Tree of Life

:See also tree of life for other meanings of the term.

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The Tree of Life, in the Book of Genesis, is a tree whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. After eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, the story goes, Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden. Fearing Adam and Eve will also eat of the tree of life and become immortal, God sets angels to guard the entrance to the Garden.

Related Topics:
Book of Genesis - Tree - Immortality - Tree of Knowledge - Good - Evil - Adam and Eve - Garden of Eden - God - Angels

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In the story, the serpent had tempted Eve into partaking of the Fruit of Knowledge by promising they would become as wise and powerful as God. The unstated but implied moral is variously interpreted as God's anger at their decision, God's fear that they will harm the Tree of Life, God's fear that the Tree of Life will harm them, or God's fear of the serpent's influence. These are of course not contradictory.

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The tree of life is represented in several examples of sacred geometry, and is central in particular to Kabbalah, the mystic study of the Torah.

Related Topics:
Sacred geometry - Kabbalah - Torah

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