What Does Genesis 1:22 Mean?

God makes every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food grow from the ground in the garden. The garden is designed for both aesthetic pleasure and practical sustenance: beautiful and edible, appealing to the eye and nourishing to the body. The Creation's goodness is not only functional but beautiful; God designs for delight as well as provision. The man placed in this garden lives in an environment that satisfies both need and desire.

Two trees receive specific mention: the tree of life, in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life is named without immediate comment, its function will become clear in 3:22 when access to it is removed as part of the consequence of the fall. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil will be the subject of the prohibition in the following verse. The two special trees Mark the garden as a place of deep moral and spiritual significance, not simply a pleasant place to live.

The phrase "in the middle of the garden" for the tree of life places the source of life at the center of the created environment. Life radiates from the center; the man who lives in the garden lives near the source of life. After the fall, the cherubim will be stationed to guard the way to the tree of life (3:24), sealing access to what stood at the center. The center that was open becomes the guarded point; the life that was near becomes the life to be regained through the redemptive story that follows.