Question
When Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, does this mean that they were forbidden to study and gain knowledge?
Answer
“Knowledge of good and evil” isn’t synonymous with “knowledge”. Adam could distinguish right from wrong even before he ate from the tree; otherwise it wouldn’t have been meaningful to forbid him to eat from it and to punish him for doing so. Many commentators say that the chief effect of eating from the tree was to become aware of sexual desire; that’s why Adam and Eve became ashamed of their nakedness as soon as they ate from it.