There were two trees in the garden...

[muninnskiss]

 In the Garden of Eden, G-d planted two trees.  One was the Tree of Life.  The other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which the Zohar calls the Tree of Death.  G-d told Adam that he could eat of any tree in the Garden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  If he ate of it, he would surely die.  Then He made Eve.  Some

Comments

[veedub]

...all of which goes to show that this version of G_d is a very manipulative and cunning guy. it turns out better for him to have all subsequent generations of mankind trying like all get-out to reunite with him, rather than (had adam & eve done what was commanded and left well enough alone) living peacefully and unthinkingly without choice, like all the other animals.

personally, i think that he wouldn't have created mankind with the intelligence to make bad choices without expecting them to do so. the snake being his instrument, who was the real tempter?

...but i don't believe in this particular myth or concept of deity anyway (why would i want to believe that the ultimate source of everything is this cranky, sneaky old guy?), so my opinion won't count, will it?