decision by Adam and Eve to choose the things that God had forbidden over fellowship with God would forever be a problem for the posterity of this first couple.
Himself. Certainly, Adam and Eve realized that they had an agreement and that violation of the Commandments of God would have consequences; dire consequences. The knowledge of good and evil was the domain of God. This is one of the things that God reserved for Himself in granting man dominion of the earth. Man does not truly know the heart of other men. This is an area only God knows. Only God can truly know the heart of man. Thus, while God had given dominion of the whole earth to man it was with limits. Unfortunately, man was not satisfied with the limits set in the agreement with God. God in His infinite wisdom had given man the easy job of just enjoying His creation. The difficult tasks of discerning the hearts of men He reserved for himself. This is simply an area that man is not equipped to handle so God made it off limits, do not disturb, stay out, don't touch!
DOMINION God had given dominion47 of all of His creation to mankind as a precious gift. Though unworthy of the trust, man has been given a great responsibility and an opportunity to prove himself faithful. While the oversight of this domain belongs to mankind, God required that they leave one tree alone. It was not a suggestion; it was a commandment or terms (conditions) of the agreement between God and man. Violation of the terms would mean the potential for dissolution of the agreement. It was not unlike a rental agreement; violate the terms and you are evicted.
In Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die". It is evident that Adam understood that violating the law of God would have severe consequences. Even if you pontificate that Adam did not know what death was, it still was obvious that he understood there would be severe consequences if he ventured beyond the role of dominion over the earth that God had given him. Mankind had been given the power to choose his destiny.
The concept of dominion is one of selfgovernance, sovereignty, and ownership.48 All of this was in the ‘title deed’ granted to Adam and Eve by God. God gave man dominion of the earth but there were things that he reserved for 47
Genesis 1:26 http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/dominion 48
GIVE US A KING
32
BERNIE L. WADE