The Cost of Knowledge

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.”  Is 11:6-9

“The Lord God commanded the man, saying ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”   Gen 2:16

According to Merriman Webster, knowledge is:

A(1) the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association

2): acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique

B (1): the fact or condition of being aware of something

(2): the range of one's information or understanding

In the scriptures quoted above, the knowledge written about is closer to the dictionary meaning noted as b; the fact or condition of being aware, range of one’s understanding, opinion.  Knowledge is a sought after quality in our world, a desirable asset to anyone’s character.  Many of us spend long, hard, expensive years at University striving to become knowledgeable in a science or other field of endeavor.   Higher education or not, we all hope to gain knowledge through the experiences we encounter each day.  The heaped up mass of all the events of life had better amount to something, some wisdom, some knowledge, or many of us are going to be wildly annoyed.  Knowledge does not come cheaply, or easily.  It has a cost, in cash and in time; in heartache and in joy.  Consequently, I believe it is wise, important, prudent, not a waste of time, to consider the nature and effect of the knowledge we all seek.  For we are all seeking knowledge of one sort or another. 

When considering the quote from Genesis, notice what the promised consequence of knowing is - of gaining the knowledge of good and evil.  To gain that knowledge, which includes knowing, being familiar with and understanding good and evil, results in the inevitability of death.  Death; the end of life, the cessation of awareness, the end of knowledge; an ironic reward for gaining this knowledge.   Knowledge here leads to a stark, sure termination.  This knowledge, no matter how desirable it may seem, does not promise anything but loss, defeat and a certain end. 

Compare this with the passage quoted first, from Isaiah.  What is the effect of the knowledge of God?  It is an earth where there is no destruction. Infants are safe with snakes. Children play with vipers.  Predator and prey no longer categories of creatures.   It is an earth in which nothing hurtful exists.  The knowledge of God spreads and covers all like the water of the sea, fully hydrating the planet with peacefulness.  The order of creation is restored, the creatures do not devour one another, rather they accompany one another.  The picture is one of serene peace, where fear has no opportunity.  Can you imagine a place where there is no fear, not even a hint of fear because there is nothing fearful?  It seems beyond imagination, so common is fear to each of us. 

Yet here is a world without fear because the knowledge of God fills it.  The knowledge of good and evil finds no place in the world. It has no lodging place in the creatures.  There is no experience of death, fear, terror or pain. 
What a difference, from today,  the knowledge of the Lord has when it fills the earth. 

Now that we know this, what can we do with the knowledge?  Do we still crave the knowledge of good and evil and if so why do we want it?  I wonder sometimes if knowing something seems to pave the way for feeling we are in command of the outcome.  If I know where the trouble is on the road, I can avoid being caught in traffic. If I know where the best deals are I can save money.  If I know what my diagnosis is, I can get the best treatment and live.  Control.  We are fond of saying that we are the captain of our ship.  And captains need knowledge to steer the ship.  Yet, is the control misleading?   Do any of us have control of our lives to the extent we believe we do?  How can we live in the fiction of control when the cost is so high?  The knowledge gained is not so desirable when the cost is recognized.  We all pay dearly for the knowing.  We know good and evil, but we also know fear and terror and uncertainly and death.  It seems in the bargain to become like God and know good and evil we have gained much more than mere information, we have gained an intimate familiarity and experience with evil.

Be aware of what knowledge you seek.