The meaning is, that he would admit him to heaven, represented as paradise, and permit him to enjoy its pleasures――represented by being permitted to partake of its fruits. The phrase “the tree of life” refers undoubtedly to the language used respecting the Garden of Eden, Ge. ii. 9; iii. 22――where the “tree of life” is spoken of as that which was adapted to make the life of man perpetual. Of the nature of that tree nothing is known, though it would seem probable that, like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was a mere emblem of life――or a tree that was set before man in connection with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that his destiny turned on the question whether he partook of the one or the other. That God should make the question of life or death depend on that, is no more absurd or improbable than that he should make it depend on what man does now――it being a matter of fact that life and death, happiness and misery, joy and sorrow, _are_ often made to depend on things quite as arbitrary apparently, and quite as unimportant as an act of obedience or disobedience in partaking of the fruit of a designated tree. Does it not appear probable that in Eden there were two trees designated to be of an emblematic character, of life and death, and that as man partook of the one or the other he would live or die? Of all the others he might freely partake without their affecting his condition; of one of these――the tree of life――he might have partaken before the fall, and lived for ever. One was forbidden on pain of death. When the {69} law forbidding that was violated, it was still _possible_ that he might partake of the other; but, since the sentence of death had been passed upon him, that would not now be proper, and he was driven from the garden, and the way was guarded by the flaming sword of the cherubim. The reference in the passage before us is to the _celestial_ paradise――to heaven――spoken of under the beautiful image of a garden; meaning that the condition of man, in regard to life, will still be the same _as if_ he had partaken of the tree of life in Eden. Comp. Notes on ch. xxii. 2. ¶ _Which is in the midst of the paradise of God._ Heaven, represented as paradise. To be permitted to eat of that tree, that is, of the fruit of that tree, is but another expression implying the promise of eternal life, and of being happy for ever. The word _paradise_ is of Oriental derivation, and is found in several of the Eastern languages. In the Sanskrit the word _paradésha_ and _paradisha_ is used to denote a land elevated and cultivated; in the Armenian the word _pardes_ denotes a garden around the house planted with grass, herbs, trees for use and ornament; and in the Hebrew form פַּרְדֵּס, and Greek παράδεισος, it is applied to the pleasure gardens and parks, with wild animals, around the country residences of the Persian monarchs and princes, Ne. ii. 8. Comp. Ec. ii. 5; Ca. iv. 13; Xen. _Cyro._ i. 3, 14 (Rob. _Lex._).