Zohar: Good and Evil

ויצו יהוה אלהים
על־האדם לאמר מכל
עץ־הגן אכל תאכל׃

ומעץ הדעת טוב ורע
לא תאכל ממנו כי
ביום אכלך ממנו
מות תמות׃

"And Jehovah Elohim commanded Adam, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." – Genesis 2:16, 17

From tradition we learn:

• The word צו tzav ["commanded"] denotes idolatry in general [since from fornication, egotistical images of Elohim originate]
• The name יהוה Jehovah refers to blaspheming the holy name [through denial of יהוה when in the sexual act].
• The name אלהים Elohim indicates forgetting God [in the struggle of maintaining righteousness].
• 'The man' אדם refers to the crime of murder [for the one who fornicates cuts physical life that descends from גבר Gibor "male," the Sephirah Geburah on the left side of the tree; murder through fornication is the most cursed of all sins; murder falls into many different aspects, these are not the same and are under the domination of Samael / Geburah, who is from the side of the serpent]
• 'saying' אמר to adultery [as the tree of knowledge is זו zuw, who, the female principle of Elohim]
• 'of every tree of the garden' to thievery
• ‘mayest freely eat' to the prohibition from ejaculating the living manna [semen].

Thus, in saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat' indicates that Adam is permitted to eat even from the tree of knowledge, but together with God [Shaddai-El-Chai].

Thus we see that the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and other prophets, have eaten of the tree of knowledge and have lived.

Therefore, יהוה אלהים Jehovah Elohim warned Adam against [fornication] tasting of the tree of death, as it is written:

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die [For whosoever does so die as if he had taken poison]." – Genesis 2: 17

"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." – Genesis 3:3

‘The fruit of the tree' denotes (הזאת-Azoth) the sacred feminine force of Elohim. ‘Thou shalt not eat of it neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,’ because as scripture states:

"Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol [hell]." - Proverbs 5:5

The fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden [is the sexual energy, הזאת-Azoth which] is salutary when it is gathered from the tree of life [spinal medulla] and lethal when plucked from another tree [that is נחמד nahemad, "pleasant to the sight"]. This latter was the fruit Eve referred to, viz., that of the tree of death and is described by the words of scripture just quoted.

It is written:

"Now the serpent was wiser than any beast of the field which יהוה אלהים had made." - Genesis 3: 1 

Said Rabbi Joseph: "The [fruit of the] tree of [knowledge] which we have been discoursing is [the sexual energy, הזאת-Azoth] nourished by supernal light, by which it became [the מרים raising Mary, the Shekinah] great, fair and beautiful to the light [of Kether in the pineal gland].

Said Rabbi Yehuda: "Truly whosoever [knows] eats of this tree transgresses, as he who is found alone with a woman [Mary] when her husband [the Holy Spirit] is absent.

This therefore is what the serpent said to Eve:

"Behold! I myself have touched this tree, and still I live, do ye the same and ye will find you will not die, for Elohim has only forbidden you eating from it."

Yet, we read:

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was nahemad [pleasant to the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she plucked the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." - Genesis 3:6