Tree of life

The Tree of Life stood in the midst of the Garden of Eden alongside the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:9). After the fall, God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden specifically to prevent them from eating of it and living forever (Genesis 3:22–24), placing cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way. Its fruit is thus associated with immortality — a partaking not yet permitted to fallen humanity. The Tree of Life reappears as a wisdom motif in Proverbs (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4), where it becomes a metaphor for wisdom, righteousness, and fulfilled hope. The most theologically rich recurrence is in the book of Revelation (2:7; 22:2, 14), where the Tree of Life stands in the new Jerusalem "on either side of the river" bearing twelve fruits and whose leaves are "for the healing of the nations" — its access now restored to the redeemed, reversing the expulsion from Eden. The arc from Genesis to Revelation thus frames redemptive history between two appearances of the Tree of Life.