Why Didn’t Adam And Eve Die The Instant They Ate The Fruit?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, April 26, 2025 (Donate)
The
reason for this common question stems from Genesis 2:17.
"but of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
Some have claimed that the Bible doesn’t necessarily mean what it says in Genesis 2:17 since Adam and Eve didn’t die the moment they ate. They argue that the passage really means “die”, not “surely die”, which is what gives the implication that it means that day Adam and Eve should have died.
“Die That Day”,
Or “Begin To Die”?
It
is true that Adam and Eve didn’t die the exact day they ate (Genesis 5:4-5) as
some seem to think Genesis 2:17 implies. So, either God was in error or man’s
interpretation is in error. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) and is the very
standard of truth (John 14:6) compared to man who is prone error in a
sin-cursed and broken world. So obviously, fallible humans must be making the
mistake.
Let’s
take a look at where the confusion begins to arise. The Hebrew phrase in English is more
literally:
“Tree knowledge good evil eat day eat die (dying) die”
The
Hebrew is “die die” (muwth - muwth) with two different verb tenses
(dying and die), which can be translated as “surely die” or literally as “dying
you shall die”, which indicates the beginning of dying, which is more of an
ingressive sense and finally culminating with death.
At
that point, Adam and Eve began to die and would return to dust (Genesis 3:19). If
they were meant to die right then, they would have used muwth only once as is used in the Hebrew meaning dead, died, or die
and not beginning to die or surely die as die-die is used in
Hebrew. Old Testament authors understood
this and used it in such a fashion but sometimes we lose this subtle
understanding during translation.
There
are primarily two ways people translate, one is literal or word-for-word which
is formal equivalence and the other is dynamic equivalence or
thought-for-thought. If this is translated word for word it would be “dying
die” or “die die” which is difficult for English readers to understand since
our grammatical construct doesn’t have a changed emphasis when a word is
repeated.
The
Latin [Vulgate] by Jerome, which permits such grammatical constructs, does
translate this as dying die or dying you will die (morte morieris). So most translations rightly use more dynamic
equivalence and say “surely die”, which implies that it isn’t an instant death
but will certainly happen (surely). This is really the key and why the language
judgment that occurred at Babel still has implications today when we translate
things.
What Is Yom Referring To?
With
regards to the Hebrew word yom
for day in Genesis 2:17, it refers directly the following action, eating, not
the latter “dying die”. For example, Solomon used an almost identical construct
in 1 Kings when referring to Shimei:
"For on
the day <yom> you go out and
cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely
<muwth> die <muwth>; your blood shall be on your
own head." (1 Kings 2:37)
This
uses yom (day) and the dual muwth just as Genesis 2:17 did. In
Genesis 2:17, yom referred to the
action (eating) in the same way that yom
refers the action here (go out and cross over).
In
neither case do they mean that was the particular day they died, but the
particular day they did what they weren’t supposed to do—it directly refers to
the action they performed that ultimately leads to finality of their judgment.
Solomon
understood that it would not be a death on that particular day but that his
days were numbered from that point. In other words, their (Adam and Shimei)
actions on that day were what gave them the final death sentence—it was coming
and they would surely die as a result of their actions. Therefore, the day, in
Genesis 2:17, was referring to when they ate, not the day they died.
Was The
Punishment Sleep, Instead Of Physical Death?
Some
have said they believed that the punishment was not really death but that sleep
(not deep sleep) entered the world at this time. Though I am not going to dive
in the comments about sleep too heavily, I would lean against sleep being the
punishment referred to in Genesis 2:17 from many passages that view sleep as a
good thing.
For
example, sleep satisfies in Proverbs 19:23 and was pleasant in Ecclesiastes
5:12 and Jeremiah 31:26. The Lord often appeared to people while they were
sleeping and even slept Himself (Mark 4:38).
What
is spoken of in Genesis 2:17 is a punishment and is the foundation for Christ’s
physical death. If He merely had to sleep, then this undermines the reason for
Christ’s work on the Cross. Recall Romans 5:12 that reinforces that this was a
real death.
From
a quick search, there were only two passages referring to sleep as death in
Hebrew, Daniel 12:2 and Psalm 90:5 where much imagery is given in the context
and so leads us to realize the metaphorical nature of the passages. For example,
in the following verse in Daniel, those with insight will shine brightly. Obviously,
it is not referring to a literal physical light emanating from humans. Also,
people are as grass in Psalm 90:5 too.
Jesus
does this as well in Greek when He figuratively said that Lazarus was sleeping
in John 11:11-13 and the disciples failed to understand and took it as literal
sleep. Jesus had to correct them (John 11:14) as to the deeper meaning. But we
need to exercise caution when trying to look at Hebrew wording via Greek
wording.
Regardless,
this punishment was a real death and Adam and Eve died. As will all the rest of us for our sins,
which is all the more reason to receive Christ and be saved from death and
death will no longer have a sting (1 Corinthians 15:53-57).
Originally published here https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/why-didnt-adam-and-eve-die-the-instant-they-ate-the-fruit/;
Updated; Republished by permission.
