Tree(s) of life

In the first and last books of the Bible, we are told that there is a “tree of life.” In Genesis 3:22-24, after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil; the LORD God is afraid that they will also eat of the tree of life “and live forever.” So God drove them out of Eden. In Revelation 22:1-3, the writer is given a vision of the reversal of the old Eden tree of life. Now, in this vision there is a heavenly river and on both sides of its banks there is the tree of life with 12 kinds of fruit for each month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Sin will be no more: “Nothing accursed will be found there any more.”

  It is interesting that in Jewish tradition when the festival of Sukkot is celebrated, there are a couple of species of trees that are used for building a Sukkah, and also are believed to have healing properties. The myrtle [hadas] leaves, when made into tea and when the tea is consumed is said to result in a longer life span.

  An element of the willow [aravot] leaves, is believed to produce a kind of aspirin within the stomach acids.
   So, we have here, even in our imperfect ‘fallen’ state, kind of “a foretaste of the feast to come” as we Christians say or sing in our liturgy.