(By : Dessy Ariadna – Stand To Jesus Writing Team)
Again, a question came into our official Line@ account message asking: Why didn’t Adam and Eve die after they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Did God lie to Adam and Eve?
Genesis 2:16-17 (IMB) And YAHWEH Elohim, commanded man, saying, “You may freely eat of any tree in the garden, but you may not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat it, you will surely die!”
Genesis 3:6-7 (IMB) The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and attractive to look at, and made wise, so she plucked the fruit and ate it, then gave it to her husband who was with her, and he ate the fruit. That. So their eyes were opened, and realizing that they were naked, they sewed together fig leaves and made loincloths.
If we look at the verse in Genesis 2:16-17 and compare it with Genesis 3:6-7, it certainly seems as if the two verses are contradictory. Why didn’t Adam and Eve die shortly after eating from the tree of knowledge? Why is it “as if” God’s words are not consistent with what Adam and Eve experienced?
The answer to this question is :
2 Peter 3:8 (IMB) My beloved brothers, let this one thing not be forgotten by you, that before God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.
Psalm 90:4 (IMB) For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.
God did not lie to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve did die after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Because before God a thousand years are equal to one day. And the age of Adam and Eve did not reach a thousand years (did not reach 1 day before God). Pay close attention to the following verse :
Genesis 5:4-5 (IMB) After begetting Seth, Adam lived eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters. So Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, then he died.
So God did not lie to Adam and Eve at all, He was consistent in every word He spoke. What God said to Adam and Eve that they would die the day they ate of the tree of knowledge was the truth.
