2 The Garden and Food

Read Genesis 3.

To do this right, we have to start in Genesis, in the Garden, with Adam and Eve.

We guess that not many diet books start in Genesis 3, and even fewer spend half the book only studying the Bible. You might wonder if it's going to work. One thing is for sure: the other ways of starting a diet book aren’t the most effective, as evidenced by the millions of people who have tried and failed.

You might also think the Bible doesn’t say anything about dieting. In a sense, that is true, but the Bible does make a big deal of understanding food, and understanding food is the key to making dieting easier and permanent. Give it a chance.

We are certain that some readers may hesitate here, and we don’t want to ignore their concern. In these readers' minds, there is no way the Garden was real. Maybe you believe in molecule-to-man evolution. The truth is, molecule-to-man evolution just can’t be true. Let us open your mind a little by presenting a few scientific observations that make it impossible. You can follow up with research from there.

· They have found a lot of soft tissue in dinosaur bones. Soft tissue doesn’t last for millions of years.

· Layer upon layer of folded, or bent, sedimentary rock is found all over the world. Sedimentary rock doesn’t bend after it has hardened, except under extreme pressure. For evolution to be true, surface rock would have gone 2 miles under the earth, bent, and then come back up to the surface intact. It is truly unthinkable.

· The statistical improbabilities of billions of positive genetic mutations occurring to bring about each new species aren’t reasonably possible even in evolutionary time frames. Evolution becomes even more unthinkable when you consider that phosphorescent, color-changing, and electric animals would have evolved several times.

We could go on and on with scientific observations that show molecule-to-man evolution isn’t realistic.[1] [ND1] Of course, it is hard to imagine that we could change your view in just a few moments, but we do hope you will question molecule-to-man evolution. We also hope you will read on.

Let's look at the way God set things up in Genesis.

And God said, "See, I have given you every herb [that] yields seed which [is] on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. (Genesis 1:29, NKJV)

God didn't have to design us to eat at all. Or, He could have designed us to eat, but not to taste food. He didn't have to design food to be tasty. He did, and he meant to.

It is possible that food teaches us about eternal truths, may test our devotion to truth, and may show us how we need God.

And the LORD God commanded the man, 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, NKJV)

It is necessary to think more deeply about two words in these verses. The English word “knowledge” doesn’t capture the essence of the Hebrew (daʿaṯ) well. We are an information society, and knowledge means something specific – knowing the facts about something. The Hebrew word emphasizes what we would think of in English as “experience.” For example, when Genesis 4:1 says Adam knew his wife (using the root word of daʿaṯ, yāḏaʿ) it isn’t that Adam got a lot more information, but that he experienced his wife. We believe it to be more accurate to understand the Bible to be saying that it was the tree of the experience of good and evil. In other words, good and evil would be experienced from inside if a person ate from that tree.

We should also consider the phrase, you shall surely die. The Hebrew uses an imperfect verb form of to die, meaning a continuation. A more accurate translation would say, “you shall surely be dying.” Death is described as a process, and, again, it teaches deeper truths. We are in a state known as dying, and we need new life.

Eve and a creature (Revelation 20:2 suggests Satan) had a food conversation, and the creature told Eve to think like this:

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, [experiencing] good and evil." So, when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make [one] wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:5-6 NKJV)

Was it because the food looked delicious or because Eve wanted to be like God that she took the first bite? Or, was it both? The passage suggests she was mostly interested in wanting to taste that food. The serpent also wanted to get her thinking things like, “God probably isn't right on that one.” “There shouldn't be a tree that you can't eat from.” “Death isn't a real thing.” The false beliefs supported the strong desire to taste that food.

Let's look at a few Hebrew words to better understand what is going on in this passage.

The word “pleasant” in the phrase “pleasant to the eyes” is ta'ăvâ. It means to want, desire, or lust. The food wasn't “pleasant” to Eve. Her eyes yearned for it. It is the same word used of the Israelites who craved meat in Numbers 11. She craved it.

The Hebrew word translated here as “desirable” in the phrase “desirable to make one wise” is ḥāmaḏ, which also means to want, lust, or desire. The word is translated “covet” elsewhere. It is the last of the 10 commandments: You shall not desire (ḥāmaḏ) something that doesn't belong to you. God gave Adam and Eve the fruit of every plant in the garden except this one. Eve lusted for something that wasn't hers – the fruit from this tree. She coveted it.

The verse uses two different words that communicate “to want” or “to crave.” It is cautionary: Watch out when you start wanting something. That will come up as a central theme as we define food sin.

Adam and Eve ended up eating the forbidden fruit, the one that would make them vie for God's position.

This is the most important question: Why would Adam and Eve ruin their lives and their descendants' lives for something so petty as a little taste of food? Is that the way some of us think about food at times?

After they ate from the tree, they were ashamed (literally, pale). Something needed to die in the garden in order to clothe them. God killed an animal – the first one to die – to cover them. This foreshadowed the works of Jesus. Eventually, Jesus would die to clothe those who follow Him and get rid of their shame. So, clothing, like food and dying, was made to communicate deeper truths.

The idea of being ashamed can also be better understood in Hebrew. Adam and Eve didn’t only become like God as the serpent promised. They became like the serpent. Note the play on words. The serpent was tricky, crafty, or deceptive, ʿārûm. Adam and Eve became bare, ʿêrōm, which comes from the word ʿārûm. They became something like the serpent. They became tricky or deceptive, which they felt they needed to cover up. Shame and deception go together.

We might wonder if experiencing good and evil inside also came with the heightened ability to deceive and to self-deceive. That rings true with our experience.

God said something at the end of this account that we should notice.

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22 NKJV)

Some will ask, “Why did God put the tree of the experience of good and evil in the Garden if he knew Adam and Eve were going to eat its fruit?” The short answer is that the temptation was there, whether it was represented in[ND2] a tree or not. Creating these things was God's way of making all of that tangible. Dying was tangible. Nakedness and the need for clothing were tangible. Food, its need, and the potential lust for it, were tangible.

God created the physical world as it is to provide a path for the atonement of our rebellion against Him. Everything has been made to test and teach us so that we could be redeemed. It is the perfect scenario to make each person’s redemption most likely and possible.

Maybe you think it shouldn't be this way, that you could invent life in a way that would be better for all. Maybe those thoughts are similar to what the Serpent said to Eve when she wanted the fruit so badly. Surely, God didn’t mean it for deep, holy purposes. Understanding that God made food for holy purposes is crucial for avoiding food sin.

In the garden, food was the problem, bringing death, but food will also be the solution. We need the tree of life. Food isn’t just a thing we enjoy at meals and parties. Food is a representation of all things relating to sin and salvation. That’s significant.

Genesis leaves some of us imagining a cartoonish God, but that shouldn’t be the case. Think of something like the sun or a larger star. The voice of God alone was powerful enough to create it and to cause it to give off unimaginably immense heat every moment. God and his ideas aren’t cute. They are far beyond what we could come up with, and his power is far greater than we could imagine. When he makes something set apart for a purpose, like food, we should take it seriously.

Take Aways

Below are some things we should learn from Genesis. How might they change the way you think about food, and how might they help make dieting a piece of cake?

1. Humans will tend to long for dumb pleasures instead of sticking to truth and prioritizing correctly. Seeking food is a petty pursuit. Instead, we should seek God, all his goodness, and his most valuable creation, people. Food sin is an issue of prioritization.

2. We should treat food as something holy that communicates deep truths. It isn’t just food, but something set apart to teach what we need to know about sin, the Good News about Jesus, and salvation. If we can understand that, it will change the way we think and feel when we eat (or choose not to eat).

3. Don’t crave food. Don’t covet food. Food sin happens early, before even starting to eat.

4. Our need for food should remind us that we need the tree of life. For example, hunger can make us think of God.

5. Good and evil entered Adam and Eve as they swallowed, and good and evil are within us. We became deceptive like the serpent. We are even good at tricking ourselves. That means we have to take time to sort out everything we say or do.

6. Get back to the Garden. In the Garden, food was picked as needed. Similarly, we should reach out and take the energy we need when we need it, and only when we need it.

Genesis 3 is helpful, perhaps surprisingly helpful. We have a good start on discovering what food sin is. We also have new perspectives. Do you think these might be part of your solution?

We encourage you to make a note with these points and place it where it will help you most, like in the kitchen:

· People, not petty.

· Food is holy.

· Don’t crave. Don’t covet.

· Food? Think of God.

· Be cautious of myself.

· Get back to the Garden.

Genesis 3 exposes the human heart and sets the stage for all sin and redemption. Food was chosen as the test, not by accident but by divine design. It was tangible, desirable, and symbolic. In the Garden, Adam and Eve traded trust in God for the experience of tasting a certain food and the hope of independence. In a word, Adam and Eve craved.

Food is not ordinary. It is holy, created to remind us of our dependence on the Creator and our need for His life. Every meal points back to the Garden and forward to redemption. When we eat, we are meant to remember God. The way we handle food — with gratitude, restraint, and reverence — is a small but powerful act of returning to the Garden, where trust, provision, and truth once lived in harmony.

If you look at food the way God meant for us to understand it, it changes the whole diet game.

Reflection & Discussion Questions

1. In what ways do you think food today still tests our devotion to truth, self-control, and dependence on God?

2. Genesis suggests that craving and deception go hand in hand. Can you recall times when craving something — food, comfort, approval — led you to deceive yourself or others?

3. What are the ways that food can communicate spiritual truths?

4. How would you eat if you were back in the Garden?

5. What are some practical changes or mindset shifts you could make this week to start putting food in its proper place according to the principles in this chapter?

[1] Here are a few more things that wouldn’t be observed if molecule-to-man evolution were true: There would be no carbon 14 in old-dated rocks. There wouldn’t be a high concentration of helium in zircons. There would be evidence of carbon (plants and animals that have died) and wear between layers of rock.

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