Genesis 3:22-24

"Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’—therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24).

 

Question:

I'm studying the creation story and understanding most of the symbolism. I'm seeing a lot of the verses for the first time (despite having read/studied this through traditional eyes numerous times. I find it interesting where it states in 1:26 "let 'US' make man in 'OUR' image" ... then later "formed man of dust." Then really interesting is after eating of the tree and being "cursed" it starts in 3:22 "Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of 'US,' to know good and evil ..." What's the idea/meaning behind the plural 'US' and after he "drove out the man" ... what is meant by placing "Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life"?

Comment:

Oh, my! This could become very involved. Scholars and others have debated the use of the divine plural in Genesis for centuries. Some insist it's simply a sort of royal 'we'—like Queen Victoria's "We are not amused." Maybe, but that presumes a solitary Being named God who should speak in the singular but is just trying to be impressive, and we've largely left that understanding behind. Others might insist that it proves there are, in fact, many gods gathered in a sort of tribal council. But that challenges the Oneness that we have come to recognize as the first spiritual Truth. I think it's simply a recognition that the singular and infinite energy we may choose to name God is, in fact, expressing in many ways according to a divine rhythm, and the use of 'we' recognizes that neither Divine Mind nor the Lord of our Being—both expressions of that Oneness—can be limited or defined according to what it is or is not. It is everything—male and female, dark and light and every gradation in between. So using the plural may be a feeble attempt to name the unnameable.

I would strongly challenge the interpretation that God 'curses' Adam and Eve for choosing to experience the illusion of duality. Every element of this story—never meant to be taken literally, by the way—is in fact God: Adam, Eve, tree, serpent, everything. So it all unfolds within the Allness that is God. What can sound like a curse in some translations is really a simple, loving statement of fact. They've made a choice to create duality—which I think was and is their/our purpose all along. God is telling them that choices have consequences. Duality is hard work, and it can be painful. Useful information. And then (3:21) he makes them "garments of skins" because fig leaves will not hold up at all well.  

As to the tree of life, I think that's a more loving element than is generally believed. It is, essentially, the tree of eternal life. If we were to eat of its fruit at a primitive stage of our spiritual unfoldment, we would spend eternity at that stage. To keep that from happening, the tree is guarded for our protection. We never hear of it again until the final chapter of the final book of the Bible, Revelation. We have completed our journey through the illusion of duality and are returned to the kingdom of heaven, in which everything earthly is transformed into spiritual perfection. And there is the tree of life, unguarded. Now we can safely eat of its fruit and claim our true, eternal identity.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed