This generated a desire to deny his disturbing mortality by eating of the Tree of Life, meaning over-involvement in his earthly attachments to deny death (Targum, Koheles 7:29). This is why God drove man out of Eden where the Tree of Life was located. In other words, God altered man’s psyche once more, creating a balance between mortality and immortality. As involvement in either extreme is unhealthy. This balance is expressed by God’s creation of a spinning, fiery sword, and childlike cherubs. 

And God said, “Now that man has become like us, knowing good and bad, perhaps he will stretch out a hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!”  So God banished them from the garden of Eden to work the land from which they were taken. Man was driven out; and in east of the garden of Eden were stationed the cherubim and the fiery turning sword to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:22-24).

The mortality of a sword and the immortality of cherubs suggests a balance, allowing man to live happily, feeling death is far off based on a feeling of youth.