Question: What was the first command given to mankind?
Answer: The first command given was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I have heard people say that the first command was to be fruitful and multiply. This is in error if you look closely at the text you can see the timing of the two commands. In Genesis 1:27 we see an overview of the creation of man. IT mentions both the male and the female and then the command in verse 28 to them as a group to multiply.
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
In Genesis chapter 2 we see a more detailed account where Adam was created first and then God formed Eve from Adam. When we look at the timeline in chapter two we can see the order of commands. In verse 7 we see the creation of Adam. In verses 15-17 we see the first command given to man.
“And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
We then see the creation of Eve in verses 21-22 after the command given to Adam concerning the tree of life. The second command given to mankind was to be fruitful and multiple but the first was the one we disobeyed which plunged us all into sin and death.
The Gospel Beacon 