📖 Biblical Definition
The Two Trees are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden (Gen 2:9). One offers life on God's terms; the other offers wisdom on the serpent's terms. Adam chose the second; the Cross (in Galatians 3:13 explicitly called a tree) reverses the choice. Revelation 22 restores the tree of life. Two trees, one fall, one cross, one consummation.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Genesis 2:9.) The two trees of Eden; the foundational moral choice of Scripture.
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Genesis 2:9 names them: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first is unrestricted (Gen 2:16); the second forbidden (Gen 2:17).
The choice was real, the consequence was real, the reversal is in Christ. The cross as tree (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24) gathers the failed first-tree story and answers it: a tree of death becomes a tree of life.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 2:9 — "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
Genesis 3:6 — "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat."
Galatians 3:13 — "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
Revelation 22:2 — "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often loses the two-tree arc of Scripture; the cross-as-tree connection illuminates how Christ reversed the Edenic choice.
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Revelation 22:2 is striking: the tree of life that was guarded after the fall is restored, in the midst of the street, on either side of the river, with twelve manner of fruits, leaves for healing. Eden's tree, expanded.
The cross is the second tree of Scripture's narrative arc. Where Adam took from the wrong tree, Christ was hung on a tree as cursed (Gal 3:13). The Edenic disobedience is answered by Calvary's obedience; the tree of life is reopened in Revelation 22.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew etz hachayim (tree of life) and etz hada'at (tree of knowledge).
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Hebrew etz — tree.
Hebrew chayim — life; da'at — knowledge.
Usage
"Two trees, one fall, one cross, one consummation."
"The cross is the second tree of Scripture's arc."
"Eden's tree, expanded in Revelation 22."