The Prophetic Telegraph - No.114
Good and Evil
In September 1995 I wrote
three papers based on an exposition of the words "Good and
Evil."
(P.Ts 66 - 68) At that time the subject was brought to our notice, (by the Lord
I am sure,) to alert us to an area of understanding that was entirely new, most
exciting, and quite devastating as to its impact on our thinking. It came as a
shaft of light, and the whole concept has been mulled over, and worked this way
and that ever since. In this present paper, nearly four years later, I should
like to draw some threads together and present a more rounded treatment of the
subject and its consequences to the whole of Christian thought, behaviour, and
future hope. I feel strongly that to make a study of these words and their
implication is of such foundational value and importance that the outcome could
be little short of a spiritual earthquake. So let's see what's in store.
I can clearly remember that
early autumn afternoon in 1995. The rest of the family were out. My wife and I
were sitting in the garden enjoying the sun's warmth and chatting about the
first three chapters of Genesis. Rosalind posed the question. "I
wonder what the Hebrew word for EVIL means?" I suddenly realised
that I had never before looked in the Lexicon to find out. When I returned from
the study I was full of excitement. "Gesenius refers to EVIL (RA)
as A LOUD NOISE," I said. We looked at each other and wondered
where this thought was going to lead. "Does that mean that GOOD is
the opposite, something SOFT perhaps?" asked my wife. So I went
back to the study, there to find a variety of words that could define the
Hebrew word TOV, and although 'soft' was not amongst them, the whole tenor of
the word was certainly in that direction, as an OPPOSITE to the 'loud noise'.
By this time our thinking
was in top gear. We began to ask ourselves potent questions, like,
"What d'you think Adam and Eve understood by the word RA when the Lord
spoke about the Tree of the Knowledge of TOV and RA?" And, "If
they had no knowledge of Evil, or what it meant, wouldn't their curiosity have
been aroused?" And, "What did they understand by the
word 'death', when nothing had yet died?" Questions like this had
never entered our minds before, but we sensed the Lord was causing us to walk
along this new avenue of thought and receive His further light and
understanding.
Before long we came to the
conclusion that TOV and RA were both acceptable concepts initially.
Even today there is a place for these early concepts of LOUD NOISE, and 'SOTTO
VOCE'. In a symphony one hears grand, even thunderously loud portions, followed
by softer and more melodious passages. Yes, there is nothing intrinsically wrong
with the LOUD NOISE. After all, the Psalmist tells us to "Praise
the Lord upon the LOUD CYMBALS." (Psalm 150:5) But there was
obviously something behind this which the Lord knew about, and which
Adam and Eve were not aware of, and from reading the story in Genesis, the Lord
certainly didn't want them to know about it by eating the
fruit of that tree. Surely the 'knowledge of TOV and RA'
was important to them, wasn't it?
At this point we began a
serious Bible study, and came across verses such as the following, which were a
great help to our enquiry. The children of
Because of this, we
realised that "the knowledge of good and evil"
was intended for mankind, and that it was a function of MATURITY. It is now our considered
understanding that if Adam and Eve had obeyed God by not eating
the fruit, He would in due course have imparted to them this knowledge, that
is, the distinction between RA and TOV that was vital to all human existence. However, it
was God's plan impart this knowledge Himself, as part of their on-going
tuition. He desired to be their Teacher, as day by day He walked with them in
the cool of the day. The maturity aspect shows us that Adam and Eve had been
working that Garden for quite a long time, gradually growing in the knowledge
of many things, under the hand of the Lord. A time would come when by
experience they would be able to understand why TOV was to be the dominant
factor, and RA the subordinate one. That sort of distinction requires
growth to spiritual adulthood before it can be handled sensibly, with due
appreciation of the dangers involved by allowing RA to get in the ascendancy.
But the process was short-circuited by the intervention of the Serpent Cherub,
a glorious being whom they knew from previous visits, but it never crossed
their mind that he would come to deceive.
If the Hebrew word RA had
conveyed the sense of LOUD to Adam and Eve, as the Lexicon tells us, then they
would have seen it as an 'acceptable' facet of life. There wouldn't have been
anything 'wrong' latent in the word. (I have to beware saying 'anything evil',
because that places a meaning on RA which was only subsequently attached to the
word.) Hence the need for that maturity of experience. A simple analogy from the
present time might help. We eat our savoury course first (the "salty"
part) followed by the dessert, (the "sweet" part.) Both are
acceptable, both enjoyed. But if we only ever had the "sweet" part of
the meal, it would have a deleterious effect on our bodies. It's not quite the
same the other way round. We could exist more readily on the savoury part
alone. But the point I'm trying to make is that the savoury, or salty, portion
of dinner is that which keeps the sweet part in its right proportion. And the lesson
Adam and Eve were supposed to learn was that TOV needed to be in charge of RA,
otherwise RA would get out of hand. (The analogy is only a poor representation,
but I'm aware that Jesus spoke about us being "the salt of the
earth". Furthermore, in September 1974 the Lord gave me the
vision of the "sugar-ice duck" and afterwards said, They
craved sugar and I gave them sugar, but it was not according to my heart.")
When the Lord planted the "Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", His purpose was to provide
man with a LAW, and a PROHIBITION, to test
his power of choice. It was not to prevent
him from gaining this important distinction between RA and TOV. That
distinction is most important. Although man was made 'perfect', (in the sense
that he was sinless) he was by no means 'mature'. As Oswald Chambers once
remarked, "Innocence is not safe, it is just full of possibilities."
And so, because God had imparted the power of choice to
His first human pair, He wanted to test them, to find out if they would choose
to obey Him, or rebel against Him.
It must be clearly
understood that this Tree was NOT a "Tree of Knowledge",
as though knowledge per se is a bad thing, neither was the purpose of
the Tree to prevent Adam from gaining the "knowledge of good
and evil", but purely a tree of choosing, a
test of obedience. The awareness of "good and evil" would
of course automatically come into existence if they disobeyed God. It couldn't
be otherwise. It came as a nasty shock. But from Satan's point of view, he saw
it as a "short cut" to knowledge he believed they ought to have
received long before, but which God had wrongly withheld from them. He desired
to enlist their support for his cause, the need to have everything blasted into
the open instead of keeping essential virtues under cover. He didn't agree "it
is the glory of God to hide a matter." (Proverbs 25:2)
I cannot emphasise this
last point enough, because unless it is properly understood, the way is not
open to know the deeper truths about RA and TOV. Let me put it this way. God
created man in His own image. Therefore he was made with the gift of
choice between obeying and disobeying God. And God wanted His man to
be proof against the possibility of bad choosing. But in His foreknowledge, He
knew that Adam and Eve would fail this test. It wasn't that God was taken by
surprise, and had to hurriedly make plans to rectify the situation. Indeed no!
That view would be an odious indictment on the wisdom of the Godhead. Rather
was it as Peter declared in 1 Peter 1:18-20 "Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but
manifest in these last times for you".
[As an aside here,
there is some controversy surrounding the words "foundation of
the world", which in Greek reads pro katabolhV kosmou
(pro katabolees kosmou). Some say that it refers to the founding
of the world, others to the disruption of the world, i.e. the fall,
literally, "the throwing down of the cosmos."
This makes an interesting study in its own right. But I shall not deal with it
here. It makes no difference to the argument set forth above, because whichever
interpretation is adopted, the word pro means before, and
therefore had to antedate the fall of man. Therefore Jesus, as the Lamb of God,
was foreordained for our redemption, BEFORE man disobeyed and fell into sin.]
As a result of the fall, "the
creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who
has subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in
pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
(Romans 8:20-23) Some may raise an objection here, and ask why God should have
subjected all the human race to vanity, to be born in sin, just because Adam
made a wrong choice. Like Lancelot was given to sing in the musical, Camelot,
"If I had been the partner of Eve, we'd be in
But if each one had also
been given the Edenic conditions that Adam and Eve enjoyed, how many of them,
statistically speaking, would have made the wrong choice? A very
difficult question to answer. Shall we begin by saying that 50% would have
fallen for the Serpent's lie? Then perhaps 90% might have succumbed sooner of
later, even if they rejected Satan's initial foray. Obviously we cannot know,
but that's not the point. Even if just ONE had made the wrong choice, the
Holy Lamb of God would have come into this world to die for his sins. That is
the love of God for His creation. One person out of 12,000,000,000!!! That
explains the rationale behind the "subjection to vanity"
of the whole creation from Adam onwards. It must not be seen
as an act of injustice. Whenever we, as human beings, are confronted by the
possibility of seeming injustice in the Godhead, the right and proper thing to
do is to reject the thought at once, stamp on it, and ask God for wisdom to
understand the "why" behind it all.
Now we must turn our
attention once again to these words RA and TOV, that were of such great
importance in those first years of creation. What exactly does it mean to have
the "knowledge of TOV and RA"? More to
the point, the word "knowledge" here suggests rather the "distinction
between" the two words, as though two systems were being presented to man, together with
their interaction.
I suggested that BOTH these
words were without corrupt import before the fall, and that both LOUD and SOFT
were part of life. So what was it that caused the word RA to take on its
present meaning of EVIL, as implied throughout the rest of Scripture? Let us
first contemplate a word picture of RA, to ascertain the compass of what it
might have suggested to Adam and Eve, and Satan, in the beginning. The
following words make up this picture.
Loud, Noisy,
Breaking, Crashing (as
None of these words is
intrinsically EVIL, in the sense we ascribe to it today. And yet all of these
words may be attributed to the Hebrew word RA in its BASIC meaning. So what
about the word picture for TOV?
Good, Soft,
Quiet, Gentle, Tender, Rippling (as a Mountain stream,) Kind, Mild, Shy,
Humble, Meek, Retiring, Unobtrusive, Unassuming, Tender-hearted, Courteous,
Chivalrous, Easily entreated, Employing economy of words.
By comparing and
contrasting these two word pictures, an understanding can be built up, and the
conclusion is of the utmost importance. Let's see how Satan must have viewed
them in the beginning. In our "Lucifer" papers, P.Ts 93-95, we showed
how Satan's position was that of the "Praise-master of
Heaven" in the first instance. That is the meaning of the word
Lucifer, HELEL in Hebrew, related to HALEL-U-JAH, which means "praise the
Lord." No doubt he would have experienced the thrill of the "loud
crashing cymbals" and "high sounding praise"
of the heavenly host. This was his job, and no doubt he did it well in those
early years. But there was another part to his work, that of being "the
anointed cherub who covers." What did he cover? The answer is
that he was required to cover God's glory, that the hosts of heaven and earth would not
be subjected to the full majesty and glory of their Creator God. As an example
of this, we read of God walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden, probably in
form like themselves, a Man, a Superior Man, yes, but still as a Man. They
could not have endured the full majesty of His august presence. It was the
delight of God thus to "camouflage" Himself to enjoy fellowship with
His own creation.
[As an aside for a
moment; camouflage was a word which came to Rosalind one morning when she was
talking to the Lord and it struck her like a shaft of light that camouflage is
part of God's own character. She suddenly saw that creation displayed both Tov
and Ra. For example, the peahen is camouflaged and the peacock is flamboyant.
We see this constantly amongst the animals. This understanding threw lots of
light into our discussions. Maybe, in a sense, Adam was to be more the
embodiment of RA, whilst Eve was to be more the expression of TOV. Could this
be why Satan decided to attack Eve rather than Adam? If you read the account
carefully, you will see that Adam was WITH HIS WIFE THROUGHOUT but seemingly
only as a by-stander.]
Imagine Satan in this dual
role of "covering cherub," AND "praise-master."
One side of him enjoys the excitement of that which is LOUD, and the other side
initially enjoys the "shyness" of his God, the one he is required to
"cover". But God had made this dichotomy to be the equivalent of
Adam's Tree of Knowledge. It is the method by which God used Satan's
circumstances to test his obedience. The music tended towards
RA, whereas the "covering" tended towards TOV, and he was constantly
confronted with these two aspects of life. I don't believe he made a sudden
choice. I suspect that in the process of time there was a yearning towards RA,
and a withdrawing from TOV, instead of realising that there was, indeed HAD TO
BE, a place for both in the created world. The tendency was such that it
encouraged a questioning towards God's insistence on presenting Himself in this
"quiet" guise. And as time went on, the impression grew and grew
until it formulated a more robust and determined attitude in his mind, that of
DISAGREEING with God, and almost a DESPISING of His "shyness". It
only precipitated itself as direct transgression when he approached Adam and
Eve, and deceived Eve with his questioning. Let's see how James portrays the
process in its outworking. "Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any
man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own
unbridled-desire, and enticed. Then when this unbridled-desire has
conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth
death." (James 1:13-15)
I can imagine the Lord
cautioning Satan along the way, knowing how his mind was working. I'm sure he
would not have been left without any form of instruction, or admonition. But as
James said, these mental tendencies have a habit of growing from small
beginnings, and getting their teeth into you, until the desire is
conceived, and once that happens, the process goes on to completion in
the act of transgression, causing the fall, which
the Bible calls sin.
[The Hebrew word
CHATA, as also the Greek word HAMARTIA, means "fallenness",
although the word "sin" is consistently used in
translation. Paul put it very clearly in Romans
There is a view amongst
some expositors that Satan fell long before he entered the Garden of Eden that
day. Those who espouse the Gap Theory have much to say on this
point. But I have shown elsewhere that there is absolutely no credibility in
the Gap Theory (i.e., of a moral collapse of an earlier race, and a consequent
cataclysm) between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Paul refers to Adam as "the
first man", and I am content to accept his word as truth.
Also, I am aware that God cursed the Serpent ON THE DAY when he caused the
downfall of Adam and Eve, and NOT BEFORE. It is impossible to contemplate
Satan, a fallen creature, approaching Eve and being able to deceive her in her
pristine state. Satan was still in his "royal garb" that day.
[|Please, not as a snake in the tree, as is so often depicted to the mockery of
the world at large!] His "unbridled-desire" had "conceived"
and now it was on the point of "bringing forth sin", i.e.
"fallenness", as James so clearly spelled out.
There is also another
theory presented by some expositors, which asks us to believe that EVIL as we
know it today was already present before the fall, and ready to be used
by God. I have recently read, to my utter astonishment, that some
believe it was necessary for man to fall into sin, because
otherwise he could never learn of the compassion and mercy of
God. To this end, they say, Satan was created as a murderer and a liar,
and the Tree of Knowledge planted in the Garden, specifically
for the purpose of forcing man to fall into sin. I strongly repudiate
this assertion. How can God create anything to be corrupt? When our young
grandson heard us talking about this, he said, "If God created Satan
to be a murderer, He would be breaking one of His own commandments."
Quite an observation for a boy of nine years. My wife said, "If God
made Satan to do this dirty work, why did He curse him after carrying out His
instructions?" And I will add another observation. When we receive
our new bodies, and sin is put behind us for ever, will we never again be able
to appreciate more of God's compassion and mercy? Can such knowledge only be
experienced and appreciated in a fallen state? No, no. no! All these thoughts
are ungodly, and fall under the condemnation mentioned earlier. To suggest that
evil resides in the Godhead is blasphemous and unthinkable. RA was NOT evil as
we know it today. The meaning of RA and TOV has already been explained, as to
the pristine force of these words
Returning now to the events
in
Henceforth Satan brought
about all the attributes we now understand in the word EVIL. Just as he, Satan,
had fallen from his high estate, so also did the word RA fall from being the
word picture listed above, to all manner of unacceptable traits.His utter
belief in everything high and mighty, and the
necessity for blasting into the open every achievement, and craving admiration,
rather than encouraging a retiring attitude of humility, meant that he
has striven to encourage mankind to envy those in higher
estate than themselves, always to struggle to climb up higher, which induces jealousy
amongst the "less-fortunate", and pride, arrogance
and contempt amongst the "more-fortunate". And those who
wish to put on "window dressing" to publicise themselves as better
than they really are, we find the rise of hypocrisy.
Furthermore, a competitive spirit is fostered, giving rise to
activities like the Olympic Games, and all other sporting events where man's
athletic prowess may be applauded. But the only prizes awarded
by God are those for "overcoming", not other people,
(which is the meaning of the word Nicolaitanes in Rev.2-3) but
their own inherent weaknesses by the power of God's Holy
Spirit.
Yes, Satan's world is very competitive,
and this promotes wars, disturbances, uprisings, tribal and national
conflict, and all manner of ills. These are just a reflection of
Satan's mind, struggling with his own feelings of unfairness, and
injustice at the hands of God for what happened to him in the Garden
of Eden. The Lord said He would "put enmity between the woman
and the Serpent, between her seed and his." However, over the
centuries and millennia since Eden, Satan has striven to eradicate that enmity,
so that today we find some people either openly or subconsciously advocating
the Devil's RA-based mind rather than "knowing his
devices" and hating them. However, the Lord has superior
wisdom, and ultimately He will bring about that which was predicted through the
Apostle Paul, and which we quoted above, namely, that "the
creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
What about the word picture
for TOV? A casual glance will tell us that all the characteristics remain as
they were, and indeed, generally speaking, man looks upon such qualities with
pleasure, whether he be Christian, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, or any other creedal or
ethnic group. And most worldly people admire such qualities, which therefore
provide the fabric for man's fictional writings. Most people like a
satisfactory ending to their fictional reading, and apart from the minority who
sadly have twisted minds, books HAVE to have a focus on GOOD overcoming EVIL to
become a lasting addition to literature.
I read that in certain
quarters there is an angle of belief, suggesting that man does not have
a freewill to choose anything other than to commit sin! If this is so,
then why is it that 99% of people applaud justice, honesty, courtesy and
kindness, and hate cruelty, theft, murder, and other forms of wickedness? If we
are "totally depraved" (to use their expression),
how come that most people are still able to make good moral choices?
One has only to read a couple of dozen novels, and see a couple of dozen films
to see the force of what I have just said. Add to this the fact that throughout
the Old Testament, God kept on placing choices before His people, and asking them
to choose aright. "I call heaven and earth to record this day
against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live." (Deut.30:19)
And why is it that God condemns man's reluctance to choose that which is good,
when surrounded by the beauties of creation, all of which silently shout God's
eternal glory and Godhead? (Rom.1) Even amongst the majority of mankind, (i.e.
those yet to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved,) there is a very marked
understanding of the distinction between right and wrong, and a tendency
towards justice and neighbourliness; to quote Sheridan, a "do-as-you-would-be-done-by"
approach to life. [Please note, I am not doing away with the need for
repentance in saying these things, but high-lighting the error of rejecting the
powers of human choice.]
In the final outcome, the
judgment may take an angle that is not in the least the popularly accepted one.
We have seen that the word TOV has very definite connotations within its
"word picture", and in the Gospels Jesus uses distinctions between RA
and TOV on many occasions. I wrote a paper entitled "In praise of
little things" a while back (P.T. 61) in which I majored on this
theme. . What does one yearn for in the Christian walk? To be seen, to be
noticed, to do many great miracles and astound the world? Or on the other hand
to be like the Master in resurrection, where He often appeared in
"camouflage" and was not recognised until a certain point had been
reached? One must cast the mind back to the Garden of Eden, and remember what
it was like BEFORE the fall, and how the Lord walked with Adam and Eve. There
is a place for much humility, unobtrusiveness, gentleness, even a "shy"
approach to people who as yet haven't had their eyes opened to eternal
realities.
Here then is the final
outcome of this paper. I said at the beginning that it would be something of a
spiritual earthquake. Can it be seen as such? To have a deep and clarified
knowledge of the distinction between Ra and Tov is one of the
most important factors to be learned in life. When Satan's original error of
judgment is unveiled, we shall not any longer want to emulate his ways. When
TOV stands out in all its glory, then we shall take great delight in everything
that reflects the true character of our great and humble God. There will be
occasions when the "pomp and circumstance" of life is right and
proper, but to major on it, and believe that it is the final goal in
believing in Jesus Christ, is only to court disaster, and the disapprobation of
our Master when He returns. May this lesson be learned by us all. We may have
our heads in the heavenlies, but our feet must remain firmly planted on the
ground. Simplicity and servanthood, the attitude of the "little
child" that Jesus encouraged, should become the prime goal of the
Christian life, so that the occasions where the more forthright, and
demonstrative, are necessary, may be kept within check, so that pride does not
destroy all the good that God desires for His people. In the famous words of
John Bunyan, (1628 - 1688) -
He that is down need fear no
fall, he that is low no pride,
He that is humble ever shall
have God to be his Guide.
And so, for the last four
years our family has been tossing all these points about, this way and that,
trying to imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve in the Garden.
The Genesis account is so tantalisingly brief, and we could wish for more
detail. But the Lord has allowed only so much, and then leaves us with the rest
of the Bible as a restrainer, lest our thinking should pass beyond the bounds
of revealed truth. It is by no means wrong to have questions, and a child-like
curiosity. By such means truth may be imparted to the searching mind. We have
found great joy and enlightenment in searching in depth, and would very much
appreciate some further input from our readers. If you have time and
inclination, please drop us a line, or an email. Thank you!