The location of the Tree of Life

Tradition has it written by Moses.. however, modern scholarship has Genesis having a number of differnt writers, based on the syntax, language used and style of writing.

Why? actually don't think that the two options you claim are the relative ones.. it might be the two ones that are relavent only if you are a biblical literalist, which the writers of Genesis most certainly were not. That is evident if you understand some of the Hebrew and the puns/political commentary that is imbeded into it.

One of the many interpretations of the meanig of Genesis and Adam and Eve is that God actually set up. You see, until you know right from wrong, you are not responsible. Just like children, they do not understand what 'HOT', and 'you will get burnt', until they indeed get burnt.Look at what would happen (metaphysically of course), if man did not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Mankind would still be just the same as the beasts. According to one of the Jewish interpretations, God set man up, so man could learn the difference between right and wrong,and therefore be able to choose to live right, and therefore CHOOSE to be closer to God.

In the Jewish tradition, angels (including satan) do not have free will. Satan was only doing the job that he was assigned to by God. Shaitan literally means 'the accusor'. From a legalistic point of view, you can view him as the prosecuting attorney. This 'good/bad' duality was adopted from the Persians when the Jews got to babylon.If you look at it like a trial, you could say that Satan was the prosecuting attorney, while god was the defense attorney, and the evidnece was Job's behavior.