The Two Trees

Prologue

On campus there are two trees. The first is the library, as one can plainly see. Complete with Paradise Lost and the subtle Serpent snaking his way up toward the trunk, the tree itself towers over the campus, branching into the air with its roots under ground. This is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The other tree is not so easy to find. Quietly sitting on the wall of a tall building, in a shady courtyard, in one of the better colleges here, this second tree calmly presents its message.


Yet this second tree offers something different from the first. While the larger tree opens its doors to those seeking knowledge, the smaller declares that Wisdom makes one happy. The two are not the same. And if one is familiar with the role Wisdom plays in the book of Proverbs, he will recognize that a deeper thought is with the second tree. Proverbs 8 says, "I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence...Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I was set up from eternity, From the beginning, before the earth was...When He established the heavens, I was there...Then I was by Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight...For whoever finds me finds life..."

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