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December 14, 2022 |
| Eating From The Tree Of Life | ||
There is a commonly accepted view that, if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever. In fact I've heard sermons preached that were based on the idea that they chose not to eat from that tree and instead chose to eat from the tree they were not supposed to eat from. The message behind this is the evil nature of our bodies.
There are a couple problems with this though but correcting those problems still leaves us with questions. Exactly what would have happened if they ate from the Tree of Life? Did they eat from the tree?
After God judges Adam and Eve, a concern is raised.
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". (Genesis 3:22)
The death that the fruit was promised to give in "that day that you eat of it" had already occurred. It was a spiritual death. They were separated from God and destined for judgment. To experience this judgment, it was necessary for them to die.
It is appointed to the children of men to die once, and after their deaths the judgment (Hebrews 9:27)
But there is a problem. Eating from the Tree of Life will keep them alive. God's solution to this is that they must be barred from the garden where the tree is located.
Many people understand the Genesis 3:22 verse to say that, if they ate from the tree, even once, they would live forever. That isn't really what the Hebrew says though. The problem comes down to differences in verb tenses. A more direct translation of part of that verse will help us.
… lest he stretch out his hand … (Genesis 3:22)
The word "stretch" is in the imperfect tense. That indicates an action that is not complete, meaning that they might do it again and again.
From this we can understand that the effect of the Tree of Life is not permanent. I suppose it's natural to assume a dualism between the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has a permanent effect then the Tree of Life must also. The Bible provides nothing to support that idea, though.
In fact, there are other Bible references to the Tree of Life and they don't show it's effect to be once-and-done.
And in the center of the street on this side and on that, upon the river, the Tree of Life which produces 12 fruits, and every month it gives its fruits and its leaves for the healing of the peoples. (Revelation 22:2)
This shows the tree's fruit and leaves to be something that are used as needed.
Blessings to those who are doing his Commandments; their authority shall be over the Tree of Life, and they shall enter the City by the gates. (Revelation 22:14)
We see here a lasting authority over the tree. Again, this indicates an ongoing need.
I guess, because we know they were told which tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that they were also told which was the Tree of Life, or even that there was a Tree of Life. Nothing in the Bible indicates they knew about it.
In fact, the Genesis 3:22 verse above indicates a randomness or unknowingness about the action of reaching out to take the fruit. Depending on the translation, it says "lest" or "might". If they knew which tree it was and the effect of the tree, the sentence would say "would" or even "will", showing intent to keep themselves alive.
The Tree of Life was a one-of-a-kind tree in the garden. It was also one tree among many in the garden. It may have been God's intent that they eat from it occasionally just as they ate the fruit of other trees. In doing so they would be rejuvenated from time to time.
Certainly there is nothing in the Bible that hints at this. I think this idea derives from the earlier misunderstanding that there was a choice to be made between eating from one tree or the other. The Bible doesn't present that as the choice. Instead, the choice is between whether to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or not. As noted in the previous section, they may not have even known which tree it was or that there was such a tree.
If you accept that the choice was between one tree or the other, then it is natural to accept that they chose not to eat from the Tree of Life.
What concerns me more about this idea, first mentioned in the introduction, is the misunderstanding behind it. Adam and Eve were neither foolish nor evil. They were not like us from the beginning. It would have been completely beyond them to think "let's not eat from the tree of life." Satan went to a lot of trouble to draw evil out of Eve. That effort was necessary because her nature was not evil.
Speaking for myself, If I'm told, "If you eat from this tree, you will live forever", my response will be, "tell me when I've eaten enough."
There is nothing to answer this in the Bible. If we accept that the effect of eating its fruit was temporary, then it is quite possible.
The answer would only be for the sake of knowledge though. Whether they did or not changes nothing. They were created perfect and needed no restoration. So eating from the Tree of Life wouldn't have benefited them, other than for food value.
The Bible does give us an answer to this. The pre-flood peoples normally lived into their 900s, with Methuselah almost reaching 1000 years. Adam lived to be 930 years old. This was all without the Tree of Life.
Adam and Eve's bodies would have failed eventually, even if they had not sinned. It would have made no sense to have the Tree of Life in the garden if it had no function and then to separate Adam and Eve from it when it could have had a function.
It seems clear that eating from the Tree of Life, whether the one in the garden or the future Tree of Life, heals a person. Whatever degeneration has occurred over time, that is healed.
Along the way we've also seen that the bodies of Adam and Eve were mortal. They would have lived forever, however, due to the Tree of Life, assuming they had not sinned.