Genesis 2

I am skipping many important items, but in the interest of getting to the main point, I will pass over them for the time being.

Man is the Garden of Eden
Immediately after the man is created, God's breath is breathed into him, and he becomes a living being, it is then that the Garden of Eden is introduced. The word "Eden" simply means "delight." The word "east" also means "in front of." From many places in scripture, we know that God delights in man; also considering Genesis1:26, we know that God made man to be His spouse.
What all this means is that the man is the garden of eden, for he is God's garden of delight. God planted a garden in the front of His delight; hence, man is oriented in a frontal manner. Many trees (abilities) were planted in the front of man, together with two extremely important trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two trees are the two primary ways we bear fruit as humans.

The Tree of Life
Immediately after introducing these two trees we have this obscure and seemingly nonsensical explanation of a river which splits into four rivers. The problem with this scenario is that rivers do the exact opposite; many rivers flow into one, not vice versa. This is no river, commonly understood. It symbolizes something else. It symbolizes the heart. The four chambers of the heart are physically represented by the four rivers. The tree of life is the heart.
What does it mean to eat of the tree of life? The very next verse tells us that God has done all this so that man could "till and keep" the garden. The word for till is also the word for work and for the work of worship; the word for keep may also be understood in the sense of keeping the commandments or obedience. Thus, the tree of life is for worshipping (in the full sense of the word which includes sacrifice) and obeying God. That is precisely what our hearts are for; we love God and we have the obedience of faith in Him by means of our trusting and loving hearts.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil will have to wait, at least until tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright 2007.