God’s First Commands in the Bible

Summary

BibleProject Podcast Summary

Episode Title: God’s First Commands in the Bible
Release Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: Tim and John (BibleProject)

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Overview

In this episode, Tim and John explore the very first commands that God gives in the Bible, tracing their significance from Genesis through to the Ten Commandments. They unpack the meaning behind these initial commands, how they set the foundation for humanity’s relationship with God, and how they introduce enduring themes for understanding all subsequent biblical instruction, including the famous “Ten Words” (Ten Commandments) at Sinai.

The conversation delves deeply into the nature of blessing, the dynamics of desire and goodness, and the difference between perceiving good and acting on desire. The hosts use word studies, narrative analysis, and theological reflection to invite listeners into a richer meditation on what it means to follow God’s commands and live in abundance.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The First Command: Blessing as a Directive

• Genesis 1:28: The first time God "commands" humans, it’s framed as a blessing, not a prohibition.
  • “Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth and rule it.” (00:05, A)
• This blessing is about “imitating the divine life,” carrying forward God’s order and abundance.
  • "The first time God tells anybody what to do, it's a blessing." (00:29, B)
• God instructs humans to spread abundance and order, mirroring God's own creative act.

2. The Second Command: The First Prohibition

• Genesis 2:16-17: The second directive is a command in the strict sense (the Hebrew word sava - to command), and it has two parts:
  1. Positive: Eat freely from every tree.
     • “Eat of every tree in the garden.” (00:41, A)
  2. Negative: “...but not from the tree of knowing good and bad.”
     • “There are apparently some things that look good, but...won't be good for me.” (01:16, B)
• The positive command affirms that creation’s goodness is to be enjoyed. The negative introduces limits for discernment and trust.

3. Desire, Goodness, and Knowing

• Desiring Good: Humans are driven by a core desire for the good, but the story highlights that “not everything that looks good is actually good for me.” (01:16, B)
  • “What any creature wants is its own good.” (18:00, B)
  • “Every person is actually after the good, even if they’re misled.” (18:54, A, 19:07, B)
• Seeing vs. Eating: There's a difference between perceiving goodness and acting to possess it.
  • "You can appreciate goodness, but not have to take it into yourself and make yourself become one with it." (01:42, B; 20:23, B)
• The narrative encourages a posture of trust—seeing and enjoying, but not taking what God has withheld.

4. The Command as a Test of Trust

• In Eden, the only thing that distinguishes between what is truly good versus what only appears good is God’s word.
  • “How can you know? The only thing in this story is Yahweh's command.” (02:00, B; 21:54, B)

5. The Structure of the Genesis Commands

• Blessing as Instruction: The initial “command” is really an invitation into blessing and imitation of God.
  • “It's about abundance and order.” (07:19, B)
  • "The first directives God gives to the humans are essentially imitate the divine life." (07:19, B)
• Command as Limitation: The next command, using the word sava, introduces prohibition and the concept of Torah (instruction/command).
  • “From that you get the Hebrew noun mitzvah... Commands.” (12:49, B)
  • "Command Sava... just basically do this, follow these, do what I say." (13:08, B)

6. Parallel to the Ten Words (Ten Commandments)

• The hosts note that the 10 acts of speech in creation (Genesis 1) relate to the 10 Commandments, both as ways God brings order and blessing.
  • "The 10 words of Exodus are an echoing back to God's 10 order-bringing, blessing-generating words [in Genesis 1].” (08:09, B)
• The fifth commandment even contains a direct blessing—honor your father and mother “so that you can have long days in the land.” (08:36, A)

7. The Role of Human Limitations and Desire

• All humans seek the good but are limited in wisdom and often deceived.
  • "The fundamental human condition is that we don't know. We are ignorant. We don't know what's good for ourselves." (43:29, B)
• The story of the first disobedience is an act of folly, not malice, depicting humanity’s naiveté and the complexity of desire.
  • “It is a fail... The word sin means moral failure. It is not like armed rebellion... it is a failure to not do what God said or to do what God said not to do.” (41:47, B)
• Trusting God’s command remains the way forward, even when it doesn’t align with immediate desire or perception.

8. Implications for Living Out Commands

• Humans naturally want abundance, pleasure, and life.
  • "I desire pleasure and life." (26:11, B)
• Yet, not everything that generates desire is good for us or for the community.
  • "The problem is not everything that humans see and desire is actually good for them." (26:32, B)
• The role of God’s command is to “teach you how to know good from bad.” (27:11, B)
• The story sets the stage for the need for guidance, forming the archetype for all further biblical law and instruction.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Nature of God’s Commands:
  • “The first time God tells anybody what to do, it's a blessing.” (00:29, B)
  • “The ten commandments as such don't quite fit [the recurring biblical theme], because they're not introduced till way, way into the story.” (03:44, B)
• On the Relationship Between Desire and Good:
  • "Desirable to see, good to eat. What's the relationship of desiring something that is desirable and something that is good?" (17:54, A)
  • "What any creature wants is its own good. And that might seem so intuitive, but it actually is worth saying out loud." (18:00, B)
• On Trust and Knowledge:
  • “How can we learn to discern between what looks good and what is truly good?” (01:55, A)
  • "You will know good from bad, not by following your desire or your eyes, but by the divine command.” (33:14, B)
• On Wisdom and Authority:
  • “Is it God's command that gives wisdom or is it following my desire? This sets up the fundamental dilemma... good desires can lead to bad ends.” (41:20, B)
• On the Human Condition:
  • “We don't know what's good for ourselves. Our desires sometimes point us to what is good. But not always.” (43:29, B)
• Illustrating Desire:
  • John’s anecdote about riding home on his bike, hungry and smelling restaurant food, as a metaphor for encountering desire and practicing restraint. (37:32–38:32, B/A)
• On the Prohibition in Genesis:
  • "It's not like they have a broad life experience to draw on...this is an act of folly. Like they don't even know what death is.” (42:05, B)

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Key Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 00:05–01:07: Discussion of the first command/blessing in Genesis and its implications.
• 01:16–01:35: Introduction of the first explicit prohibition command (the tree of knowledge).
• 04:33–06:39: Connection of the ten acts of speech in Genesis to the Ten Commandments.
• 12:26–14:53: Analysis of the word "command" (sava) vs. “blessing”; explanation of the command given in the garden.
• 17:39–20:23: Exploration of desire, the connection of “good” and “desirable,” and how these relate to commands.
• 26:09–27:34: Discussion of abundance, pleasure, the complexity of human desire, and the challenge of communal living.
• 33:14–34:33: The riddle of the command: Is wisdom from God’s command or personal desire?
• 41:46–43:35: The “fundamental human condition” set up—naiveté, the limits of desire, and the need for God's teaching.
• 44:09–end: Preview of next episode: the continuing story of God’s commands with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

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Conclusion

This episode probes deeply into the earliest commands in Scripture, emphasizing God's first spoken words as invitations into blessing and abundance, with boundaries for human flourishing. The hosts invite listeners to see all subsequent instructions—including the Ten Commandments—not as mere rules, but as wisdom, rooted in trust and life with God.

The conversation ends with a look ahead: the next episode will trace how the theme of God’s commands develops with Noah, Abraham, and Moses, underscoring how listening to God leads both to challenge and to unexpected life.

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For More: Visit bibleproject.com for related videos and articles on biblical themes.

Transcript

[A]

What is the first command of God in the Bible? Well, it's on page one. After God creates life and orders the cosmos, he creates humans, and he points them to be his image and he instructs them this way. Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth and rule it. In other words, carry forward God's authority and rule over what he began.

[B]

The first directives God gives to the humans are essentially imitate the divine life. So the first time God tells anybody what to do, it's a blessing.

[A]

While the first command in the Bible is called a blessing, the second command in the Bible is straight up called a command, and it has two parts. The first part of the command reminds us of the blessing. Eat of every tree in the garden.

[B]

The good that you see out there is real. And. And when you find the good, enjoy it. And when I'm enjoying the good, what I am enjoying is God.

[A]

The second part of the command is about how there's one tree that will look good but will actually lead to death. So don't eat from that tree.

[B]

There are apparently some things that look good, but that won't be good for me, at least not now.

[A]

And these two parts of the command work together.

[B]

God's command is twofold. One, have life. Enjoy good. The second part of the command is don't die.

[A]

Now, all the trees in the garden look good for eating, but not every tree is wise to Ephraim.

[B]

You can appreciate goodness, but not have to take it into yourself and make yourself become one with it. You can just see and be like, that's good. And isn't that what God's asking them to do with this one particular tree?

[A]

So how can we learn to discern between what looks good and what is truly good?

[B]

How can you know? The only thing in this story is Yahweh's command.

[A]

Today, we trace the theme of the commands of God in the Bible as we prepare to meditate on the Ten Commandments. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. Hello, Tim.

[B]

Hello, John.

[A]

We are talking 10 words, the 10 commandments, introduced to us in the story of Exodus as the ten words.

[B]

Yeah, that's right. Some of the most famous things that God says in the whole Bible. Famous meaning. Lots of people probably know about them. Whether all those people have pondered their full significance and all of the cosmic meaning buried within them. Well, that's.

[A]

That's the journey we are on.

[B]

That's the journey you and I are on. Yeah, that's right.

[A]

And we'll get to the bottom of everything.

[B]

So in our Last conversation, we just kind of introduced the 10 roughly where they appear in the biblical story.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They are introduced in the second book of the Christian Bible.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And the second book of the Jewish Bible, the book of Exodus. And actually halfway through it. So you're almost 70 chapters in to the biblical story before the 10 are introduced.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Typically when you and I are doing a theme study, we try to look for themes that are introduced. Right. In the first pages that are continued throughout the Hebrew Bible, culminate in Jesus and are somehow there's some kind of culmination near the end of the Bible. So the ten Commandments as such don't quite fit that bill. It's a little unique because they're not introduced till way, way into the story.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

However.

[A]

However. All right, tell me about Genesis 1.

[B]

How did you know? How did you know? So the significance of God telling a human what to do, that doesn't happen for the first time at Mount Sinai.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That actually happens in the first pages of the first scroll of the Bible.

[A]

That's Genesis 2, though, however.

[B]

Right, right. Genesis 2 is what God tells a human to do. That's right. But God speaking happens in Genesis 1.

[A]

Okay. I think I know this Bible trivia. In Genesis 1, 10 times God speaks.

[B]

Oh, God speaks 10 times in Genesis 1.

[A]

So it's gotta be connected to the 10 words.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Absolutely. That's great. The first place that we actually do start is with the ten words spoken in the seven day creation narrative. Yeah. Where God tells creation what to do.

[A]

And the first one is let there be light.

[B]

Right, Let there be light. What God does is speak to God's own self about God's own light. Right. Emanating, generating out into the universe. Something goes out from God into the nothingness. It is God's own light. So that's God speaking to the darkness. Day one. Day two is God speaking about the chaos waters that they separate. God introduces an orderly line and division in between the waters. Then God calls thirdly the dry land up out of the waters. And then calls plants, summons the plants to come up out of the waters.

[A]

These are all the words.

[B]

These are words. One through four. Okay, yeah. One through five.

[A]

There's seven days, but there's 10 words.

[B]

There's 10 words. Yeah. So you go through the 10th thing that God says is to the humans in Genesis 1, and it goes like this. And God said, let us make human in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule. Then you get the little poem in verse 27.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Elohim. Created human in his image, in the image of Elohim, he created him. Male and female. He created them. Yeah, it's a rad little three part meditation puzzle. Then you get a repetition of God speaking. So actually here's the tenth.

[A]

Oh wait, that was the ninth.

[B]

That was nine. And yeah, so the ninth and the tenth are a little frame, symmetrical frame,

[A]

around the image of God.

[B]

Around the image of God. But this tenth one has a little twist. And God blessed them and God said to them. So the tenth thing God says is also a blessing. Is a blessing. They're called blessings, not commands, but they're stated as instruction. Or like do this.

[A]

Yeah. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the land, subdue it, rule. You can think of those as instructions or commands.

[B]

That's right. Yeah.

[A]

It's five framed as blessings.

[B]

Five verbs. Be fruitful, do multiply, do fill the land, subdue it and rule it. Yeah, but they are called blessings, words of blessing. Okay, so blessing, right. Is about God donating his own infinite auto generating abundance to another creature so that it now gets to generate and experience that abundance and security and order and harmony. And what else is being fruitful and multiplying and creating order, subduing.

[A]

It's about abundance.

[B]

It's about abundance and order.

[A]

And order.

[B]

Yeah, that's the blessing. So the first directives God gives to the humans are essentially imitate the divine life. Out of God's infinite abundance, a whole universe of different things comes into being. All these different expressions of God's creative abundance. And then he makes a creature that's an image that's like that likeness of God is focused in on one creature. Then that image is also called to

[A]

do the same thing.

[B]

Bring order and experience.

[A]

Yeah, that's cool.

[B]

Yeah. So the first time God tells anybody what to do, it's a blessing. Isn't that interesting? Yeah, just enjoy being and be like me. Which means to be fruitful and multiply and spread order.

[A]

Yeah. When instructions are a blessing. That's interesting.

[B]

Yeah. The tenth word, which these ten words and Genesis do. Well actually you would invert it and you would say the 10 words of Exodus are an echoing back to God's 10 order bringing, blessing, generating words. Something like that.

[A]

So you could think of the ten commandments as stodgy rules.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But you could think of them as an opportunity for blessing.

[B]

Yeah. Yes.

[A]

And being the image of God.

[B]

Yeah. And then the fifth command, the fifth of the 10 actually has the blessing in it. Honor your father and mother so that you can have long days in the land. That's the blessing. That's the blessing, yeah. So creating an ecosystem of multi generational honor will result in an experience of blessing. Long days in the land. Yeah. That's the first time God tells a human what to do. Second time God tells a human what to do. It's going to feel similar, but also the narrative context is a little different. So here it's the context of God has brought a garden into being in the middle of a desert.

[A]

This is Genesis 2.

[B]

Yep. The Eden story begins Genesis 2, verse 4. What we're told is there's no plants, there's no water, there's no human. It's just dust. Just dust and dirt. So spring pops up out of the ground, plants come up out of the ground. Yahweh plants a garden. Yahweh forms the human, then breathes into the human the breath of life, puts the human in the garden. And then we're told, man, this garden has sweet trees. Every tree is beautiful to look at and good for eating. And there's the Tree of Life in the middle of garden and the Tree of Knowing good, bad. So lots of beautiful trees. They are given to eat and enjoy, sustain your life. There's a tree that will really sustain your life. And then you know the Tree of Knowing good and Bad, which is introduced and you're like, well, what's the significance?

[A]

You know, that one must be tasty.

[B]

Yeah. And the last one is the one that should cause the most questions in the minds of the reader. You get a little aside about the river that flows out of Eden, the

[A]

one river that is four.

[B]

One river becomes four. Then verse 15, we pick up Yahweh. God took the human and rested him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. These are important little words because the word work, avad is also the word used to serve or to give one's labor and allegiance. Like all of my productivity that I can generate is for another. That's this word. And then to keep means I've been entrusted with something, and now it's my responsibility to guard it, keep it. And both of these words are going to be relevant in the Ten Commandments. Both of these words are used, oh, okay. Do not have any other gods before me. Do not avad them.

[A]

Oh, and that's the work. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Do not serve them.

[A]

Do not serve them.

[B]

Don't direct all the energy of your life and what you produce in allegiance to another deity. Avad. And then in the fourth command, keep the Sabbath. It's Shemar, this word used here, keep the Sabbath.

[A]

Keep it. Keep the garden, keep the Sabbath.

[B]

Yeah. So notice this is the narrator. This is not God speaking. Just the narrator says, yahweh, put the human in the garden to work and to keep.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Then Yahweh Elohim commanded the human.

[A]

Okay, here's the command.

[B]

This is the word command. It's not.

[A]

It's not the var.

[B]

It's not the word speak. And it got translated as command. It actually is the Hebrew verb command, which is tsava.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then from that you get the Hebrew noun mitzvah. Mitzvah, and then the plural of that is mitzvot. Commands.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So tzava mitzvah instruction is one way, but I actually think that English word better captures the Hebrew word Torah instruction. Okay, so command's a pretty good one. It's a directive. I'm telling you what to do.

[A]

Command Sava.

[B]

I mean, can we think of some other direct. So instruction instruct has a pedagogy program and, like a training in mind. And that's not sava.

[A]

Okay. SVA is just basically do this, follow

[B]

these, do this, do what I say. I need you to do what I say.

[A]

Okay, yeah. Command, yeah.

[B]

Now this is the narrator telling us Yahweh Elohim commanded the human saying. And now we're going to maybe. Let's try and define what teva means by what it is that God says. Okay, let's think of it that way. And here's the mitzvah. From every tree of the garden, you will eat. Eat. This mitzvah has three parts to it.

[A]

Okay. That's part one.

[B]

That's part one. So the first part is feet of every tree. Yeah. And you're like, wow, that sounds like the Genesis 1 blessing, which was be

[A]

fruitful and multiply, which means I need a lot of food.

[B]

Yeah. So here it's just enjoy all the trees.

[A]

Eat up.

[B]

Eat up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So the first part of the mitzvah is to enjoy God's good world and what it provides for you.

[A]

Party on.

[B]

Party on. So there's this wide open field of human experience now that I've just been commanded right. To enjoy. That just raises a million issues. Like how. Right. And. And so the second part of the mitzvah comes along, and it qualifies, specifies. And it's the first prohibition in the Bible. The first, do not, thou shalt not. But from the tree of knowing, good and bad, thou shalt not eat from it, which is just. You will not eat from it.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. So we were introduced to that tree earlier.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

We didn't know why. Here. It's like, oh, okay. That's the one tree not to eat of. We still don't know why in the story.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Eat of every tree. There's this one. It's a tree of knowing good and bad. Not that one.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Just not that one right now.

[B]

Knowing good and bad. So just a quick reminder, this is a phrase used throughout the Hebrew Bible to discern between good and bad or know between good and bad. And it's a mark of human moral maturity. Children that are really young, or a human that's super old, like right about near death, are the two seasons of human life where someone doesn't really probably have a very reliable knowledge of good and bad.

[A]

I didn't know about the old one. So for children, you just. You're naive. You don't know.

[B]

You don't know.

[A]

You haven't learned.

[B]

Yeah. There's a guy that comes to David when David is coming back to Jerusalem after he was run out by his son who staged a coup. And this guy says to David, like, I'm not going to come with you. You don't need. I can't add any value to you. Let my son come with you. But I'm too old. I don't know good from bad anymore.

[A]

You lose it.

[B]

Yeah. The point is, my mind isn't.

[A]

Your mind's going.

[B]

My mind's going. Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, super interesting.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So go back to these trees. This is important. This is. As always, what's happening in this moment is foundational for understanding all of God's commands to follow. In a way, you could say all the commands, the 10 and the hundreds, all are unfolding.

[A]

It all starts here.

[B]

The core idea of what's happening in this moment, what I was just told was that every single tree in this garden is desirable to see. Desire. That's the word used in the tenth command. Don't covet. It's the same word.

[A]

Don't desire.

[B]

Chamad. Okay, so every tree. And actually, this is key. Genesis 2. 9. This has been a very productive meditation for me in the last year. Yahweh caused to sprout from out of the ground every tree. And it's given two descriptions, desirable for seeing and good for eating. So those are set in parallel with each other. So desirable to see, good to eat. Let's meditate on these things. Okay. So desirable matches good, and seeing matches eating. Think of it like two parallel lines in Hebrew poetry. O Lord, the Trees that you have planted, they are desirable to see. Yes. They are good for eating.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

If that was set up in a line of biblical poetry, you would say, somebody wants me to think of these two things connected. So what's the relationship of desiring something that is desirable and something that is good?

[A]

Yeah. When you desire something, it's because you want it, and you want it because it's good.

[B]

Right.

[A]

At least you think it's good.

[B]

Yeah. So what any creature wants is its own good. And that might seem so intuitive, but it actually is worth saying out loud, like, what is it that motivates any living creature to do?

[A]

This is why the Golden Rule works.

[B]

Yeah, that's right.

[A]

Do to others what you would do yourself. I want good.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So do good to others.

[B]

That's right. Now you can introduce the twist to say, well, man, what I think is good isn't always actually good.

[A]

Yeah. So I want good, but do I actually see what is good?

[B]

Totally. But that doesn't call into question the basic truth about human experience. I desire good whether or not it is good for me. The reason I do anything is because I think that it is the good. I might be mistaken, but the reason I'm doing it is still because I think it's good. So does that.

[A]

It is interesting that for how diverse people are and how many different ways there are to try to exist in the world, every single person is actually after the good.

[B]

The good. And it might be how in the course of a human life that my sense of what is good has become so misshapen. Right. So damaged, so corrupted, that what I actually think is good for me are actions that hurt me or hurt other people. But even then, underneath all the wreckage is still a desire to do what is good. It's just the good has become so mutated that it's hard to see what good one is pursuing if they do something that right on the outside looks really bad. So notice that desire and good are connected there in the parallelism. Desirable to see, good for eating.

[A]

What I desire is the good.

[B]

I desire the good. Wanting the thing that I believe will bring me good. That's the basic relationship.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So now let's move to the seeing and eating.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because those are desire and good, you said are pretty intuitive, how those relate seeing and eating.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So seeing is a part of noticing, Perceiving something as good but not taking it. You can see and appreciate goodness, but not.

[A]

But you haven't consumed it.

[B]

Yeah. So the difference between seeing and eating is really interesting because you can appreciate goodness, but not have to take it into yourself and make yourself become one with it. You can just see and be like, that's good.

[A]

Hmm.

[B]

And isn't that what God's asking them to do with this one particular tree? Because when the woman sees the forbidden tree, what we're told is it was desirable to look at.

[A]

Yeah, because all the trees are desirable to look at.

[B]

All the trees are desirable. This is so profound, man. This is like the longer I sit with this simple little verse. Genesis 2, verse 9. It's like the whole universe opens up. And remember, in the seven days God did, X saw that it was good. Genesis 1. Creation is good.

[A]

When God has his way, he creates the good.

[B]

Yeah. That creation is good. And good is something that humans perceive first with their eyes and then their eyes, which creates desire, which generates desire, which then leads to an impulse to take and want to become one with it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. So by saying that every tree is going to look good, but now we know there's one tree that looks good and will excite your desire, but it is not good for you.

[A]

It's a sneaky tree.

[B]

And there's nothing visible that will lead me to know the difference.

[A]

So how can you know?

[B]

How can you know? How can you know? The only thing in this story is Yahweh's command.

[A]

Yeah, the word.

[B]

And the word says, eat of every tree in the garden. Ooh, ooh, this one. Do not eat from it. Now let me finish the command. That's the third part. Because in the day you eat from it, you will die. Die. The verbs repeated twice in Hebrew. So first command, enjoy every tree. Why every tree is so beautiful to see. And once that desire is excited within you, it'll impel you to move towards the good.

[A]

So follow your desire and consume the good.

[B]

Follow your desire. The good that you see out there is real. And when you find the good, enjoy it. And when I'm enjoying the good, what I am enjoying is God. Because the seven day narrative taught me that God is the knower and provider and definer of all good. Okay, so any physical object within creation here with the trees, is actually a sign or a symbol pointing to an ultimate source of all good. So in a way, eating and enjoying the tree is a way to enjoy God. That's what these two narratives next to each other are teaching me. Because God's the provider of what's good. Good comes from God.

[A]

But you're enjoying the. The goodness God's providing.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How are you taking the next step saying and so I'm actually enjoying God.

[B]

Ah. Because anything that is good is a gift of God because God is the provider of what is good. Good doesn't just happen. Good is the product of a mind.

[A]

Okay. With the power, good would not exist without God.

[B]

That's right. To generate a world within, some objects are fine and other objects are good. But actually, Genesis 1, the 78 and error taught me that all of it's good.

[A]

It's all good.

[B]

It's all good. But there are apparently also some things that look good but that won't be good for me, at least not now. And the only thing it will tell me is not looking at it, it's

[A]

listening to God's command.

[B]

That's right. So God's command is twofold. One, live, have life, enjoy. Good. The second part of the command is don't die. Truly. I mean, the assumption is in the day that you eat of it, you'll die. Then kind of the assumption is, I don't think you want to die. I think you want to live. So live and do not die.

[A]

Okay. So follow your desire and eat.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's all good.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Although you are going to run into situations where it's going to look good.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But it's not. It's not in that situation. Listen to my voice.

[B]

Yep. Yep.

[A]

And when you do that, you're not going to die.

[B]

Yeah. You'll avoid death and you will experience.

[A]

Which is back to then, well, what's the purpose of this? It's for life.

[B]

That's right. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So that's the three parts of God's command.

[B]

Yeah. Three parts. And there's really just. There's a positive element.

[A]

Yeah. Eat and live.

[B]

Eat and have life.

[A]

Yeah. Listen to my voice and don't die.

[B]

Don't eat what will lead to death.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Do what leads to life, don't do what leads to death.

[A]

When you say it that way, it's kind of like really, really simple.

[B]

It is really.

[A]

When you meditate about this image of the trees in the garden and being in this orchard and all this beautiful fruit. But there's a poison tree, and you don't know the difference. It's just like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sights, the imagination.

[B]

It's hard to think of a story with better images.

[A]

I have an impulse to take, but I could take the wrong thing that will destroy me. It's kind of comical to think of us as creatures that just want to, like, take good and consume it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Take and eat and consume and become one with.

[B]

We want the good.

[A]

Good I want that. I want to be one with that. It's very simple.

[B]

And it's not just that we want good in the abstract. What we want is the goodness that the concrete thing in front of me will provide. I want to live. I want to taste good things in my mouth.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's pleasure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Pleasure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I desire pleasure and life.

[A]

Abundant life.

[B]

Abundant life.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Because you can just stay alive and eat like bread and stale bread and that's living.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But man, if you could live and taste apples and oranges and tiramisu and soft brownies. Vanilla ice cream. Right.

[A]

Key lime pie.

[B]

Key lime pie. Now we're talking the good life. Right. But then that introduces the problem which is not everything that humans see and desire is actually good for them. So the story introduces these kind of two principles. God wants humans to live, to be partners with them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Listen to what God says. Do what leads to life.

[A]

And you can think of it in terms of you can eat something that's actually poisonous.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

But the real complexity of human life, where things get weird, is how we relate to each other. Right.

[B]

And how we relate to creation.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is a part of how we relate to each other. Right.

[A]

So as we're taking and consuming the good, I mean, there is the trap of grabbing something and consuming it and realizing actually that wasn't good for me. And that happens.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that can be complicated. But where it gets really complicated is as we're all taking and consuming and looking for the good as a community. How to do that in a communal way where we are honoring each other and loving each other.

[B]

Yes. And in those complex environments, it will often be the case that we don't actually know what is truly good for ourselves and our desires or what we see is not reliable. Like it's either selfish, self oriented in some way, that it's about having pleasure, goodness in a way, at the expense of others, at the expense of another. Or it could just be lack of knowledge, ignorance about the cause effect sequence that me doing this thing that I think is good will set into motion something that actually is bad for my neighbor 10 years from now. So this story is simultaneously saying God has packed creation with goodness to be enjoyed. That leads to life. But I actually need to become also suspicious of my eyes and I need to be somewhat suspicious of my desires. Not because desire's bad, but my desire for the good could lead me towards something that looks good but is not. And how am I supposed to know what's the way forward and in the Eden story. It's a very simple moment in the story where God is the one who says, listen, I will teach you. I will teach you how to know good from bad. It's not from this tree. My command will be how you know good from bad. That's fundamental, Sam. So Genesis 3 begins by saying, there's a snake in the garden. And it's crafty, it's shrewd, sees an opportunity. Yeah. So no backstory about the snake other than it's a creature that God made. We know that. And I don't know, maybe I'll hyperlink to our podcast series on spiritual beings and the God series. Okay. So the snake starts talking to the woman and says, did God really say, don't eat from any of the trees of the garden? Which of course is kind of a trick question. Not what God said. In fact, it's the opposite of what God said.

[A]

He said, eat, eat.

[B]

It's what God said with the introduction of the word not.

[A]

Remember, it's a way to screw things up.

[B]

Yeah. God said, do eat from all the trees of the garden. And what he says is, snakes said to God say, don't eat. Do not eat from any trees, garden. So the woman. That's the easy one, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So she says, like, no, that's not what God said.

[A]

That's the snake.

[B]

Right. Real quick. But what the woman notices is, well, God did say, from all the trees of the garden, eat well. But there's one.

[A]

Yeah, the one.

[B]

So suddenly, the snake draws attention to the one.

[A]

Let's talk about that one.

[B]

The one object of desire that God said, it looks good, but it will kill you. And. Right. He's drawing attention to that. And the woman says, well, God says, we'll die if we eat it. So it looks good, but it's not. And then the snake says to the woman, you're not going to die. God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, an image of knowledge and illumination. There's a metaphor. And that you will be like Elohim, knowers of good and bad.

[A]

Now, we can't really trust the snake here at this point that what he's saying is reality.

[B]

No, that's the whole point, is that he's a deceiver. So the snake both tells the truth and he lies. Okay. And that's always the hardest kind of lie. Right? The lies that are full of half truths. So he does say, you will not die. And that is not true.

[A]

They're going to die if they eat

[B]

the fruit Yep, totally. They're going to cut themselves off from God's life. So that's a lie. And he also says there's this other effect that you'll have that you really will. By declaring through your choice to do what God said is not good, you will become a knower of good and bad. Yeah, the tree.

[A]

And that's true. And you desire that. He's speaking to her. Desire.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You want to know good from bad. You can actually just have it. And the day you eat from this, you're gonna have it.

[B]

That's right. You will, in that moment, become a knower of good and bad.

[A]

And that's a sneaky half truth, too, because it's true.

[B]

Yeah, totally.

[A]

But it's a distorted knowing of good from bad.

[B]

That's right. Because God just invited you to trust him, to trust his command.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So this phrase, you will be like Elohim, knowers of good and bad, just always throws me for.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

Because they are like Elohim. They're images of God.

[B]

Yeah, that's right.

[A]

And they are meant to know good from bad.

[B]

Well, they are meant to rule and steward creation as God's partners, which will involve making calls about good and bad. They don't yet make calls between good and bad like Elohim does. Yeah, but that's the riddle of the command. Because the command seems as if God is saying, I don't want you to have the knowledge of good and bad.

[A]

Right. Don't eat it.

[B]

But the command itself is the first lesson about knowing good from bad, namely, that you will know good from bad not by following your desire or your eyes or what you perceive as good. The most reliable source will be from the divine command. And if you begin to let that teach you now, we're going to actually begin to learn true good from bad. At least I think that's the logic of the story. So verse 6. And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating because all the trees were that. Okay. And that it was an object of longing for the eyes, and the tree was desirable for making wise.

[A]

Okay, so three ways is kind of saying the same thing.

[B]

Yeah. Remember, it was just two ways before. Hmm. Desirable to see, good for eating, good to eat. That was the word chamad or Nehmad. And that is used here in Genesis 3, 6. For the third description, for desirable to make one wise. That's that word chamad, the second thing for the eyes. It's a new word. Oh.

[A]

It was desirable for the eyes. And here it's object of Longing.

[B]

Yeah. An object, A ta'. Avah.

[A]

Ta', avah.

[B]

Taava. So taavah and nehmad are the two key Hebrew words for desire.

[A]

They're synonyms.

[B]

They're synonyms. But ta' avah speaks more like our English word craving, longing. It speaks to the physical experience of desire in a way that's a little more visceral, more primal. Hamad is certainly connected to our bodies, but it is speaking more, I think, to the. A little more to the mental.

[A]

Mental imagination, a bit, yeah.

[B]

Imagination, yeah. So, chamad, desire is about your imagination. Taavah is about the physical impulse. Impulse. Like when you see the food and you're really hungry.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There's an appetite when you smell the food cooking. That's right.

[A]

And you salivate.

[B]

That's right, yes.

[A]

That's a taavat.

[B]

That's right. So that smell, obviously the eyes are a activator of physical longing for food and for sex and for pleasure, for comfort. Right. You see a mansion that's not yours. So that physical. The thing happens in your stomach right. When you want something. Okay, that's here. Okay. So first notice. Notice the order. When back here, when the trees were introduced, it was. Every tree was desirable to see and good to eat. So seeing then eating, because you can see something and then just be like, that looks good, but I don't need it. I'm good. And it can be good. It can be good and I can be good without eating it. Notice how eating is second. Now, in this scene, what she first perceives and sees is that it's good for eating. The order's been swapped. So the first thing she sees is about what it is in relation to me.

[A]

Okay. The good needs to come into me.

[B]

Right. I think that's significant. In other words, because you can see something that's desirable and just be like, that is so rad that that exists in the world.

[A]

And if I take it, I'll screw it up.

[B]

Yeah, but I don't have to eat. Can just be. It could just be, but it is noticing. You'll see something that's good. It'll excite the desire and then you'll want to consume it. And here what she sees and notices first is what that thing is in relation to my. I'm going to eat that thing. Yeah, that thing is for me to eat. She doesn't notice that it's beautiful and good, but I don't have to have it. The first thing she sees is I

[A]

have to have it.

[B]

What it is in relationship to Me, I can eat that. And this would be good for me to eat that. And when I see it, I crave it. Crave it. I need it.

[A]

So, okay, that's interesting. So you're saying when seeing is first, you can see and desire it, but it can stay neutral. And then when eating's first, the seeing becomes this impulsive kind of craving.

[B]

Craving, that's right.

[A]

Where you aren't letting it be neutral.

[B]

You're just like, yeah, Maybe it's the difference between I'm hungry and I'm riding my bike home. This is actually a real experience I sometimes have riding home. I've worked all day here in the studio, and if I ride my bike up Ankeny Street, I'm going by all of the restaurants. Some of the best restaurants in Portland are a block parallel to my bike ride home. Right. And I'm just like, oh, my gosh, that smells so good. And I'm hungry.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, mom, wanna go home? And we're gonna start dinner. So it's kind of like that, but. So it's that difference of, I smell that it is good. It excites my desire. But I can say that can be good for all the people in there right now. But I've got a good thing that I'm going home for. That's what's good for me right now. But here, it's the inverted. And it's just the moment you smell it, you're just like, I need tacos. That's mine. That needs to be mine.

[A]

Tacos in my belly.

[B]

That is mine. Yeah, it's that difference. See, there's some distance. Like I can distance myself to say, that is good, but I don't need that right now. And the swapping of the order, I think here in Genesis 3. 6 is telling us that that can

[A]

get inverted, which screws you up.

[B]

You can begin through habit, I think mental habit. Begin to relate to any object. And the moment you see it, you're just like, need that, need that. Yeah, that's mine. It can begin, I think, to develop a distorted way of relating to things that are good. Yeah, your first impulse is to just take.

[A]

Isn't that what a Cookie Monster is really? I don't know. I just keep thinking of the Cookie

[B]

Monster for some reason. Cookie is for me. C is for Cookie, and cookie is for me. Cookie's not for anybody else.

[A]

Just Mao on cookies.

[B]

Cookies. Not just for the shelf. To be tasty and good without me having to eat it. Cookie is for me. That's Genesis 3. 6 right. Okay. The woman saw the cookie and the cookie is for me. Yeah, that's it. So of course she took from its fruit and she ate. And then of course, she gave to her husband, who was right there the whole time. We find out now for the first.

[A]

Can we talk about the third part? Though it was desirable for making wise. Oh.

[B]

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[A]

The impulse of being wise is a good thing.

[B]

Yes. Yes. This is Maskil or Haskiel. This is positive everywhere else. In the Hebrew Bible, it's the way to find success through your decision making process, to find the way forward that leads to goodness.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But what's interesting is what you were told. The tree is connected to knowing good and bad. And knowing good and bad is crucial for making wise decisions that lead to a good outcome.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So in this sense, she's not wrong.

[A]

Yeah. She should have gone the opposite direction. Okay. I want to be wise. I desire to be wise. That object looks like it's good, but do I need to eat it? Actually, no. God said, don't eat it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So what defines wisdom? Is wisdom defined by following God's command and assuming God is wiser than I am, or this tree represents a decision and the moment I take it, I'm striking out on my own and declaring, that's how. That's wisdom. Wisdom is following my desire. And if I follow my desires, if I be true to my most authentic desire, then that is wisdom. That's so tricky because in some cases that's true.

[A]

That is the baseline God gives.

[B]

But in some cases it's not true.

[A]

But then how do you know when it's not true?

[B]

And the only thing is the command. So is it God's command that gives wisdom or is it following my desire? So this sets up the fundamental dilemma, I think, of the human story. And to me, this has been so important over the years because this isn't a moment of like depraved rebellion. It's not a.

[A]

It didn't kill anyone.

[B]

It is a fail. The word sin means moral failure. Okay, so it is a failure to not do what God said or to do what God said not to do. So it is. The word sin is accurate description. It's not used in the story, but it is an accurate description.

[A]

But it's not like armed rebellion.

[B]

It's not.

[A]

They're not like, you know what, we're fed up with you, God.

[B]

They're culpable because they heard what God said. So they're accountable to that. But it's not like they have a broad life experience to draw on. And they are willfully. They're stupid. They're foolish. This is an act of folly. Like they don't even know what death is. Experientially.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So they're depicted. And again, not knowing good and bad is the state of.

[A]

They're also naive children.

[B]

They're naive. They're easily deceived. So it's with Cain in the next story that we're going to start getting into. God just told me this is bad. What is bad is taking the life of another. I'm mad. I'm going to kill my brother. Then we start getting more into a little more culpable. But this is, I think, depicted the fundamental human condition is that we don't know. We are ignorant. We don't know what's good for ourselves. Yeah. And our desires sometimes point us to what is good. But not always. But we need to know this if we're gonna ever get ahead. And this is the moment in the story that's saying, like humans from right as far back as we can possibly tell are pretty much trapped in folly and ignorance and being misdirected by their good desires. Good desires can lead to bad ends. And it's a problem that every human and every generation of humans seems to grapple with.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What's the way out? What's the solution? Even if humans don't seem to listen to it, it is God's command. God's command leads to life even when it doesn't seem like it. This is fundamental stuff. Okay. Where are we going to go from here? Is then trace. Just overview real quick. A couple key moments where God also tells some people what to do. He tells Noah or Noah's sons one specific thing about murder. And then he tells Abraham to do all kinds of things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that is going to introduce all these twists because Abraham sometimes doesn't do. Sometimes does and sometimes half does. And what happens in all those combinations. And then we'll get to Mount Sinai where God tells a whole bunch of things to do and not do to the Israelites. And this is our journey of tracing the theme of God's command in the story of the Bible.

[A]

Thanks for listening to this episode of BibleProject Podcast. Next week we'll continue to study the theme of the commands of God. We're going to look at the story of Noah, Abraham and Moses. We'll see that in each of their stories. Listening to the voice of God will bring them to the end of themselves.

[B]

It looks like a kind of surrender or death. But God's command tends to lead people in that direction and then surprises them with life.

[A]

Bibleproject is a crowdfunded nonprofit and we exist to help people experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. And everything that we make is free because of the generous support of thousands of people just like you. Thank you so much for being a part of this with us.

[B]

Hi, my name is Oliver, I am from Germany. Hi, my name is Susan and I'm from Westport, Connecticut. I first heard about bibleproject when I had a question about Book of the Bible and I just couldn't figure it out. Now I use bibleproject for big picture overviews as well as in depth word studies. First heard about the Bible Project many years ago at a missions conference. I used the Bible Project for my own quiet times and my growth with

[A]

Jesus, but also for teaching.

[B]

My favorite thing about bibleproject is getting to see what the stories are trying to communicate about God and life. It seems when I put something visual in front of my eyes, the eyes of my heart seem to see it too. We believe that the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. Bibleproject is a nonprofit funded by people like me. Find free videos, articles, podcasts, classes and more on the Bibleproject apple [e-mail] hi,

[C]

my name is Jody and I've been working at bibleproject for five years. I'm a part of the Patron Care team and what our team gets to do is thank and serve those who have decided to join our patron community. Whether that's through a financial gift, our prayer newsletter, our weekly volunteers, or even those that pop in the studio to visit. Here in Portland, I get to hear from people from all over the world, world from different walks of life who are studying and experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. And I learn something every day as I come into work. There is a whole team of us that make the podcast happen every week. For a full list of everyone involved in this episode, check out the show credits wherever you stream the podcast and on our app. Thanks again for listening and being a part of this with us.

[B]

Sam.