Did God Lie to Adam?
According to many English translations of Genesis 2:17, God says that Adam will “surely die” after eating the forbidden fruit. Since the first human does not die immediately after ingestion, some critical Bible readers conclude that God must have lied to Adam—or, at least, withheld the whole truth. However, rather than indicating Adam’s immediate expiration, the phrase usually translated “surely die” really means “doomed to die” or “sentenced to death.”
Translated woodenly, Genesis 2:17 has God tell Adam, “On the day (בְּיוֹם; beyom) you eat from [the tree], dying you shall die (מוֹת תָּמוּת; mot tamut).” Though admittedly stretching the terminological and grammatical bounds of English, one might also express the original Hebrew meaning of the latter phrase with “you shall die dyingly.” The initial term בְּיוֹם certainly means “on the day,” which makes it sound like God foresees Adam’s death occurring within a 24-hour period. Yet the first human goes on to live until he’s 930 years old! Did God lie to Adam?
A parallel verse in 1 Kings clarifies God’s words to Adam. King Solomon tells Shimei, “On the day (בְּיוֹם; beyom) you go out and cross the Kidron brook, know for certain that dying you shall die (מוֹת תָּמוּת; mot tamut)” (1 Kgs 2:37). This is the same language and sentence structure as in Genesis 2:17. Yet Shimei does not die “on the day” he fulfills Solomon’s words. When Shimei travels from Jerusalem to Gath, he remains alive. After “Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned” (1 Kgs 2:41), Solomon asks him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and testify to you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and go anywhere, know for certain that dying you shall die?” (2:42). Solomon had said that Shimei would die “on the day” that he left Jerusalem and arrived at his destination, but Shimei is not executed until he returns to Jerusalem.
Solomon’s words to Shimei show that the Hebrew combination of “on the day” and “dying you shall die” indicates that one is doomed to die on the specified day. Thus, God does not lie to Adam. Rather, the first human is doomed to die when he eats the forbidden fruit and, as with Shimei, he dies after his doomsday.
