Deut 30:15,
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Yes, God did set good and evil before us and told us we would reap what we sowed. When we do good we get life and when we do evil we get death. Here’s the problem that comes up in the modern Western mind when we think of good and evil solely in terms of our behavior, of our morality or lack thereof: It tends to make us see God as watching us all the time and making spot decisions as to whether to reward or punish us. But that is not how God works, at least the way I see Him.
He set up a system in Genesis that according to Gen 1:31 was all good, very good to be precise. If good is taken to mean functional or workable in this context it makes sense. God set up a perfect system and then gave it to mankind to administer. God was not in charge of Eden. He delegated that job to Adam and Eve. As long as people do things that are functional then all will work to our advantage. Of course Adam thought he knew better than God what works (good, i.e., functional) and what doesn’t work (evil, i.e., dysfunctional). Adam found out quick enough that he was wrong, dead wrong as it turns out.
All of a sudden their lives changed for the worse. Things got much harder for them. Getting food became a problem. Child birth became dangerous. But did God cause all their problems by directly punishing them? I don’t think so. God, because He is a just god, had to let things play out and because Adam stuck his hand in the fire it got burnt. God did’nt burn it though. Adam bucked the system and got what God told him he’d get.
In short, the “punishment” people get when they act against that which God declared functional is organic in nature. Parents don’t burn their child’s hand when that child puts it in the fire after a judicial trial. It just happens because of the system and the way it’s set up. The “punishment” is not judicial in nature.
Instead of seeing God doling out rewards or punishments based on our behavior, I think He watches us and is constantly hoping we will do good, that which is functional. He is always rooting for us and helping us to make the right decisions. When we do evil, when we act in a way that is naturally detrimental to us, a dysfunctional way, I think it breaks God’s heart to see us with charred hands.
This paints a picture of a truly loving God that is always for us. He is not a vindictive God that punished us when we lie or steal. He told us in clear enough terms that those and all other sins are dysfunctional and will bring nothing but problems. We either believe Him or not when He says there are problems with sticking our hands in the fire and hopes we listen.
Having said all of that, I think it is true that in some contexts “good” and “evil” can be seen in a moral light. There are also other ways those words can be taken, but we must not think of all usages of those words in a purely moral way. Context, as is so often the case, is important and will help us understand that which God tells us. I think this subject leaves a lot of room for further study.
Check out this post from a linguistic expert: Good and Evil, Towb and Ra - #6 by Christy