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● Gen 3:23-24 . . So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken. He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
This is the Bible's first mention of cherubim. They show up now and again in the Old Testament upwards of 90 times. Their description as per Ezek 1:1-28 and Ezek 10:1-22 suggests that they may be symbolic visions rather than realities.
Another classification of celestial beings are the seraphim (e.g. Isa 6:2).
The cherubim and its sword blocked not only Adam's access to the tree of life, but everybody else's access too; and I believe for a very practical reason.
One of the societal problems associated with STDs is the development of treatments for those kinds of diseases. The treatments are not bad per se; the problem is that knowing that there's treatments emboldens people to indulge in immorality.
In other words: had God allowed humanity continued access to the garden, no doubt they would have included the forbidden fruit in their diets on a regular basis because there would be little to fear from its effects due to the ready availability of fruit from the tree of life. They would, as it's said, have their cake and eat it too.
So, everyone was doomed to an eventual expiration no matter whether rich or poor, young or old, male or female, righteous or unrighteous, holy or unholy, pious or impious, vegetarian or meat eater. Even Jesus would have eventually died of natural causes had he not been crucified. If the human body-- as God created it --is to remain strong and healthy indefinitely, it has got to have that tree in its diet; but not to happen because God wants everyone to die at least once. (Heb 9:27)
NOTE: I think it's safe to assume that the garden, and the cherubim with its flaming sword, were in existence up till the time of the Flood; so people could go and see for themselves rather than take a preacher's word for it. But for some reason, there's no record of anybody making pilgrimages to that area. Well; were that cherubim and its fiery sword anywhere on Earth in our day, I should think it would draw more people to it than even Mecca because it would definitely be a wonder to behold, but I suspect that back then people were afraid of it.
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● Gen 3:23-24 . . So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken. He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
This is the Bible's first mention of cherubim. They show up now and again in the Old Testament upwards of 90 times. Their description as per Ezek 1:1-28 and Ezek 10:1-22 suggests that they may be symbolic visions rather than realities.
Another classification of celestial beings are the seraphim (e.g. Isa 6:2).
The cherubim and its sword blocked not only Adam's access to the tree of life, but everybody else's access too; and I believe for a very practical reason.
One of the societal problems associated with STDs is the development of treatments for those kinds of diseases. The treatments are not bad per se; the problem is that knowing that there's treatments emboldens people to indulge in immorality.
In other words: had God allowed humanity continued access to the garden, no doubt they would have included the forbidden fruit in their diets on a regular basis because there would be little to fear from its effects due to the ready availability of fruit from the tree of life. They would, as it's said, have their cake and eat it too.
So, everyone was doomed to an eventual expiration no matter whether rich or poor, young or old, male or female, righteous or unrighteous, holy or unholy, pious or impious, vegetarian or meat eater. Even Jesus would have eventually died of natural causes had he not been crucified. If the human body-- as God created it --is to remain strong and healthy indefinitely, it has got to have that tree in its diet; but not to happen because God wants everyone to die at least once. (Heb 9:27)
NOTE: I think it's safe to assume that the garden, and the cherubim with its flaming sword, were in existence up till the time of the Flood; so people could go and see for themselves rather than take a preacher's word for it. But for some reason, there's no record of anybody making pilgrimages to that area. Well; were that cherubim and its fiery sword anywhere on Earth in our day, I should think it would draw more people to it than even Mecca because it would definitely be a wonder to behold, but I suspect that back then people were afraid of it.
_
