[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Where does it say the tree of the knowledge of good & evil was "good for food"?

Good for food verses:

Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Here's an article that agrees with your basic premise, but disagrees that the TOTKOGAE was "good." Tree Meaning Article

The article ends with this sentence, so I think it actually agrees that the TOTKOGAE was "good":

"In short, the answer to the commenter’s question is, yes, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good. The fault for man’s fall lies with Adam and Eve, not the tree."

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

However, the question remains, why did God use something that would be ingested? (As we know, what we eat becomes part of us.) Why wouldn't he perhaps have said instead, "Don't cross over that river!" as the test? This way nothing would be ingested and therefore assimilated into them.

All I can say here between tasks at work is don't take the Witness Lee approach of looking for "the intrinsic significance of the nature of the element of the command." If God said "don't cross over that river" then what would you say --- it matters where our feet go? It matters what we drown ourselves in? As you know, if you cross over a river, you get wet and muddy. God was simply never concerned with 'what they ate'. It's just not there in the verses. He's concerned with their obedience, and the tree was the way He chose.

I've put forth my personal view somewhere on this forum already I think. Hebrews somewhere speaks of mature believers distinguishing between good and evil. I think the TOTKOGAE was possibly forbidden until, say, Adam and Eve showed they would obey God's commands. Show maturity. Then maybe be allowed to eat the tree. Some things are forbidden until the right time - dessert (after dinner), sex (after marriage), using a gun (after gun training), etc. I can see the TOTKOGAE falling into that category, although as I said, those are just my thoughts and I don't intend to try to convince you of that particular part.