The Prohibition:
Eating From the Tree of Knowledge of Good Bought Dear by Knowing Ill

The Argument

One prohibitions was exacted by God as a pledge of Adam and Eve’s obedience: To foreswear the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The section below is a discussion of what knowledge was expressly forbidden and what resources are available to support my answer.

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Eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the sole prohibition set by God as a pledge of Adam and Eve’s obedience and faith in the Garden of Eden. Hearing this, readers often wonder why knowledge should have been forbidden to our first parents. This was also the question Satan, in his serpent guise, put to Eve in order to tempt her to sin. But, the question is a mis-statement of God’s intent. For it is not all knowledge that God forbade. In fact, there is abundant evidence in Paradise Lost that God is concerned that Adam and Eve have quite a wealth of knowledge with which to stave off sin, especially when He sees Satan approaching Eden. So, what knowledge was forbidden? One way to approach this question is to understand the kind of knowledge that God provides. Another approach is to understand how knowledge changed after the fall. Finally, listening closely to the many voices in Paradise Lost, as well as Milton’s own writings outside of the epic, may yield fruit! All three of these approaches will be investigated below.

When God sees Satan approaching Eden, He sends Raphael with clear instructions to impart knowledge that will make man inexcusable should he fall—-and Raphael imparts quite a bit of knowledge across four books of the poem. In Book V Raphael warns Adam of approaching danger in the form of Satan, explains who Satan is, how he stirred up the revolt in heaven, and especially how the seraph Abdiel stood firm against Satan. Book VI finds Raphael continuing the story by describing the two-day battle in heaven, followed by the Son’s arrival into the battle on day three, and His swift expulsion of Satan and the rebel angels to hell. In Book VII, Raphael describes how God the Father glorified His Son upon the victory in heaven and charged Him with creation of the world, how the world was created, and how the Son reascended into heaven. Finally, in Book VIII, Adam asks about the workings of the starry sky and is warned to “solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid” (Milton VIII.167). Then, when Adam takes a turn at sharing remembrances of his own creation with Raphael, along with his near-overwhelming affection for Eve, the angel hastily and firmly warns Adam to moderate his emotions toward Eve—emphasizing:

                    . . . live happy, and love, but first of all
                    Him whom to love is to obey, and keep
                    His great command; take heed lest passion sway
                    Thy judgment to do aught, which else free will
                    Would not admit . . .
                    (Milton VIII.633-7)

Books V, VI, VII, and VIII are dedicated to Raphael’s education of Adam. This is a significant dedication of space to knowledge! Some of the most important lessons would be Abdiel’s vigorous repudiation of Satan and the warning for Adam to right-size his curiosity. For me, Raphael’s warnings regarding Eve are NOT one of his areas of insight! But, that aside (for now), the charge that God is against knowledge for Adam and Eve is unsupportable, since one-third of the poem has been dedicated to Adam’s lessons.

So, what was expressly forbidden? Perhaps understanding how knowledge changed after the fall will help explain what was forbidden. In fact, Milton has answered this query outside the epic in his treatise, Of Education, where he explains that the fall, which impaired man’s knowledge of good, was, in fact, man’s loss of knowing “God aright.” The purpose of learning, after the fall, as Milton explains, is to regain a true relationship with God through faith and love, augmented and inspired by His grace:

                    . . . to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know
                    God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, . . . [and possess]
                    our souls of true vertue, which being united to the heavenly
                    grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.” (Of Education)

Milton emphasized in Of Education that to “know God aright,” is to see past the distortions of our five senses. He held that students must first be exposed to lessons “thoroughly grounded in sensible, physical knowledge” (Coiro 137). These concrete lessons should teach a student to see the spiritual traps hidden in so many of life’s appeals to our senses. Only after attuning the physical senses to these traps would students be ready for more abstract concepts.

After the fall, Michael is sent to continue Raphael’s lessons on the important role of God’s grace. He uses the same model outlined in Of Education: In Book XI he emphasizes visual lessons grounded in concrete, practical instruction, and in Book XII he builds on these with more abstract lessons delivered verbally. Note the similarity between Michael’s introductory words and Milton’s words above:

                    Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent
                    To shew thee what shall come in future days
                    To thee and to thy Offspring; good with bad
                    Expect to hear, supernal Grace contending
                    With sinfulness of Men; thereby to learn
                    True patience . . .
                    (Milton XI.356-361)

This is an important passage. It is notable for including knowledge of good with bad as necessary for Adam as he leaves Eden. In other words, Michael needs to show Adam both the tempting and dangerous aspects of sin, reminiscent of the allegorical Sin from Book II who displayed a lovely upper part and an unsavory lower part. Unfallen Adam is an untutored child as far as recognizing evil. There was no need for knowledge of evil in paradise. Michael will show Adam beautiful women seducing men, and Adam will admire the women until the angel explains the evil at work. Michael will show Adam the glorified men of battle, whom Adam will admire until the angel again teaches him to see past the false glamour. So, one thing Adam must learn after the fall is to discern good in the midst of evil. He will need to learn how to tune in to that supernal grace of God in the midst of clamoring temptation. So, it was knowledge of evil that was forbidden in paradise.

So, why was knowledge of evil so proscribed before the fall? One explanation has been suggested: that anything bad was incompatible with good in Eden. The next question is why is good so fatally compromised by bad in Eden. The answer may be found in a comment by Professor John Rogers of Yale in response to the following lines by God the Father explaining to his Son that man must be expelled from Paradise because his presence offends the Law of Nature:

                    But longer in that Paradise to dwell,
                    The Law I gave to Nature him forbids:
                    Those pure immortal Elements that know
                    No gross, no inharmonious mixture foule,
                    Eject him tainted now, and purge him off
                    As a distemper, gross to aire as gross,
                    And mortal food, as may dispose him best
                    For dissolution wrought by Sin, that first
                    Distempered all things, and of incorrupt
                    Corrupted.
                    (Milton XI.48-57)

Professor Rogers holds that this “Law I gave to Nature” refers to an automatic mechanism which operated to make Adam and Eve’s sinful bodies incompatible with the purity of Paradise. I envision this to be much like a splinter being gradually squeezed out of a finger as an alien substance attacked by the body. Of course, the Natural Law method of expulsion is accompanied by the promptings of a few muscular angels sent by God.
Reasonable though Professor Roger’s explanation is, I am reminded that God the Father admitted that He and all his sons of heaven—the angels—understood good and evil:

                    O Sons, like one of us Man is become

                    To both Good and Evil,
                    (Book XI, 83–Italics mine)



But, if this is so, why is the mixture admissible in heaven but not in Eden? The only answer I have for this-—and I am repeating myself, I know—-is that the Bible story constrains Milton from framing Eden as anything other than a place incompatible with evil. Perhaps, also, Adam and Eve had not progressed far enough along the continuum described by Raphael (Milton V.493) and were not ready to assimilate both good and evil, as God the Father said above, “like one of us.” Presumably, as unfallen man progressed, he would be removed to heaven, much as a baby eventually leaves the playpen? Yet, the fact that some of the angels were not refined enough to handle evil—-e.g., Satan-—suggests that God miscalculated the sophistication of his angels!

In conclusion, the understanding of evil appears to have been the forbidden knowledge for Adam and Eve. It is Michael’s first concern-—after greetings and soothing words—-to charge Adam with learning “good with bad” (Milton XI.356-61). And, all Michael’s lesson thereafter are aimed at depending upon supernal grace as the best protection in the face of evil. Kathleen Swaim in her Mazes article, Milton in his On Christian Doctrine treatise, and God the Father in Paradise Lost all emphasize that man’s surest bulwark against evil is God’s grace which nourishes Right Reason.

My last thought is that we don’t want to forget the word Patience, that kept appearing in Milton’s works, like the Sonnet 19, included at the beginning of this book. Patience, too, which requires grace is probably the interface between God’s grace and man’s right reason.