Tuesday 18 April 2023

The Tree of Life ?

In Bereishit, we come across a very obscure passage, regarding the Tree of Life and immortality:

 

 

Genesis 3;

 

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

 

 

No further mention of this specific Tree of Life is made in the Torah, to my limited knowledge, and the prospect for Mankind is to remain mortal. It is used in a slightly different context in Mishlei – Proverbs : https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov+3%3A18%3B+11%3A30%3B+13%3A12%3B+15%3A4&version=NRSVUE

 

 

Later on we come across another obscure verse in Isaiah, where the prospect of immortality is prophesied, as a future event.  It is unbelievable, to mere mortals, and as such it seems to have not become a prominent concept in Judaism (unlike resurrection, or Olam Haba):

 

 

Isaiah Chapter 25; 8

 

He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth; for the LORD hath spoken it. 

 

 

 

Isaiah is prophesying, at the very least, a termination of  the expulsion in Genesis 3, namely preventing us from immortality.  But Isaiah does not mention the Tree of Life itself?

 

The question I have, is whether he is referring to the Tree, is the prophecy indeed the immortality conferred by the Tree of Life?