A tree of life (ets-khayyim); Vulgate, lignum vitae; LXX; ξύλον ζωῆς. This expression obviously refers to "the tree of life" (ets-hakayyim), which was placed in the midst of the garden of Eden, and conferred immortality on those who ate of its fruit (Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:22).
So Wisdom becomes equally life giving to those who lay hold on her, who taste of her fruit. She communicates life in its manifold fulness and richness (so the plural "lives" indicates) to those who seize her firmly.
What is predicated of Wisdom here is predicated in other passages (Proverbs 11:30; Proverbs 13:12; Proverbs 15:4) of the fruit of the righteous, the fulfilment of desire, and a wholesome tongue. Each of these, the teacher says, is "a tree of life."
Elster denies that there is any reference to "the tree of life," and classes the expression among those other figurative expressions—a "fountain of life," in Proverbs 13:4 and Proverbs 14:27, and a "well of life."
in Proverbs 10:11; but if it be once admitted that there is such a reference, and it be remembered also that Wisdom is the same as "the fear of the Lord," the point insisted on in the Proverbs and in Job, it seems difficult to deny that the teacher has in view the blessed immortality of which the tree of life in Paradise as the symbol.
In this higher sense the term is used in the Revelation (Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2, Revelation 22:14). Wisdom restores to her worshippers the life which was lost in Adam (Cartwright). It is remarkable that the imagery here employed is confined to these two hooks.
After the historical record in Genesis, no other sacred writers refer to the tree of life. Old ecclesiastical writers saw in the expression a reference to Christ's redeeming work. "The tree of life is the cross of Christ," lignum vitae crux Christi (quoted by Delitzsch).
The symbol, Plumptre remarks, entered largely into the religious imagery of Assyria, Egypt, and Persia. To them that lay hold upon (lammakhazikim, hiph. participle); Vulgate, his, qui apprehenderint; LXX; τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις.
The Hebrew verb חָזַק (khazak), "to tie fast," is in hiph. with בְּ (be)," to take hold of," "to seize any one." Happy is every one that retaineth her. In the original, the participle, "they retaining her" (tom'keyah), is plural, and the predicate, "happy" or "blessed" (m'ushshar), is singular.
The latter is used distributively, and the construction is common (cf. Proverbs 15:22). The Authorized Version aptly renders the original. The necessity for "retaining" as well as "laying hold" of Wisdom is pointed out.
The verb תָּמַךְ (tamak) is "to hold fast something taken." Such will be blessed who hold Wisdom tenaciously and perseveringly.