Die

Although God says that Adam (and Eve) would die if he ate from the tree, he lives 930 years. But this presupposes a literalist interpretation of die. The meaning of “…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17b, KJV), can certainly be understood as an expression that Adam and Eve’s immortality would be lost. The author of Genesis certainly couldn’t have wanted to say that Adam and Eve would die the very same day they ate of the forbidden fruit and so this remains as a Semitic expression of the kind we can see elsewhere in Ancient Near Eastern Literature (for example Xerxes and other Persian emperors’ inscriptions). Even if one thinks the JEDP theory here has a redactor or a different author insert verse 2:17 (and 3:3-4), that redactor certainly couldn’t have wanted to say Adam and Eve would die that very same day and not change the rest of Genesis (and explain the origin of humanity how?). It is similar to when Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, “…today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).

In the Garden of Eden, the Lord delivered a single, solemn prohibition to man. God commanded Adam saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17, emp. added). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil that stood in the midst of the Garden was off limits to Adam and Eve. God prophesied that disobedience on their part would bring death “in the day” it was eaten. However, the Genesis text does not reveal an instantaneous physical death on the part of the first sinners. Adam lived a total of 930 years (Genesis 5:5), and the text indicates that most of those occurred after the transgression in the Garden of Eden (see Thompson, 2002, pp. 44-46). Is such consistent with Genesis 2:16-17? Was God mistaken in saying, “in the day that you eat of it [the fruit—EL] you shall surely die”? Why is it that Adam did not drop dead the very day he ate the forbidden fruit?