The derivation of Metatron's cube from the tree of life, which the Talmud clearly states was excluded from human experience during the exile from Eden, has led some scholars (including Johann Andreas Eisenmenger) to portray Metatron as the means by which humanity was given knowledge of YHVH; presumably implying that study of Metatron's cube would be necessary to understanding the tree of life.
The Symbol itself is the equivalent of the Egyptian Ankh or the Rosicrucian's Rosy Cross; which represents the microcosmic forces (the pentacle, representation of the pentagram with 5 elements, the tetragrammaton or YHVH) interweave with the macro-cosmic forces (the hexagram, the representation of the planetary or heavenly cosmic forces, the divine).