Why Trees?

ESV Genesis 2: 8-9

8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 Why is this passage ponderable?

Is God really talking about trees? Trees that provide shade? Trees that produce edibles?
Many believers do not get past the "every tree" phrase. When combined with pleasant and good for food they get the impression that God is talking about real trees that bear edible fruit or provide a pleasant, shaded view. These trees spring out of the ground just like any tree we find on earth today. So God must be talking about real trees...right?

However, the homiletic value of  trees deflates in the very next sentence, when God talks about  the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is easy for a homilist to talk about shade and fruit trees as symbols of God's protection and provision. But we have never seen a tree of life variety and we certainly have never heard of, nor seen, this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So is God being the master arborist or is there a totally different message conveyed by these trees that sprang out of the ground at the time of Creation?

Update 02/15/2021

 As Science and Religion continue their search for Truth, they sometimes converge. This should not come as a surprise to those who believe that Truth is constant and indivisible. Such is the case with Trees mentioned in the Bible. 

In one recent study, 585 young adult Japanese participants reported on their moods after walking for 15 minutes, either in an urban setting or in a forest. The forests and urban centers were in 52 different locations around the country, and about a dozen participants walked in each area. In all cases, the participants walking in a forest experienced less anxiety, hostility, fatigue, confusion, and depressive symptoms, and more vigor, compared to walking in an urban setting. The results were even stronger for people who were more anxious to begin with.

“The psychological benefits of walking through forests are very significant, and forest environments are expected to have very important roles in promoting mental health in the future,” the authors write. Indeed, various other studies suggest that the practice of “forest bathing”—deliberately spending time among the woods—can help us deal with the stresses and strains of urban living.

 Perhaps that is what God wanted to convey to Adam and Eve when He made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The trees would help them sustain themselves. But why were they to avoid two special trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? 

I suspect the fruit of the Tree of Life had the power to free the soul from the body; the fruit from the tree of knowledge had the power to free the body from its soul. It would take many generations before humans were prepared to deal with either possibility. In the meantime, trees would help us cope.