והייתם כאלהים יודעי טוב ורע. נראה כי קודם חטאו של אדם לא היתה לו מעלה לדעת ולהבחין בין טוב לרע, וא"כ מצאנו חוטא נשכר שיקנה הוא בחטאו מעלה שלא היתה לו מתחלה, והמובן לי מזה כי לא היתה הכונה באדם שיהיה בלתי שכל כבהמות והחיות שאינן יודעים טוב ורע, אבל זה אינו כי פירוש והייתם כאלהים ענינו כתרגומו ותהון כרברביא חכמין בין טב לביש ובודאי כוונת הבריאה באדם שיהיה בעל שכל, וזהו ויברא אלהים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלהים ברא אותו והצלם הוא השכל ובסבת השכל צוה אותו שנאמר ויצו ה' אלהים ואין דבור ה' יתברך ומצותיו לבהמות ולא למי שאין לו השכל ועם השכל יבחין האדם בין האמת והשקר, אבל הידיעה בין טוב לרע אין זה במושכלות כי לא יאמר אדם השמים כדוריים נאים והארץ פשוטה מכוערת אבל יאמר בהם אמת ושקר.
והייתם כאלוקים יודעי טוב ורע, “and you will be like G-d, knowing good and evil.” From this it would appear that prior to his sin Adam did not possess the ability to distinguish good from evil. If that were true, then what happened here would violate a Talmudic principle, i.e. that a sinner should not be allowed to benefit by his sin. It is clear to me that one must not understand the verse to mean that Adam did not know the difference between right and wrong prior to his sin any more than do the animals. The meaning of the words: “you will be like G-d,” is appropriately translated by Onkelos who renders these words as: ותהון כרברבין חכמין בין טב לביש, “you will become possessed of superior wisdom knowing what is good and what is evil.” There can be no question that at the time G-d created man He had equipped him with a superior intelligence. This is the meaning of Genesis 1,27 “He created him in the image of G-d.” The word צלם in that verse is a reference to intelligence. If G-d commanded man not to eat from the tree of knowledge, the reason He did so was precisely because man was intelligent enough to distinguish between truth and untruth. G-d is not on record as commanding animals what to do as they have no intelligence.
The problem is that knowledge of good and evil is not something within the realm of intelligence. When man is asked to define heaven he does not say “heaven is spherical and beautiful;” when asked to define earth he does not say: “earth is flat and ugly.” He would make statements which confirm or deny the truth of something, not its moral potential.
והנה קודם החטא היה כלו שכלי אלהי לא היה מתעסק בדברים גופנים ולא היה יודע אותם וגלוי ערוה אצלו לא היה בעיניו דבר מגונה כי אם כשאר האברים, וכאשר חטא והשיג כח התאוה ונמשך אחר תענוגי הגוף וראה כי טוב העץ למאכל וכי תאוה הוא לעינים וגו' נענש מיד כי הופשט מן ההשגה השכלית ונתלבש בתאוה הגופנית וטבע המדות היופי והכעור, וע"כ אמר והייתם כאלהים יודעי טוב ורע ולא אמר יודעי אמת ושקר או משיגי אמת ושקר. והסתכל אמרו ותפקחנה עיני שניהם וידעו ולא אמר ויראו כי מה שראו עתה ראו תחלה. אבל הכונה שהשיג ענין מחודש היה מגנהו עכשיו ולא היה מגנהו בתחלה והיה עונשו מדה כ"מ לפי שעבר על המדה ונטה לבו לתענוגי העולם לאכול מה שנמנע ממנו ולבקש תאות הגוף כבהמות ע"כ הענישו במאכל הבהמות והשוה אותו להן הוא שכתוב ואכלת את עשב השדה זה לשון הרמב"ם.
Prior to his sin, Adam’s intellect was totally spiritually oriented; it was not concerned with matters of the body. He was not even familiar with such matters. He was completely unaware of the carnal implications of nudity, etc. He considered his genitals as organs no different from all his other organs. Once he had sinned, and suddenly experienced the sex drive as an instrument of physical gratification, i.e. “he saw that the tree was good to eat and a pleasurable experience for the eyes,” he was immediately punished by being stripped of his ability to use his intellect objectively; from that moment on, considerations such as physical desire, appreciation of physical beauty or ugliness clouded his previously pure intellect. This is why the serpent spoke of “you will become intimate (an alternate meaning of ידע) with good and evil.” The serpent had been careful not to say: “you will know truth and falsehood,” or words to that effect.
You should pay special attention to the wording of verse seven ותפקחנה עיני שניהם וידעו, “the eyes of both of them were opened, etc.” The Torah deliberately did not write that as a result of this opening of their eyes ויראו, “they saw,” but it wrote וידעו, “they knew” that they were naked. What they suddenly “knew” they had already “seen” previously. The Torah wanted to emphasize that they now “saw” something they had been aware of previously in a totally new light. What had previously not been shameful had suddenly become something shameful. The reason was that they had overstepped the boundaries and displayed a tendency to derive physical pleasure from something G-d had denied them. They had displayed a desire to be more animal-like in their cravings. As a result, their punishment consisted in their being allocated animal-like food as we find in verse 18 “you will eat the grass of the field.” [Previously, as pointed out in connection with 1,29, they had been allocated only the kind of herbs which produced self perpetuating seeds, as distinct from the food allocated to the animals.]