Trees for the Gods

Trees for the Gods July 17, 2011

What do you think of this interpretation?

In the Garden of Eden story…Yahweh places the two trees in the garden for the benefit of the elohim. I infer this because Yahweh did not allow the humans to eat from them, and the trees impart qualities by which the gods are identified. Apparently the elohim regularly consume the fruit provided by the two trees. Yahweh intended neither for the humans. The tree of life imparted to the elohim eternal life or immortality. The other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Imparted divine insight and gave the elohim their unique knowledge. When humans eat the fruit from the tree, Yahweh addresses his council with the problem: “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:22).

— David Penchansky, Twilight of the Gods: Polytheism in the Hebrew Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005) pp.29-30.


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