Hey, this is John at the Bile Project. Right now we're in the middle of a series on the theme of trees in the Bible.

Now, if you're just joining us, I'd really recommend going back and listening to the previous episodes because these conversations are beginning to build on each other.

And today's episode is directly related to last week's.

You see, last week we looked at the story of Adam and Eve in a garden that God planted and how there were these two cosmic trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowing good and bad.

And this story, in Genesis 2, sets a template for us. The desire to find and eat of the tree of life up on the mountain, that is to participate in God's own presence and goodness.

And also, it's a template for a tree of testing up on the mountain. A tree that forces us to decide if we're going to choose what's good in our own eyes we want.

Trees on mountains, it's a theme biblical authors are captivating by.

If you just go through the Abraham stories in Genesis 12 to the end of his life in chapter 25 and get a green marker and a brown marker and highlight trees and mountains, they're everywhere.

This guy is constantly having significant moments of his life in front of trees on top of really tall hills.

Perhaps one of the most iconic stories in Hebrew Bible is of Abraham being tested in a way that confuses and even offends many readers.

It's in Genesis chapter 22 where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Now the story can be read on its own. But this story begins to make so much more sense when we layer it on top of this template that we find in Genesis 2 without a manoeuvre in the garden.

I think what's happening with these two trees with Abraham, he is taking the wood that he lays on Isaac and that he lays them on.

That wood, the altar, is his test. He has a moment of decision and this wood represents whether or not he's going to listen to God's voice.

That represents the tree of no good man. I will not redefine as good to ignore God and not sacrifice myself.

And then once he makes the right choice, he looks over and there's another tree that provides life for his son.

So today the story of Abraham and also the story of Noah who both stand in front of their own trees of decision.

Thank you for joining us. Here we go.

Okay, I have the trees of Eden.

Yes, the trees of Eden. We are preparing for a theme video, Bible project theme video that will be called either the trees of Eden or the tree of life.

We're supposed to figure that out in the course of these conversations.

We've explored the theological symbolism, the meaning of trees in the Bible, first by looking at Genesis 1 and 2, the meaning of trees.

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