The use of the plural in Gen 3:22
indicates that the knowledge of good and evil is a divine quality in general
and not just a quality of Yahweh-Elohim. The use of Elohim rather than
Yahweh-Elohim in the conversations of the serpent and Eve in Gen 3:1–5 also
support this. The exact sense of “knowing good and evil” is uncertain but is
likely to do with rational and ethical discrimination (see Barr 1992: 61–63).
It must be something that was considered a quality of divinity that was shared
by humanity after the fruit was eaten. Therefore, it must also be something
that distinguishes humans from animals. Barr (1992: 65) argues that the
acquisition of the knowledge of good and evil was “a coming of consciousness of
lines that must not be crossed, of rules that must be obeyed.” (Alice Wood, Of
Wings and Wheels: A Synthetic Study of the Biblical Cherubim [Beihefte zur
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 385; Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 2008], 58 n. 87)
