Which tree?

I had long thought of God’s reaction to the fall of mankind as primarily punitive. Adam and Eve messed up. Adam was given clear instruction and told there would be consequences for disobedience. Presumably, he shared that conversation with his wife. God would have made Himself a liar had He not followed through with what He had said. Case closed, yes?
 
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.  –Genesis 3:22-23 (NIV)
 
A recent re-reading of the narrative opened me up to another possibility, that of discipline rather than punishment. Punishment is associated with justice; discipline depends on relationship. Discipline carries the purpose of protection and training. It may include the natural or defined consequences of poor choices, but is not intended for harm. It may be administered by one who is angry, but is not an outpouring of anger.
 
In the original and most authentic version of “This is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you”, the Father exiled His children from the home He had prepared for them. Look closely and you’ll notice there is no lashing out, no rash reaction. God’s response started with a consultation. Father, Son, and Spirit knew a cataclysmic shift had just occurred.
 
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in.  –Proverbs 3:11-12 (NIV)
 
Of all the vegetation growing in the garden, two trees were specifically mentioned: The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Adam and Eve had access to both, but intentionally bypassed the fruit that promised immortality and eternal life in the presence of Yahweh and chose disobedience instead.
 
Once that had happened, would a subsequent partaking of the Tree of Life have left the couple with the sentence of living forever under the curse of their sin? The text implies that. Saving them from themselves, God removed their access to the Tree of Life. For though they now possessed the knowledge to differentiate between good and evil, they had already proven they could not be trusted to choose wisely.
 
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  –Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)
 
It makes me wonder how things might have been different had Adam and Eve chosen life to begin with. As it was, they set the precedent for “the way of all the earth”, while creation awaited its redemption. That redemption would be started when the Maker of all the earth stepped into the exile of mankind to pay the sin-debt of all those under the curse. It will be complete when He returns to claim His own.
 
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.  –Revelation 22:1-3a (NIV)