if Adam didn’t eat of it would he have died?
if he and Eve had to eat from it for eternal life, what about the animals?
did they have to eat from it, or did they die?
confusing me.
Adam would not have died in the sense of a corruption of the body. Nor would Eve.
Trees and plants were, as we are told earlier, placed with their seeds in them – and were fertile to multiply, as were A & E and all the animals.
Jesus says, “Unless a grain fall into the ground and
die it remains but a single grain; but if it die, it will produce…”
This reflects the understanding of what it means to die; Death is a change, whereupon the original control of a body is lost in order that a new one may come. A germinating seed, would not in our modern minds “die”; but that is precisely the word and understanding the ancients had of that process. They understood germination to be a kind of death.
In this sense, Adam in bearing children, would die. Adam DID die (the deep sleep) in order that his rib (which is what really died), could be formed into his wife. Such death, by analogy, was already prescribed in order that Adam be fertile and multiply.
This is not a death, though, in the sense of something going to the Grave and remaining there to rot. This is a transformation from life to another life.
Fruit were also to be eaten; As you know, fruits are living things. In order to be eaten, (then), they too – must have died.
The life-span of Adam would not have ended should he have not eaten the poisoned fruit.
His spirit was capable of holding his body in perfect life forever – as will ours, once we rise again. As to the animals, I don’t know. If Adam intended to eat any of them, or sacrifice any of them – then clearly they would die. But I am not certain that this was to be the case; Adam was intended to be the zoo keeper; and it may have been his responsibility to prevent animals from breeding mindlessly – organizing them and tending them. However, I doubt that one who was to organize the world would be denied the right to dispatch (kill off) animals or plants which had grown too much.
Consider: As a gardener, there would be no point to tending a garden which did not over-grow, or change in the slightest – he would have absolutely nothing to do. But that was, in fact, his job before the sin.
The important things to grasp about the Garden are that God was a friend of Adam; Adam had the help of God (and most angels, but not the devil) in maintaining his life forever, and to solve the riddles and problems set before him. These great helps are what he lost by sin; and because he lost these things, he no longer had the help of the only one who can see into the future; it became impossible that Adam should be able to always do the “right” thing; for his ignorance lost it’s remedy.
I hope this helps some.
–Andrew.
I’ve never really thought about this story in that way before.