Eden was not a Garden

[Diamond7]

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

To often we hear about the Garden OF Eden. But the Bible says that the Garden was IN Eden, in the east. So there was more to Eden than just the Garden that God gave to Adam and Eve to dwell or live in and tend. Could be all of ancient Mesopotamia was Eden. The land between the rivers. As some like to say about the size of New Jersey today.

 

[IoanC]

Orthodox Christian tradition mentions that the Garden of Eden was an area near modern day Aleppo, Syria. Also, in the beginning, it was a higher mode of existence (paradise) as Sts. Adam and Eve did not have to work the garden and were not dying. As far as its size, it was probably an area within walking distance.

 

[Diamond7]

As far as its size, it was probably an area within walking distance.

You say walking distance, yet Mesopotamia at that time was a lot bigger than walking distance.

 

[IoanC]

You say walking distance, yet Mesopotamia at that time was a lot bigger than walking distance.

It's all the info I could gather myself, but in reality, I actually don't know...

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

To often we hear about the Garden OF Eden. But the Bible says that the Garden was IN Eden, in the east. So there was more to Eden than just the Garden that God gave to Adam and Eve to dwell or live in and tend. Could be all of ancient Mesopotamia was Eden. The land between the rivers. As some like to say about the size of New Jersey today.

I'm guessing the "garden" is an abstracted and poetic reference to what we historically think of today as the Fertile Crescent, or some area of it. But, who knows for sure?

 

[AV1611VET]

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

To often we hear about the Garden OF Eden. But the Bible says that the Garden was IN Eden, in the east. So there was more to Eden than just the Garden that God gave to Adam and Eve to dwell or live in and tend. Could be all of ancient Mesopotamia was Eden. The land between the rivers. As some like to say about the size of New Jersey today.

Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 3:23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Exodus 36:35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

Joel 2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

 

[Diamond7]

garden of Eden

I looked in the Hebrew and there is no in or of. Just "Garden" & "Eden"

 

[AV1611VET]

I looked in the Hebrew and there is no in or of. Just "Garden" & "Eden"

Then why did you say this:

But the Bible says that the Garden was IN Eden,

 

[Diamond7]

Then why did you say this:

That was the translation that was in front of me at the time. Then when you commented I went to the original Hebrew to see what was going on. The Bible gives no reference to the size of Eden and the size of the garden, but our History book and our Biology book tell us a lot about that. For example there are experts in Botney that talk about the ancient wild plants in the Middle East and how they evolved into the cultivated plants we see today and just what the difference is between a wild plant and a cultivated plant. Just what makes the garden in Eden special.

There is an interesting verse in Ezekiel 31:8 "The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty."

If the Garden of God is the same as the Garden of Eden, then this verse is saying that the Cedars of Lebanon are greater than any tree in the Garden of Eden. You may remember that Solomon used the Cedars of Lebanon for building his home and for building the Temple of God.

Psalm 80:10
The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

Song of Solomon 5:15
His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.

 

[AV1611VET]

That was the translation that was in front of me at the time. Then when you commented I went to the original Hebrew to see what was going on. The Bible gives no reference to the size of Eden ...

I believe Eden is what academians call "Pangaea" today.

One giant supercontinent, surrounded by one giant sea called "Panthalassa".

 

[Diamond7]

I believe Eden is what academians call "Pangaea" today.

Yes, a lot of what we read in the Bible does go back to Pangea. We need to remember that people lived 1000 years before the flood and after the flood only 120 years. There is a lot of scientific evidence for this because any pre-flood human remains are all in the prime of life at 30 years of age.

 

[Halbhh]

The main way to benefit from reading Genesis chapters 2 and 3 is just like how we can best read Genesis chapter 1 --

To entirely put aside all the theories and arguments and doctrines -- even better, to just truly forget them for a time -- and be silent in your mind and just listen to the words.

If we can do that, suddenly the subtle and good things in the words meant for us to receive will become available, because one is finally willing to just hear, like you would with a good poem or song: just to truly listen and hear.

 

[AV1611VET]

Yes, a lot of what we read in the Bible does go back to Pangea. We need to remember that people lived 1000 years before the flood and after the flood only 120 years. There is a lot of scientific evidence for this because any pre-flood human remains are all in the prime of life at 30 years of age.

Did you mean "post flood"?

 

[Diamond7]

Did you mean "post flood"?

I am talking about the remains of people that died before Noah's flood.

 

[Halbhh]

I am talking about the remains of people that died before Noah's flood.

Do you mean modern humans, homo sapiens? "Some of the oldest human remains ever unearthed are the Omo One bones found in Ethiopia. For decades, their precise age has been debated, but a new study argues they're around 233,000 years old." https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072867405/scientists-determine-age-of-some-of-the-oldest-human-bones

 

[Diamond7]

Do you mean modern humans, homo sapiens? "Some of the oldest human remains ever unearthed are the Omo One bones found in Ethiopia. For decades, their precise age has been debated, but a new study argues they're around 233,000 years old." https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072867405/scientists-determine-age-of-some-of-the-oldest-human-bones

Studies have suggested that changes in atmospheric oxygen levels may have played a role in past climate events, such as the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which occurred around 250 million years ago and is thought to have been triggered in part by a significant drop in atmospheric oxygen levels.

 

[Halbhh]

Studies have suggested that changes in atmospheric oxygen levels may have played a role in past climate events, such as the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which occurred around 250 million years ago and is thought to have been triggered in part by a significant drop in atmospheric oxygen levels.

Yes. And an interesting detail to add -- I was just reading it was so much worse to have a spike in oxygen for a long enough time to throw off adaptation to the more gradually decreasing oxygen. That whiplash effect over many tens of thousands of years is thought to have greatly increased the effect:

"Although ancient marine oxygen levels were on a downward trend ahead of the spike and remained low afterward, it's the geologically rapid shift back and forth and long-term oxygen deficiency that seemed to be more detrimental to life than the gradual decrease."
...
""The loss of oxygen is important because the organisms living now are adapted for high oxygen, but if you have low oxygen there's also many organisms that may be able to adapt. Any rapid fluctuation in either direction will have an impact."

Oxygen spike coincided with ancient global extinction

Researchers have found that the extinction at the end of the Permian period coincided with a sudden spike and subsequent drop in the ocean's oxygen content.

www.sciencedaily.com

 

[Diamond7]

it was so much worse to have a spike in oxygen for a long enough time to throw off adaptation to the more gradually decreasing oxygen.

Turtles and Crocodiles survived. They continue to grow and get bigger and they live a long time. There are turtles in Florda that are over 300 years old. Usually, when a Crocodile gets to be 25 feet, they can no longer be managed and they are killed.

 

[Diamond7]

The main way to benefit from reading Genesis chapters 2 and 3 is just like how we can best read Genesis chapter 1 --

There are very few words, yet many books could be written. For example, Harvard University has over 200,000 books that talk about what we read in Genesis chapter one. John 21:25 "Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written."

 

[Halbhh]

Turtles and Crocodiles survived. They continue to grow and get bigger and they live a long time. There are turtles in Florda that are over 300 years old. Usually, when a Crocodile gets to be 25 feet, they can no longer be managed and they are killed.

It is indeed amazing isn't it how some organisms live so very long.