Proverbs
Nine One Five
#73
Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
Only three books of the Bible use the term “tree of life." those are Genesis, Proverbs, and Revelation. What may be surprising it that Proverbs uses it the most. In Genesis, all three references are to the literal tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The three references in Revelation are also literal and concern the tree of life in Heaven.
While in Proverbs, all four references are figurative. This is natural, given the nature of a proverb. To understand that picture though, we need to first understand the literal tree.
In Genesis 3:22 we are told “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” This tells us the main idea is that the fruit of the tree is life is something that produces or gives life to the partaker. This can similarly be seen in Revelation 22:2 where we are told “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”.
So, when Proverbs calls something a tree of life it means it is life giving or healing. In this case, the promise is that if you lay hold on wisdom, then the fruit of it will be life or healing. If we get wisdom, she will heal our broken lives, she will help us to live longer, she will heal the damage of foolish living. And, if we can keep her, she will keep us happy.
While in Proverbs, all four references are figurative. This is natural, given the nature of a proverb. To understand that picture though, we need to first understand the literal tree.
In Genesis 3:22 we are told “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” This tells us the main idea is that the fruit of the tree is life is something that produces or gives life to the partaker. This can similarly be seen in Revelation 22:2 where we are told “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”.
So, when Proverbs calls something a tree of life it means it is life giving or healing. In this case, the promise is that if you lay hold on wisdom, then the fruit of it will be life or healing. If we get wisdom, she will heal our broken lives, she will help us to live longer, she will heal the damage of foolish living. And, if we can keep her, she will keep us happy.