Tree of the knowledge of good and evil - wikipedia Tree of the knowledge of good and evil See also : Tree of Knowledge `` The Fall of Man '' by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Tree of Knowledge is on the right. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil ( עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע ‬ ; Hebrew pronunciation : ( Etz ha - daʿat tov wa - raʿ ) ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 -- 3, along with the tree of life. Contents 1 In Genesis 1.1 Narrative 1.2 Meaning of good and evil 2 Religious views 2.1 Judaism 2.2 Christianity 2.3 Islam 2.4 Other cultures 2.5 Ethnomycological hypothesis 3 See also 4 References 4.1 Bibliography In Genesis Narrative Genesis 2 narrates that God places the first man and woman in a garden with trees of whose fruits they may eat, but forbids them to eat from `` the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ''. When, in Genesis 3, a serpent seduces the woman to eat from its forbidden fruit and she also lets the man taste it, God expels them from the garden and thereby from eternal life. Meaning of good and evil The phrase in Hebrew : טוֹב וָרָע, tov wa - raʿ, literally translates as good and evil. This may be an example of the type of figure of speech known as merism, a literary device that pairs opposite terms together in order to create a general meaning, so that the phrase `` good and evil '' would simply imply `` everything ''. This is seen in the Egyptian expression evil - good, which is normally employed to mean `` everything ''. In Greek literature, Homer also uses the device when he lets Telemachus say, `` I know all things, the good and the evil '' ( Od. 20 : 309 - 10 ). If tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to be understood to mean a tree whose fruit imparts knowledge of everything, this phrase does not necessarily denote a moral concept. This view is held by several scholars. However, given the context of disobedience to God, other interpretations of the implications of this phrase also demand consideration. Robert Alter emphasizes the point that when God forbids the man to eat from that particular tree, he says that if he does so, he is `` doomed to die ''. The Hebrew behind this is in a form regularly used in the Hebrew Bible for issuing death sentences. Religious views Judaism In Jewish tradition, the Tree of Knowledge and the eating of its fruit represents the beginning of the mixture of good and evil together. Before that time, the two were separate, and evil had only a nebulous existence in potential. While free choice did exist before eating the fruit, evil existed as an entity separate from the human psyche, and it was not in human nature to desire it. Eating and internalizing the forbidden fruit changed this and thus was born the yeitzer hara, the Evil Inclination. In Rashi 's notes on Genesis 3 : 3, the first sin came about because Eve added an additional clause to the Divine command : Neither shall you touch it. By saying this, Eve added to YHWH 's command and thereby came to detract from it, as it is written : Do not add to His Words ( Proverbs 30 : 6 ). However, In Legends of the Jews, it was Adam who had devoutly forbidden Eve to touch the tree even though God had only mentioned the eating of the fruit. In Kabbalah, the sin of the Tree of Knowledge ( called Cheit Eitz HaDa'at ) brought about the great task of beirurim, sifting through the mixture of good and evil in the world to extract and liberate the sparks of holiness trapped therein. Since evil has no independent existence, it depends on holiness to draw down the Divine life - force, on whose `` leftovers '' it then feeds and derives existence. Once evil is separated from holiness through beirurim, its source of life is cut off, causing the evil to disappear. This is accomplished through observance of the 613 commandments in the Torah, which deal primarily with physical objects wherein good and evil are mixed together. Thus, the task of beirurim rectifies the sin of the Tree and draws the Shechinah back down to earth, where the sin of the Tree had caused Her to depart. Christianity A marble bas relief by Lorenzo Maitani on the Orvieto Cathedral, Italy depicts Eve and the tree In Christian theology, consuming the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the sin committed by Adam and Eve that led to the fall of man in Genesis 2 - 3. In Catholicism, Augustine of Hippo taught that the tree should be understood both symbolically and as a real tree - similarly to Jerusalem being both a real city and a figure of Heavenly Jerusalem. Augustine underlined that the fruits of that tree were not evil by themselves, because everything that God created was good ( Gen 1 : 12 ). It was disobedience of Adam and Eve, who had been told by God not to eat of the tree ( Gen 2 : 17 ), that caused disorder in the creation, thus humanity inherited sin and guilt from Adam and Eve 's sin. In Western Christian art, the fruit of the tree is commonly depicted as the apple, which originated in central Asia. This depiction may have originated as a Latin pun : by eating the mālum ( apple ), Eve contracted malum ( evil ). It is also possible that this depiction originated simply because of the religious painters ' artistic licence. Islam See also : Tree of life ( Quran ) This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2012 ) The Quran never refers to the tree as the `` Tree of the knowledge of good and evil '' but rather typically refers to it as `` the tree '' or ( in the words of Iblis ) as the `` tree of immortality ''. Muslims believe that when God created Adam and Eve, he told them that they could enjoy everything in the Garden except this tree, and so, Satan appeared to them and told them that the only reason God forbade them to eat from that tree is that they would become Angels or become immortals. When they ate from this tree their nakedness appeared to them and they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden. The Quran mentions the sin as being a ' slip ', and after this ' slip ' they were sent to the destination they were intended to be on - Earth. Consequently, they repented to God and asked for his forgiveness and were forgiven. It was decided that those who obey God and follow his path shall be rewarded with everlasting life in Jannah, and those who disobey God and stray away from his path shall be punished in Jahannam. God in Quran ( Al - A'raf 27 ) states : `` ( O ) Children of Adam ! Let not Satan tempt you as he brought your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their garments to show them their shameful parts. Surely he ( Satan ) sees you, he and his tribe, from where you see them not. We have made the Satans the friends of those who do not believe. '' Other cultures A cylinder seal, known as the Adam and Eve cylinder seal, from post-Akkadian periods in Mesopotamia ( c. 23rd - 22nd century BCE ), has been linked to the Adam and Eve story. Assyriologist George Smith ( 1840 - 1876 ) describes the seal as having two facing figures ( male and female ) seated on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while between their backs is a serpent, giving evidence that the fall of man account was known in early times of Babylonia. The British Museum disputes this interpretation and holds that it is a common image from the period depicting a male deity being worshipped by a woman, with no reason to connect the scene with the Book of Genesis. The Tamil poem `` Tala Vilasam '' recounts a legend of the tree that parallels the Biblical account. In it, the Creator Brahma finally allows the people access to the tree - which, in this case, is the palmyra palmtree Borassus flabellifer. Ethnomycological hypothesis American ethnomycologist, ethnobotanist, and philosopher Terence McKenna proposed that the Forbidden Fruit was entheogenic, identifying it as the Psilocybe cubensis mushroom, consistent with his `` Stoned Ape '' model of human evolution. See also Adam and Eve Adam and Eve ( LDS Church ) Dream of the Rood Enlightenment ( spiritual ) Fall of man Forbidden fruit Original sin Tree of life ( biblical ) References ^ Jump up to : Gordon, Cyrus H. ; Rendsburg, Gary A. ( 1997 ). The Bible and the ancient Near East ( 4th ed. ). New York : W.W. Norton & Co. p. 36. ISBN 978 - 0 - 393 - 31689 - 6. Jump up ^ Harry Orlinsky 's notes to the NJPS Torah. Jump up ^ Wyatt, Nicolas ( 2001 ). Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East. A&C Black. p. 244. ISBN 978 - 0 - 567 - 04942 - 1. Jump up ^ Alter 2004, p. 21. Jump up ^ Rashi to Genesis 2 : 25 Jump up ^ Ramban to Genesis 3 : 6 Jump up ^ Ginzberg, Louis, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. I : The Fall of Man, ( Translated by Henrietta Szold ), Johns Hopkins University Press : 1998, ISBN 0 - 8018 - 5890 - 9 Jump up ^ Epistle 26, Lessons in Tanya, Igeret HaKodesh Jump up ^ ch. 22, Tanya, Likutei Amarim Jump up ^ ch. 37, Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim Jump up ^ Torah Ohr 3c Jump up ^ Torat Chaim Bereishit 30a Jump up ^ Bereishit Rabbah 19 : 7 Jump up ^ Ramban to Genesis 3 : 8 Jump up ^ Augustine, On the Literal Meaning of Genesis ( De Genesi ad litteram ), VIII, 4.8 ; Bibliothèque Augustinniene 49, 20 Jump up ^ Augustine of Hippo, On the Literal Meaning of Genesis ( De Genesi ad litteram ), VIII, 6.12 and 13.28, Bibliothèque Augustinniene 49, 28 and 50 - 52 ; PL 34, 377 ; cf. idem, De Trinitate, XII, 12.17 ; CCL 50, 371 - 372 ( v. 26 - 31 ; 1 - 36 ) ; De natura boni 34 - 35 ; CSEL 25, 872 ; PL 42, 551 - 572 Jump up ^ `` The City of God ( Book XIII ), Chapter 14 ''. Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 07. Jump up ^ Adams, Cecil ( 2006 - 11 - 24 ). `` The Straight Dope : Was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden an apple ? ''. The Straight Dope. Creative Loafing Media, Inc. Retrieved 2008 - 10 - 06. Jump up ^ Qur'an 20 : 120 Jump up ^ Qur'an 7 : 23 Jump up ^ Qur'an 2 : 37 Jump up ^ Mitchell, T.C. ( 2004 ). The Bible in the British Museum : interpreting the evidence ( New ed. ). New York : Paulist Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780809142927. Jump up ^ The British Museum. `` ' Adam and Eve ' cylinder seal ''. Google Cultural Institute. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 06. Jump up ^ Ferguson, William ( 1850 ). The Palmyra Palm, Borassus Flabelliformis : A Popular Description of the Palm and Its Products, Having Special Reference to Ceylon : with a Valuable Appendix Embracing Extracts from Nearly Every Author that Has Noticed the Tree. Observer Press. p. 4. Retrieved 10 May 2015. Jump up ^ Food of the Gods : The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge. McKenna, Terence. 1992. Bibliography Alter, Robert. A translation with commentary ( 2004 ). The five books of Moses. New York : W.W. Norton. ISBN 0 - 393 - 33393 - 0. Knight, Douglas ( 1990 ). Watson E. Mills, ed. Mercer dictionary of the Bible ( 2d corr. print. ed. ). Macon, GA : Mercer University Press. ISBN 0 - 86554 - 402 - 6. Media related to Tree of the knowledge of good and evil at Wikimedia Commons Adam and Eve Source Genesis creation narrative in the Book of Genesis Adam Eve Offspring Cain and Abel Aclima Seth Awan Azura Television `` Probe 7, Over and Out '' ( 1963 ) Film Mama 's Affair ( 1921 ) Good Morning, Eve ! ( 1934 ) The Broken Jug ( 1937 ) The Original Sin ( 1948 ) The Private Lives of Adam and Eve ( 1960 ) El pecado de Adán y Eva ( 1969 ) La Biblia en pasta ( 1984 ) The Annunciation ( 1984 ) Adipapam ( 1988 ) Adam ( 1992 ) Babs ( 2000 ) The Last Eve ( 2005 ) Year One ( 2009 ) The Tragedy of Man ( 2011 ) Adam and Dog ( 2011 ) Tropico ( 2013 ) Plays Le Jeu d'Adam ( 12th century ) The Broken Jug ( 1808 ) The Tragedy of Man ( 1861 ) The Creation of the World and Other Business ( 1972 ) Musicals The Apple Tree ( 1966 ) Dude ( 1972 ) Up from Paradise ( 1973 ) Children of Eden ( 1991 ) Compositions The Creation ( 1798 ) structure La mort d'Adam ( 1809 ) Ève ( 1875 ) Genesis Suite ( 1945 ) Lilith ( 2001 ) Literature Apocalypse of Adam Book of Moses Book of Abraham Books of Adam Book of the Penitence of Adam Cave of Treasures `` El y Ella '' Genesis A and Genesis B Harrowing of Hell Life of Adam and Eve Testament of Adam Testimony of Truth ( 3rd century ) Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan ( 6th century ) `` Old Saxon Genesis '' ( 9th century ) `` Adam lay ybounden '' ( 15th century ) Paradise Lost ( 1667 ) Le Dernier Homme ( 1805 ) Extracts from Adam 's Diary ( 1904 ) Eve 's Diary ( 1905 ) The Book of Genesis ( 2009 ) Art Bernward Doors ( 1015 ) Tapestry of Creation ( 11th century ) Expulsion from the Garden of Eden ( 1425 ) Vienna Diptych ( 15th century ) The Last Judgment ( 1482 ) The Garden of Earthly Delights ( 1504 ) Adam and Eve ( 1507 ) Paradise and Hell ( 1510 ) The Creation of Adam ( 1512 ) The Haywain Triptych ( 1516 ) Eve, the Serpent and Death ( 1510s or 1520s ) Adam and Eve ( 1528 ) The Fall of Man ( 1550 ) Maps of ancient Israel The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man ( 1617 ) The Fall of Man ( 1628 ) The Four Seasons ( 1660s ) The Koren Picture - Bible ( 1692 -- 1696 ) The First Mourning ( 1888 ) Eve ( 1931 ) Adam and Eve ( 1932 ) The Serpent Chooses Adam and Eve ( 1958 ) Songs `` Dese Bones G'wine Rise Again '' `` Adam - ondi - Ahman '' ( 1835 ) `` Forbidden Fruit '' ( 1915 ) `` The Garden of Eden '' ( 1956 ) `` Let 's Give Adam and Eve Another Chance '' ( 1970 ) `` Man Gave Names to All the Animals '' ( 1979 ) Albums The Cainian Chronicle ( 1996 ) Visions of Eden ( 2006 ) Other cultures Adam -- God doctrine Adam and Eve ( LDS Church ) Adam in Islam Adam in rabbinic literature Al - A'raf Book of Moses Endowment Manu ( Hinduism ) Mashya and Mashyana Serpent seed Tree of Jiva and Atman Tree of life ( Quran ) Our Lady of Endor Coven Geography Adam - ondi - Ahman Tomb of Eve Biology Mitochondrial Eve Y - chromosomal Adam The Real Eve Story within a story Doraemon : Nobita 's Diary of the Creation of the World Island of Love The Visitors Games Demon : The Fallen ( 2002 ) Related theology Fall of man Original sin Garden of Eden Tree of the knowledge of good and evil Serpents in the Bible Forbidden fruit Apple Fig leaf Figs in the Bible Adam 's ale Adamic language Rosh Hashanah Camael Shamsiel Tree of life Allegorical interpretations of Genesis Other Pre-Adamite Generations of Adam Cave of the Patriarchs `` In - A-Gadda - Da - Leela '' `` Simpsons Bible Stories '' Second Time Lucky Adam and Eve cylinder seal Timeline of Genesis patriarchs Genealogies of Genesis Carnal knowledge Legend of the Rood Ystorya Adaf Snakes for the Divine Ransom theory of atonement Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tree_of_the_knowledge_of_good_and_evil&oldid=862967010 '' Categories : Adam and Eve Biblical phrases Christian mythology Jewish mysticism Jewish mythology Sacred trees Trees in mythology Garden of Eden Kabbalistic words and phrases Bereshit ( parsha ) Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from August 2012 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français Frysk 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Latina Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Slovenčina Suomi Svenska 中文 18 more Edit links This page was last edited on 7 October 2018, at 21 : 30 ( UTC ). 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Question: where was the tree of knowledge of good and evil located
Answer: the Garden of Eden