One of the strangest images in the Bible appears in the final pages of Revelation.
The Mystery of the Two Trees
Revelation 22:1–2 describes the New Jerusalem:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life… flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb… On each side of the river stood the tree of life… and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
Immediately a problem appears.
How can one tree stand on both sides of a river?
Most readers simply ignore the symbolism. But Revelation is built almost entirely from Old Testament imagery, especially Ezekiel. The writer assumes the audience understands prophetic symbolism.
The imagery actually points toward something deeper: reconciliation after division.
The clue is found in Ezekiel 47.
Ezekiel’s Trees and the Healing of Israel
Ezekiel 47:12 says:
“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river… their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
But immediately afterward, Ezekiel begins speaking about the inheritance of the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 47:13–17).
This matters because Ezekiel’s vision is not about the modern world. It is about the restoration of divided Israel after judgment and exile.
The prophet already explained this symbolism earlier in Ezekiel 37 through the famous prophecy of the two sticks.
One stick represented Judah.
The other represented Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel.
God tells Ezekiel:
“Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand” (Ezekiel 37:17).
This was political and covenantal reunification language.
The kingdom had split after Solomon’s death into:
* Judah in the south
* Israel/Ephraim in the north
The prophets constantly described this fracture as spiritual adultery, rebellion, and covenantal death.
So when Revelation later speaks of trees on both sides of the river bringing healing, it echoes Ezekiel’s restoration imagery. The divided kingdom becomes one again.
The Two Trees in Genesis
Now go back to Genesis.
Genesis 2:9 introduces two central trees:
* The Tree of Life
* The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Traditionally these are treated as literal magical trees in a garden.
But ancient Hebrew literature often used trees symbolically for kingdoms, rulers, nations, and covenant systems.
The Hebrew Bible repeatedly compares rulers and nations to trees:
* Assyria is a cedar in Ezekiel 31
* Nebuchadnezzar is a tree in Daniel 4
* Israel is an olive tree in Jeremiah 11 and Romans 11
Scholar James Kugel notes that Genesis contains layers of symbolic and national imagery beneath its narrative surface. Historian Thomas L. Thompson and biblical scholar Philip Davies also argued that Genesis reflects later Israelite political and theological concerns rather than literal ancient history.
So what if the two trees represent two covenantal houses?
One faithful.
One rebellious.
One life-giving.
One bringing division and death.
Jeroboam: The Biblical Father of Sin
The northern kingdom split under Jeroboam.
This division became one of the defining catastrophes in Israel’s history.
Again and again the biblical writers repeat the same phrase:
“The sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit.”
This formula appears throughout Kings:
* 1 Kings 15:34
* 1 Kings 16:26
* 2 Kings 10:29
* 2 Kings 13:2
* and many others.
Jeroboam introduced the golden calves at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:28–29), creating an alternative worship system outside Jerusalem.
This is crucial.
The northern kingdom’s “fall” into sin is repeatedly traced back to one man.
Jeroboam.
The text explicitly says he “caused Israel to sin.”
That language sounds strikingly similar to Paul’s words in Romans 5:12:
“Sin entered the world through one man.”
Modern Christianity automatically assumes Paul means all humanity inherited moral corruption from a literal first human named Adam.
But Paul was a Jew writing within Jewish covenantal categories.
The “world” (kosmos) in many Jewish writings often referred to the covenant world of Israel, not the entire planet. Scholar N.T. Wright repeatedly emphasizes that Paul’s theology is rooted in Israel’s story, exile, covenant failure, and restoration.
Romans itself is saturated with Israel’s history.
So what if “Adam” functions not merely as an individual ancestor, but as a symbolic representative tied to Israel’s covenant collapse?
Jeroboam fits the pattern astonishingly well:
* One man
* Introduces rebellion
* Causes Israel to sin
* Leads to covenant death
* Brings division between the tribes
The parallels become difficult to ignore.
The Healing of the Nations
This also reframes Revelation.
The “healing of the nations” is often read as modern global salvation.
But in prophetic literature, “nations” frequently referred to dispersed Israelites among the nations.
James addresses “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1).
Peter writes to the “diaspora” (1 Peter 1:1).
The prophets constantly spoke about regathering scattered Israel.
The healing leaves of Revelation 22 therefore echo Ezekiel’s promise of restored covenant unity after centuries of division.
The broken tree becomes one again.
The divided kingdom is healed.
The wild branches are grafted back into the cultivated olive tree, exactly as Paul says in Romans 11.
So Who Was Adam?
The traditional doctrine says Adam was the biological father of all humanity and that all humans inherited sin from him.
But the Bible itself repeatedly identifies Jeroboam as the man who caused Israel to sin.
Not Malaysians.
Not Chinese.
Not Africans.
Not Europeans.
Israel.
This raises an uncomfortable question for inherited sin theology.
If the biblical narrative is fundamentally about Israel’s covenant story, then why assume every human being on earth inherited guilt from Israel’s symbolic fall?
Did your ancestors stand at Bethel?
Did they worship Jeroboam’s calves?
Were they part of the divided covenant kingdom?
If not, on what basis are they declared “born sinners”?
Perhaps the Bible’s story is far more tribal, covenantal, and political than modern universalized Christianity admits.
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