Genesis 2:8

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And the Lord God planted a garden. It is the dictate of nature for parents to provide for their offspring; and in like manner He who implanted this natural feeling in the human breast gave an example of its power and operation in directing His own paternal conduct, because immediately after "the Lord God had formed man out of the dust of the ground," and had destined him to occupy an important place in the economy of this world, He made a special provision for the support and happiness of that creature who alone, of all its inhabitants, was the bearer of His image and the object of His special interest and delight. Such a provision was absolutely necessary on the introduction of the first man into the world. Ever since the regular course of Providence began to run, the human race, who are born in a state of helpless inability, enjoy in the tender care of their parents the benefit of natural guardians, and, during the preliminary years of their infancy and childhood, have not only their immediate wants supplied, but they are made to go through a course of practical education by which their faculties are developed, experience is acquired, and they are gradually fitted for assuming in due time the responsibility of making an independent provision for themselves. But Adam had no natural parents to supply him with the means of support-no earthly predecessors to teach him the lessons of experience; and but for some special interposition on his behalf, he who of all earthly creatures was the noblest, would, wanting the instincts of the lower animals, have been the most helpless; he who of all the human race had been most highly favoured in being brought into existence when nature was in her earliest state of rich and vigorous productiveness, would have been the poorest and most miserable, as not knowing what to do or where to turn.

Although it is difficult to form an exact idea of Adam's condition when he first started into life, he was created "a man" at first, and it is probably not far from the truth to suppose that he possessed in full maturity all the powers of observation and all the faculties of mind with which other men are slowly ripened in their gradual progress to manhood. But still, with all his powers and faculties fully developed, he was destitute of knowledge and experience both in the proper selection of his food, and in the performance of the duties which the law of his nature imposed on him; and his happiness must have been frequently interrupted by a painful feeling of uncertainty, or in his bewilderment and ignorance he must have been led among objects and scenes of peril, if a friendly hand had not provided for his safety, by putting him in a definite sphere, where he might be established in the use of his physical powers, as well as trained to the habits of an intelligent and moral agent.

Accordingly, this indispensable security for the well-being and training of man was not overlooked by his kind and condescending Creator, who had no sooner moulded his material frame, and animated him with the principle of life as well as with the light of reason, than He placed the newly-created pair as it were in a school, to be trained under His own eye to activity and usefulness. Rationalistic writers, who regard the whole account of primeval man as allegorical, reject this description of his first abode as a myth; and even writers of sounder views consider it partly spurious. Granville Penn regards that portion of the passage which is contained in Genesis 2:11-14 inclusive as a marginal gloss of some ancient commentator, which became incorporated with the text either during the captivity, while the Hebrews were dwelling in the regions that border upon the Tigris and Euphrates, or after their return. But he stands alone in the opinion that this is an interpolation, because the part objected to is found in all Hebrew MSS.; and, besides as it has been always recognized as genuine both by the Jewish and the Christian Church, this writer's view must be rejected as opposed to every sound principle of criticism. From the terms of the eighth verse it appears that the spot selected for the education and discipline of the first man formed part of a tract of country that went by the general name of Eden.

Eden in Hebrew means pleasantness, and accordingly some render gan (H1588) bª-`Eeden (H5731), a garden in a pleasant country. But that Eden was a definite region appears from the circumstance of mention being made respecting its geographical relation to the land of Nod (Genesis 4:16), and also of its being distinguished by the punctuation from other places of the same name, the Eden in which Adam was created being always written `Eeden (H5731) (cf. Genesis 2:15; Genesis 3:23; Genesis 4:16; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 28:13; Genesis 31:9; Joel 2:3), whereas the Eden in other countries is written `Eden (H5729). It was probably a large and extensive district; but, although it might naturally have been supposed that a part of the world which was the cradle of the human family, and which was associated in the memory of every succeeding race as the scene in which its earliest inhabitants earned their experience and spent their lives, no record has been preserved of its actual locality. Innumerable conjectures have been formed; discussions almost interminable have been carried on by men who, from the interest they took in the subject, have eagerly espoused some favourite theory to determine its site and boundaries; almost every region in the old world has found zealous advocates who have conferred upon it the honour of furnishing the abode of the primitive man; and, in the failure of all attempts to lead to a certain or satisfactory result, some writers have come to the conclusion that, from the deep and extensive changes produced by the flood, or in the course of ages, on the earth's surface, it is impossible now to ascertain the situation. But surely this conclusion is not well founded, because Moses has here furnished data which define to a certain extent the locality in which man spent the days of his innocence; and although these data can help only in approximating to a knowledge of the region where it was situated, it is evident that the historian spoke of places known in his day.

It has been alleged, indeed, that this chapter originally formed part of an antediluvian document; that the account which it gives of Eden was applicable to its actual state before the flood; and that the places here enumerated cannot now afford any reliable indices to the topographical site of Paradise, as the postdiluvians might have revived the primitive names of places in other quarters, just as emigrants in modern times are accustomed to borrow from scenes in the mother country designations for the settlements they form in new and distant colonies. Admitting the probability of this allegation, that Moses drew from antediluvian archives, yet by incorporating the tradition with his inspired narrative, he not only guaranteed the historical truth of its description of Eden, but, by the obvious tenor of the language employed, attested that the grand physical characteristics of the region were still remaining in his day. Because it will be observed, that all that pertains to the Creator's preparation of the place is related in the past tense (Genesis 2:8-10); and had it been the historian's purpose merely to state that the abode of the first pair was in Eden, he might have stopped with the mention of that fact; but, apparently with the view of indicating the region to those for whom he was writing, he proceeds (Genesis 2:11-14) in the present tense, and mentions the various places which come within the range of his description in a manner which, conveys an irresistible impression of their actual existence.

A leading feature in the account of the garden of Eden is the provision made for its irrigation, so indispensable not only to the beauty but to the existence of an Oriental garden; and in proceeding to consider the description, it is necessary to meet a preliminary objection that has been brought against the truth of the sacred narrative, from the natural impossibility of any river existing when as yet there had been no rain (Genesis 2:5), and sufficient time had not elapsed for a large stream to form, by slow and gradual attrition, a channel for the transmission of its waters to the sea. The objection has no force; and, as Penn well remarks, there is no more difficulty in this solution than that with which mere physical science has always had to contend, in admitting immediate creation as the true mode of all first formations. Like every other part of the present world, the first formation of rivers was created at once perfect; afterward they were subjected, like other material things, to the operation of certain laws which were enacted for their maintenance and continuance.

The Divine Designer and Artificer of the general mundane system manifested His intelligence and power as much by the formation and direction of rivers as the means of irrigating the whole surface of the globe-without which system of irrigation the entire vegetation of the earth must have perished,-as in the formation of the arterial and venal conduits which serve an analogous use in the animal frame. The Mosaic account therefore, which states that "the Lord God had not caused it to rain," for the physical process of evaporation and of the formation of clouds had not commenced, and yet that rivers flowed to water the ground, is in perfect harmony with the order of nature; and this conclusion is supported by the testimony of modern geology, because we are told, in reference to that great convulsion of the globe which D'Orbigny has described as immediately preceding the human period, that 'among the secondary effects which followed, and have left their traces on every part of the earth's surface, rivers of immense magnitude formed their streams from all the elevated summits over the subjacent plains, spreading out from point to point, of their course into extensive lakes' (Lardner's 'Pre-Adamite Earth').

The names of two of the rivers-the Hiddekel and the Euphrates-serve to a certain extent to indicate the quarter of the world where the paradisiacal garden was situated; and many writers have remarked that, in the enumeration of the rivers, the order observed is from east to west, or from the most distant to that which was nearest, and therefore best known. The narrative makes mention of "a river" - apparently a great river-which "went out of Eden to water the garden." Its source does not seem to have been within the limits of the garden: but on issuing from that paradise "it was parted, and became four heads" - i:e., was divided into four streams [the lª- (a preposition) after the verb indicating a change from one state into another, and raa'shiym (H7218) - literally, "heads", meaning "branches" of the parent river]. No place can now be found which meets all these conditions; and hence, a great number of hypotheses founded on one or more features of the description, have been advanced to determine the supposed site, a summary of which is exhibited in the annexed table: Several of these localities, it will be observed, to which the honour is thus assigned of having been the scene of the terrestrial paradise, are very remote, and their claims to that distinction rest on a very slender basis. Others might be mentioned; some are in India and Ceylon, others in the middle and even in the north of Europe, the advocacy of these being grounded on the belief that a complete change of climate has taken place since the flood. It would be a superfluous effort to state the arguments by which the respective theorists support the probable truth of their own views; nor is it at all necessary, because the knowledge of such opinions can serve no purpose but the gratification of a prurient curiosity to know the vagaries of opinion, or to see the skill and ingenuity which learned and speculative men have displayed in the establishment of a favourite idea. Two of the opinions only of those enumerated in the tabular view have met with general approval. The one is that placed second in the list, which lays the scene of Eden in Korneh, Babylonia.

According to this scheme, the garden lay on either side of the united stream of the Hiddekel (the Tigris) and of the Euphrates, which junction is now called by the natives Shat-el-Arab, and which begins two days' journey above Bussorah, and about five miles below divides again into several channels which empty themselves into the Persian Gulf. Thus, the Shat-el-Arab would be the river that "went out of Eden;" and if viewed not according to the current, but by an inspection of the channel, it appears to divide into four branches, which constituted the four rivers mentioned by Moses, and caused by the action of the tidal sea opposing the current of the united stream near the embouchure on a delta or level plain of sand or mud accumulations-namely, two below, the Pison, which is the western branch, and the Gihon; and two above, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Amongst other difficulties, however, connected with this hypothesis, the two following seem to be very obvious: first, that the two lower branches of the Shat-el-Arab seem to be too inconsiderable to encompass countries of any extent, or even to be dignified with the name of rivers; and, secondly, that though avowedly founded on the supposition that the great leading features of the earth's surface, and especially of the channels of the rivers, continued the same after the deluge as before that great devastation, the actual appearance of the site fixed upon does not correspond with the description of the sacred historian. 'The garden,' says Mr. Milne, 'seems to have been a peninsula; because the way or entrance into it is afterward mentioned. We are told that a river went out of it, which, according to some, should be rendered, ran on the outside of it, and thus gave it the form of a horseshoe; because had the Euphrates flowed through the midst of the garden, one-half of it would have been useless to Adam without a bridge by which he could have crossed it.

Rask's opinion differs somewhat from the preceding view as to the site of Eden, though coinciding with it in the general circumstance of fixing the locality of the garden in Lower Mesopotamia. From the mention of a principal river, and the fact of the Euphrates and Tigris actually uniting in one large stream, he deems it highly probable that the other two rivers might also combine with this great river, or, in other words, flowed into the Shat-el-Arab; and accordingly he identifies the Pison with the modern Karun, which flows by Shuster (the ancient Susa), and joins the Shat-el-Arab a little above its entrance into the Persian Gulf; while the Gihon, on the other hand, he considers to be the Karasu, which, rising in the regions south of the Lake of Urmia, runs by Kirmanshah, and unites itself with the Tigris near Korneh.-The hypothesis which has obtained by far the greatest number of suffrages is that which places Eden in Armenia. Proceeding upon the idea that, while Cain went eastward, Seth and his pious posterity continued in the vicinity of the original paradise, and the ark of Noah rested, after the subsidence of the deluge, at no great distance from his ancient abode, the holders of this view consider mount Ararat as a commanding feature that naturally points out the quarter where the site of Eden is to be sought for. They further support their opinion by dwelling on the circumstance of the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Araxes, and the Phasis (or Cyrus), having their sources among the mountains of Armenia at no great distance.

Whatever were the boundaries of this fertile district, it was "eastward," or toward the east of it, that the garden was situated. It is said of that garden that the Lord God had planted it" - that "He made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food" - that he "took the man, and put him into it." The whole tenor of this language conveys the impression of special care having been taken in the preparation of the happy spot, which was stocked with a rich and varied collection of vegetable productions, while refreshing streams rolled their pure waters through the midst of the sacred groves, completing, according to Oriental ideas, a picture of terrestrial beauty and enjoyment. The corresponding term paradeisos (G3857), paradise, by which it is rendered in the Septuagint, gives the more precise idea of a spacious enclosure-an extensive park, like those in which Eastern monarchs enclosed their palaces, and which abound with every species of trees, flowers, and garden culture, enlivened besides by numbers of choice animals, which are kept there for pleasure.

In short, Eden was so associated in the minds of the sacred writers with ideas of external beauty and fertility, that, in describing a place distinguished for the loveliness of its natural scenery, they were accustomed to compare it to the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 28:18; Ezekiel 31:8-9; Joel 2:3), and the corresponding Greek term came in course of time to be used in the common language of God's ancient people as a metaphorical term for the blissful abode of the redeemed in heaven (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 11:7). From all this it may be concluded, that the spot which was honoured the first on earth to be the habitation of the ancestors of the human race, contained a rare and exquisite assemblage of everything that could afford pure and constant gratification to the senses-pleasure both to the eye and to the palate.

But man was not placed in this chosen spot to pass his days in dreamy indolence or luxurious enjoyment, because it is said "the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." It has recently been thrown out as an objection to the truthfulness of this record, that the statement respecting the first man's being put in Eden to follow the humble occupation of a gardener is a flagrant contradiction to a previous one, which represents him (Genesis 1:28) as lord of the whole earth. But surely a local habitation is not inconsistent, as subsequent history has abundantly shown, with a right of universal rule; and, besides, the dominion promised to the human race over the earth and the inferior creatures was a progressive attainment-to be fully realized, not in the lifetime of the primitive man, but by his remote posterity. To be actively and usefully employed was indispensable, even in paradise, both to the character and the happiness of our first parent; and that employment to which he was appointed was of a kind so easy and agreeable as, ever since, notwithstanding the toil and exhaustion now attendant upon it, to form a favourite pastime. How much more desirable must it have been in a state to which toil and suffering were absolutely strangers, and in which the unlaborious work that formed the secular business of his life consisted wholly in removing obtrusive weeds, in pruning luxuriant branches, in dressing the odoriferous flower plots, in training the fruit trees that were gay with blossoms, which never disappointed or deceived in their promise.

Such was the daily occupation of the first man in the garden which the Creator assigned to him as the place of his habitation; and it must be evident to every reflecting reader that the proper and full performance of his work required a degree of knowledge far greater than the brief notice of the sacred historian seems to indicate. It implies not only an acquaintance with the nature and habits of the various flowers and plants that were placed under his fostering care-with the treatment of the soil, and the process of irrigation so essential to the existence and beauty of an Oriental garden; but it implies an acquaintance also with many arts-with the use of implements, and the application of the harder metals, especially iron, which are necessary in the construction of these tools. Had he been left to himself, or been guided solely by the force of his own invention, or the results of his own experience, many years-nay, the greater part of his life-would in all probability have passed before he could have attained skill or dexterity in the practice of the most common mechanical arts; and therefore, supposing that the term of his residence in the garden of Eden lasted only for a few weeks, a knowledge of the tools and the attention required for "dressing and keeping" the garden implies such a variety of articles, and such an amount of experience, that it is impossible to imagine Adam could have possessed it except through the medium of supernatural instruction. 'Who educated the first pair?' asks the German philosopher Fichte; and he answers the question by saying, 'The Divine Spirit took them under His care, as is stated in a venerable and original document, which contains the most profound as well as the most sublime wisdom.'

The opinion of this speculative sage embodies the conclusion of enlightened reason; and what reason declares to be in the highest degree probable, the inspired record attests to have actually taken place. What an interesting view is exhibited of the paternal character of the Creator in not only furnishing the newly formed man with the full complement of bodily and mental powers belonging to his exalted nature, but in teaching him also the use of those mechanical implements which were necessary for the special work he was appointed to perform! To this source, then-that of divine revelation-we trace the earliest knowledge which man acquired even of the most common and useful arts of life; and although, as recorded in a subsequent chapter, some of the descendants of Adam, at no distant period from the creation, distinguished themselves by their inventions, yet no fact can be clearer, or less liable to be called in question, than that the first man must have received by immediate revelation from God a knowledge both of the things to be done as well as of the means to do them, when he was put into the garden of Eden "to dress it and to keep it." Here, then, Adam found employment congenial to his nature, his power, and his wishes. There can be no doubt that the consciousness of his habitual compliance with the will of God, combined with an occupation of so easy and grateful a character, was one main source of his happiness; and it is highly probable that a rational and moral creature cannot in any circumstances enjoy happiness suited to his nature, except when actively engaged, as Adam was, in the service of God.

But God did not take the man and put him into the garden of Eden merely for the secular purpose of "dressing and keeping it." The words undoubtedly represent it as a place both for the healthful exercise of the body and for a course of secular work. But was this all? Was this noble creature, who was formed in the image of God, placed in that situation solely to follow the manual trade of a gardener? Unquestionably not; and the Scripture plainly points to more than this, by designating it "the garden of God," "the garden of the Lord" - a title which not only, according to a common Hebrew idiom, describes a superlatively delightful garden, but further seems to denote a special appropriation to sacred purposes, as is evidently the case in similar phrases (Genesis 28:17; Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6; Psalms 43:4) with which the sacred volume abounds. All of them imply that the persons and things described by that epithet were consecrated to the more immediate service of God; and judging by this analogy, it appears a warrantable conclusion that "the garden of the Lord," the trees of which were all planted by His own divine hand, would not form a solitary exception to the rule, that whenever persons and things throughout the Bible are mentioned as the special property of God, they were consecrated to His service. Viewed in this light, then, the garden of Eden was a rootless temple, in which the newly created man worshipped his Maker, and daily offered the bloodless sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise.