A Tale of Two Trees

8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9)

At our BSF bible study meeting last night part of the discussion was taken up by the Two Trees. I had been aware of the two trees, but I never have seen the whole story put together, nor have I heard the whole story ever mentioned. Needless to say I was fascinated when I did see it when it was included with the BSF study material and my inner Berean took over.

After creating everything, including Adam, God planted a garden, and that's the term used - planted - from the Hebrew nata` which means "planted" in English. It means that God physically planted the garden. He caused every tree that is pleasing to look at and every tree that produces good fruit to grow up out of the ground, and in the garden grew the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

In this garden He placed Adam, and He told Adam alone (for He had not yet created Eve):

16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

And then the Lord made Eve. There's no record in Genesis that the Lord admonished Eve about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but I'm assuming He did, because in Genesis 3:2-3 she repeated the warning that God had given Adam, but we all know what happened:

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” - 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)

So we have been blocked from the Tree of Life, and it passes from the pages of the bible  until it is mentioned again in Revelation 2:7

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

And it's described in Revelation 22:1-2

1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

First of all, I would LOVE to see the flaming sword which turns in every direction. Note: God didn't station a Cherubim with a flaming sword, He positioned a cherubim AND a flaming sword. Is the flaming sword a second guard, animated by God's holy power? If so, it must be an awesome (and terrifying) sight to see.

And the description of the tree from Revelation 22 - it sounds beautiful, I can't wait to see it! It is part of our reward after all.

But while in the garden, before the fall - did Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life? That's where the discussion at BSF went. The only prohibition Adam and Eve had in the garden of Eden was eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Some mentioned that the text implied that there was a restriction on the Tree of Life, but on further review nothing could be found to hold up that theory. God never mentioned anything about the Tree of Life to Adam and Eve, other than staying away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they could do what ever they wanted. If they had a dog they could have taken it for a walk on the beach without anyone complaining. It was that awesome. 

So maybe, we thought, they had a choice, and chose poorly and never got to taste the fruit of the Tree of Life. For a while I believed that they were eating from the Tree of Life all along, it may have been their primary source of food. We know from Revelation 22 that the Tree of Life bears fruit all year long, a different crop every month. No other plant could nourish people long term like that.

But then Genesis 3:22 crushed that train of thought:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”

So it appears that they didn't eat from the Tree of Life - but why didn't they? Actually all kinds of questions started to pop up. In Genesis 3:16 God told Eve that he was going to multiply her pain in childbirth - does that mean she already had babies but without pain? Then He told Adam that he was going to work until he dies - does that mean he never worked before, or does that mean that death was never a threat before? Of course it wasn't because God told Adam that he didn't have to worry about death in Genesis 2:17.

Which leads me to my final question - if Adam and Eve didn't have to worry about death at all while they didn't eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, just how long were they in the Garden of Eden?

It just ain't easy bein' a Berean.