tree of life

tree from the Garden of Eden whose fruit gave everlasting life

The tree of life is a mystical concept, a metaphor for common descent, and a motif in various world theologies and philosophies.
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The Tree of Life or tree of life may refer to:ConceptsTree of life, a metaphor for common descent, and a motif in various world theologies and philosophies. It is closely related to the concept of the world tree.Tree of Life (Judeo-Christian), a tree in the Garden of Eden whose fruit gives immortality.Tree of Life (Latter-day Saints), a focal point in an important vision recorded in the Book of Mormon. In the vision the Tree of Life represents the love of God.Tree of Life (Kabbalah), a mystical concept within the Kabbalah of Judaism which is used to understand the nature of God.
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See also tree of life for other meanings of the term. The Tree-of-Life is a fictional plant (the ancestor of yams, with similar appearance and taste) in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, for which all Hominids have an in-built genetic craving. Consumption of Tree-of-Life makes human-related species turn into Pak Protectors, as a result of a symbiotic virus that grows in the root; however, the virus requires enough Thallium to develop, which is why it failed to grow on Earth. To those too young to develop into Protectors, Tree of Life smells repugnant, while the virus is fatal to those too old.
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[Judaic] The source of immortality, the Tree of Life grew in the middle of Eden with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Zohar claims that both trees grew from the same trunk. It is so big that the circumference of its trunk is "five-hundred years walking" (the ancients like to measure distance by time, see the Book of Jonah). All four of the primordial rivers branched out from beneath it (P. Ber. 2c). According the Rabbinic understanding, the Tree of Life is the Torah, and the eternal life that was lost in Eden was restored to humanity with the giving of the Torah at Sinai. 

stood also in the midst of the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22). Some writers have advanced the opinion that this tree had some secret virtue, which was fitted to preserve life. Probably the lesson conveyed was that life was to be sought by man, not in himself or in his own power, but from without, from Him who is emphatically the Life (John 1:4; 14:6). Wisdom is compared to the tree of life (Prov. 3:18). The "tree of life" spoken of in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14) is an emblem of the joys of the celestial paradise. Tree of the knowledge of good and evil - stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, beside the tree of life (Gen. 2, 3). Adam and Eve were forbidden to take of the fruit which grew upon it. But they disobeyed the divine injunction, and so sin and death by sin entered our world and became the heritage of Adam's posterity. (See ADAM.)