Editor’s Note: In the next few weeks, we’ll be posting the audio from a 6-part course on biblical imagery that ran earlier this year. If you’d like to catch up, here are the links for the previous sessions:
The Tree of Life is known by certain traits that appear in other trees throughout the Bible, echoes of that first life-giving tree. But what does it mean? We’ll be looking at the motif of the tree of life in Genesis, the Psalms, the gospels, and asking why there are so many significant moments in the Bible when life and death depend on what happens around a tree.
List of Key Passages
Genesis 2—The garden in Eden. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Gen 2:16 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Gen 3:22 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Psalm 1—Those who are nourished by God’s word and ways become the Tree of Life.
Ps 1:3 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruits in season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
Genesis 6-9—The flood story. Noah is saved by a tree and falls again by a tree.
Genesis 22—The binding of Isaac. The sacrificed son carries a tree on his back up a mountain.
Exodus 3—Moses and the burning S’neh tree
Exodus 3:1-6 “Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, dGod called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for hhe was afraid to look at God.”
Exodus 19—God gives the law the Moses
Ex 19:20 “The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”
2 Samuel 6—The ark of the covenant moves to the temple mount in Jerusalem.
Judges and Kings—The people of Israel worship other gods in the form of trees on “high places.” The bad kings build them and the good kinds tear them down.
Isaiah 5—The vineyard of Israel on a fertile hill.
Isa 5:1 “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had vineyard on a very fertile hill.”
Isaiah 6—Isaiah’s vision of the temple
Ezekiel 47—The tree of life is beside the river of life
Ezekiel 47:12 “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
John 15—I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.
John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser/gardener. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes/cleans that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Mark 11—Jesus curses the fig tree
Matthew13—The mustard seed
1 Cor 3:6–9—The church is like a garden as it is sewn and watered and bears fruit
Luke 23—Jesus is sacrificed on a hillside tree.
Galatians 3:13-14—The tree’s curse
Gal 3:13-14 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
1 Peter 2:24
“24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. “
Revelation 22—The tree of life in the new creation.
Rev 22:1-5 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
Photo by Kristen Walsh on Unsplash
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