QUESTION: I am particularly intrigued by God's remark in Genesis 3:22. First of all, who is He talking to, and why does He refer to "us"? Secondly, why didn't He finish the sentence? Thirdly, there must have been two trees in the Garden of Eden, because one of them led to life, while the other one led to death. Could you expound on this?

In Genesis 2:9, the Bible tells us: Out of the ground ADONAI, God, caused to grow every tree pleasing in apperance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

This indicates that there were, in fact TWO trees. The Bible then goes on to explain what God told Adam:

Genesis 2:15: ADONAI, God, took th person and put him in the garden of 'Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 ADONAI, God, gave the person this order: "You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die."

Now, here's the thing: Because the fruit on God's trees didn't kill humans instantly, the word "die" probably refers to "becoming mortal". Until Adam disobeyed, there was no sin in the world, and perhaps Adam and Eve probably never would have physically died if they had obeyed God.

But, who really knows? Who knows how old they were already during this time? Who really knows whether or not they were immortal at the time? The Bible doesn't say. It could also be that Mankind, before eating from either tree, was neither mortal nor immortal. If Man chose to eat from the Tree of Life, it seems he would probably become immortal. But, did Adam and Eve actually eat from that tree? Again, the Bible doesn't say.

We do know that God told them if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, they would become beings that would eventually die. Before eating from either tree, it seems Man was in a kind of "twilight zone" - because the Bible doesn't actually SAY that Adam and Eve were destined to live forever. Maybe they were perched precariously between mortality and immortality, and man's nature was actually undetermined at the time of Adam - which might have bee part of God's overall plan!

If Eden was a place where man was precariously placed between life and death, depending on his choice — then, it would seem that Eden eerily foreshadows other great moments in history when man was neither "here nor there", and the Almighty offered us a similar choice between "life" and "death" - first with Moses in the desert:

Deuteronomy 30: 15 "Look! I am presenting you today with, on one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil....

Deuteronomy 30: 19 I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life....

And then, of course, God gave us the entire New Covenant in the form of Yeshua - without whom we would ALL be doomed!

Bottom line - Adam and Eve eventually physically died because they had sinned. And, unless we "choose life" through Yeshua, our spirits will be condemned to die in the Lake of Fire and we will be eternally separated from God just like we were before man was ever created.

Now, about the "us" God referred to in Genesis 3:

Genesis 3: 22 ADONAI, God, said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, to prevent his putting out his hand and taking also from the tree of life, eating, and living forever --" 23 therefore, ADONAI, God, sent him out of the garden of 'Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

The "us" Yahweh is talking to is the other parts of Himself - the "Echad" (His plurality - the entities by which He has revealed Himself to us: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, burning bush, pillars of cloud and fire; He revealed Himself as "three men" to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, and He's even spoken through a donkey). We know He couldn't have been talking to the angels, because the angels couldn't have been "one of us", as they were created beings. So, that leaves "Himself".....

Only God Himself knows why He didn't complete that sentence in Genesis 3 22. It was probably because it's pretty self-explanatory: If man gets too much knowledge (as he already has - and just look at some of the BAD that has come of it because it's been abused by many), then man will be like the angel Lucifer was, and try to become God. It's our sin nature to be dominant. (If you ask people such as the Scientologists - the religion that the Hollywood crowd is enamored with - man is ALREADY God!) That, naturally, can only lead to a complete downfall along with total destruction of mankind - especially, in view of the fact that God's ultimate goal is to have man live with Him in eternity....

God's ultimate goal, also, was to have the wayward mankind coming to Him through FAITH. That's why He sent Yeshua who made it easy for us to gain eternal life. He did not "rape" us or brow-beat us into submission; He gives each of us the choice to come to Him willingly or not at all. He gave us the Bible and everything we need to know in order to get to heaven. What we do, however, is OUR choice. Consequently, we either go to heaven or hell. We've had plenty of warning from our Creator!