Gen 3:22 And said (And said: Wa-Ya"MaR) the LORD God,
"Behold (HeN), the man (Ha-"aDaM) is become (HaYaH: Qal perfect/completed) as one (K-"eKhaD) of us (MiMeNU, to know L-Da'aTh: Qal infinitive construct) good and evil (ThoB W-Ra') , and-now (
W-'aTaH), lest
he put forth (
PeN-YiShLaH: Qal imperfect/uncompleted) his hand (YaDU),
and-take (
W-LaQaKh: Qal
waw consecutive perfect) also (GaM) of the tree (Me'eTs) of life (Ha-HaYiYM),
and-eat (
W-"aKhaL: Qal
waw consecutive perfect),
and-live (
W-HaY: Qal
waw consecutive perfect) forever (L-'oLaM).
and-sent-him-forth (
W-YShaLKheHU: Piel
waw consecutive perfect ) the LORD God from the garden of Eden to till (La-'aNoD: Qal infinitive construct) the ground from which he had been taken (LaQQaKh: Piel perfect/completed without waw prefix).
This verbal chain is called the waw-consecutive. When a series of actions follow one another sequentially, the first verb in the chain has no waw prefix, to designate it as the beginning of a chain; and subsequent actions are prefixed with waw and are in the opposite verb form from the first verb in the chain, but are understood as meaning the same verb form as the first verb in the chain.
Here we have a verb chain beginning with "
he put forth his hand"...
and-take... and eat ,,, and live forever ... and sent him forth.
The first verb in in the incompleted form: a progressive action, and action in progress. The following waw-prefixed verbs are all in the completed form but should be understood as referring to uncompleted/progressive actions.
So the intended sense here is -
"Behold the man became as one of us, to know good and evil."
And now, lest he keep on taking of the tree of life, and keep on living, and keep on living forever, the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken.
I seems to me that Adam and Eve were not created immortal, but were given access to a tree whose fruit and leaves would regenerate their bodies as they continued to eat from it. We see this tree in Revelation 21, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, and to which the redeemed will again have access. So, it is quite
possible that animals which did not have access to this tree of life were already capable of dying before Adam and Eve sinned. We know that death came to all
men through Adam, but we are not told that death began for the animal kingdom through that sin. I am not dogmatic on this either way. I don't think the scriptures tell us.
So, I don't think the tree of life was likely to be the Holy Spirit. I think it was probably a powerfully medicinal tree.[/QUOTE]
Oh...so God is this heap big medicine man? He makeum powerful medicine.