Do Not Yet Know Good From Bad

Deuteronomy 1:38-43 – But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.” Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.

Genesis 2:9 – The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Numbers 14:40 – Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”

Application:

• ·         The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was signifying and giving knowledge of good and evil, leading ultimately to death, to those who eat its fruit. “Knowledge of good and evil” refers to moral knowledge or ethical discernment. In eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sought a creaturely source of discernment in order to be morally independent of God.
• ·         Now, too late, the people determine to go up to the land. Such a course of action was doomed to failure. Not only was the Lord not with them; He was against them.
• ·         First the people rebelled against the Lord’s command to go into the land, then against His command not to enter the land. After their first rebellion the Lord would not go with them. His presence was essential, and Israel needed to learn that lesson.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV