Genesis 3:23 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Therefore the Lord God, &c.— The connexion of this and the following verse, according to the sense which we have given, is this: "And the Lord expelled, divorced, the man from the garden of Eden, to till the ground; and after he had expelled him, he placed cherubims, &c. at the east of the garden, to keep, or to preserve the way, and the right knowledge of it, to that tree of life, of which man, it was hoped, would hereafter eat, and live for ever." The word which we render keep, to keep the way of the tree of life שׁמר shamar, signifies keeping, or preserving of any kind; and therefore may be used here with as much propriety in the sense of preserving, or keeping a knowledge of the way, as of guarding the way to the tree. Those who conceive that the tree of life had a power in itself independently to preserve human life, and think that our first parents were driven from Paradise lest they should continue in natural existence, will understand these cherubims, &c. as guards to prevent Adam and Eve from coming to this tree: an opinion, by the way, which seems encumbered with many difficulties. Those who believe that this tree was sacramental and religious only, and that spiritual life was here intended, will believe that this apparatus of cherubims, &c. was placed by God in mercy to keep up in man a knowledge of the approach and way to the sacred tree.