[Milton-L] (no subject)

[John Rumrich]

Angels are very intelligent, Milton believes, and they tend to  
understand phenomena intuitively, by sudden apprehension.

But one might reply that Satan sits on top of the tree of life and  
doesn't understand it at all.  Go figure.

John


On Nov 7, 2008, at 9:24 AM, James Rovira wrote:

> The book of Genesis describes the two trees standing together in the  
> middle of the garden.  The implication is that both are set apart.   
> Milton reflects this tradition in bk 4, as mentioned earlier:
>
> Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,
> The middle Tree and highest there that grew,
>
> And then in book 7, the forbidden tree is clearly in the middle of  
> the garden, right next to the tree of life:
>
> This Paradise I give thee, count it thine
> To Till and keep, and of the Fruit to eate:
> Of every Tree that in the Garden growes
> Eate freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
> But of the Tree whose operation brings
> Knowledg of good and ill, which I have set
> The Pledge of thy Obedience and thy Faith,
> Amid the Garden by the Tree of Life,
>
> "...amid the Garden by the Tree of Life"
>
> I don't think Milton spent much time on this problem because he  
> didn't see it as a problem.  The tree of life was the largest tree,  
> planted directly in the middle of the Garden, the forbidden tree was  
> smaller, but right next to it.  Difficulties are present only if you  
> picture a normal forest with a large number of essentially identical  
> trees randomly distributed.  The Garden of Eden is enclosed by a  
> wall and has a discernible center marked by the presence of the  
> tallest tree.
>
> I think the specific details of the tree of life being the largest  
> and central tree contains a more important point -- the choice  
> between obedience and disobedience was not perfectly equal.   
> Obedience was visibly privileged.  Life is visibly privileged over  
> knowledge.
>
> Jim R
>
> On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 5:27 AM, christy neary <christy.neary at hotmail.com 
> > wrote:
> HELLO ALL, Still having a problem with Satan ( haven't we all ). How  
> does he know exactly which tree is the tree of interdiction? He  
> eavesdrops ( pardon the pun ) on Adam & Eve's conversation and  
> learns that it is fast by the tree of life, but this only narrows it  
> down and does not identify it specifically.
> Regards,
> Christy
>
>
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