Genesis 2:9

And out of the ground, &c. The characteristic feature of the "garden," or "enclosure," is not its flowers, but its trees. This evident, also, from the traditional belief as to the Garden, which is reproduced in Ezekiel 31:8-9. To the Oriental, the large well-grown tree was an especial object of reverence ("pleasant to the sight"): and man was to live on the fruit of the trees ("good for food"). It is implied that the trees of the "garden," like the man who is put into it, were from the first fully grown.

the tree of life There are two wonder-working trees in the "garden." One is called "the tree of life," whose fruit imparts immortality to those who eat it (cf. Genesis 3:22-24): the other is called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," whose fruit conveys moral discernment. These gifts of knowledge and of immortality are the special prerogatives of Jehovah (Genesis 3:5; Genesis 3:22).

The mention of the two trees in this verse comes in a little abruptly. "The tree of life" is spoken of as "in the midst of the garden"; "the tree of knowledge" is then mentioned, but without any description of its position. In Genesis 2:17 the Lord God forbids the man to eat of "the tree of knowledge"; but does not mention "the tree of life." In Genesis 3:3 the woman refers to "the tree which is in the midst of the garden," as if there was only one tree that had been forbidden to them, and Genesis 2:5 shews it is "the tree of knowledge." It is probable that we have the trace of some little confusion between two Hebrew traditions about the sacred trees. The mention of "the tree of life" has here, and in Genesis 3:22; Genesis 3:24, been added to that of "the tree of knowledge." At any rate, in this verse, "the tree of life" is given the place belonging to "the tree of knowledge" which is "in the midst of the garden." The story of the Temptation and the Fall turns on the tradition, according to which there was one tree, that "of the knowledge of good and evil," "in the midst of the garden." The expression "tree of life" was used as a common metaphor of health and fruitfulness in Hebrew language, cf. Proverbs 3:18, "She (Wisdom) is a tree of life"; Genesis 11:30, "the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life."

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil What is signified by this is doubtful. Some say it is the knowledge which infancy lacks and experience acquires, cf. Deuteronomy 1:39, "Your children which this day have no knowledge of good or of evil." Judging by the context we should rather identify it with moral judgement: the fruit produces the exercise of conscience, which is accompanied by the realization of evil, though not necessarily by the forfeiture of innocence. See Special Note on Genesis 3:24.

Palms as sacred trees are frequent objects of representation in Assyrian and Babylonian art.

On the possible connexion of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" with the date palm, see Barton's Semitic Origins, pp. 93 95.