How Big Was Eden?

Biblegems #151

Question: Genesis 2:10 mentions a river that flows out of Eden to water the garden. Does this mean that Eden was more than just a garden? Could it have been a larger region that had a garden in it?

The geographic details on Eden are found in Genesis 2:8-14. There are several details in the description that give us a general idea of Eden’s size and location. It must be remembered, however, that the geography described here is from the pre-Flood world. The Flood itself, and other calamities in nature associated with the Flood—earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, etc.—dramatically changed the landscape of the earth. It is impossible to accurately locate exactly where Eden was or how large an area it took up based on the descriptions in Genesis 2 because the landmarks have all changed.

That being said, there are some things we can discover. Eden lies “east” of the point of view of Adam, the one who first passed on this description. We don’t know where Adam was at the time Eden and the garden were created, or if Adam’s point of view reflects where he was when he was telling his children about the creation of the garden. It could be assumed that Adam was somewhere in the area of what we now know as Palestine, based upon a further assumption that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mentioned in the account might be somewhat close to where these rivers were located before the Flood.

The garden, as the questioner suggests, was actually “in Eden” (2:8) and the river that fed the garden originated from an underground source somewhere “from Eden” into the garden (2:10). This river had to be quite large because it separated into four other large rivers after feeding the garden (2:10).

Adam named the first river “Pishon,” which he described as winding through, or perhaps encircling, the land of Havilah. Havilah ceased to exist after the Flood, so we don’t know where it was located. The name seems to mean “Sandland,” and it was known for its wealth of gold, precious stones and an aromatic gum (2:11-12).

Adam named the second river Gihon (2:13). That river circulated through the land of Cush. Later in Scripture, Cush is the name given to Arabia and Ethiopia. It is possible that the same general area was renamed Cush after the Flood, even though the natural boundaries had changed dramatically.

Adam named the third river the Tigris, or “Hiddekel” in Hebrew. The Tigris is described as running along the eastern border of Assyria, which in post-Flood times would be north / northeast of Arabia.

The last river is the Euphrates, and no description is given of its location. If the Tigris and Euphrates of Adam’s pre-Flood world are reasonably close to their current locations, then the Eden of the Bible would extend roughly from the modern day Persian Gulf northward to encompass Iraq, western Turkey and the stretch of northwestern Iran between Turkey and the Caspian Sea. The garden in Eden would be a smaller area tucked somewhere near the headwaters of the original rivers.

Eden, which translates “Delight,” is a very large piece of real estate! Yet Adam was clearly familiar with the geographic borders of his garden home. 

When Did Jesus Enter Heaven?

Biblegems #128

Question: In Luke 23:43 Jesus says He will be in Paradise that day, yet Jesus tells Mary on the day of His resurrection that He has not yet returned to the Father. How are these verses reconciled?

I have underlined three words below that are key to understanding this question:

Luke 23:43  Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

John 20:17  Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

The passage in John relates how Mary Magdalene encountered Jesus outside the tomb, when He said to her, “Do not hold on to me…” The word Jesus used there was hapto, meaning “to grasp” or “to clutch.” He didn’t want her to cling to Him was because He had work for her to do before He returned to heaven.

However, the verb translated “returned”[i] has the primary meaning of “go up,” “rise up” or “advance.”[ii]  And the verb’s tense[iii] tells us that Jesus had not yet entered the condition or state of being ascended to the Father. Jesus had not yet ascended, even though He had been resurrected. “In essence, Jesus was saying. “I have not yet entered into an ascended state.”[iv] The “Ascension” state of Jesus’ existence in heaven is at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest:

Heb. 8:1 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven…

The word “Paradise”[v] is Persian, meaning “park” or “garden.”  It describes the Eden-like environment in the kingdom of heaven:

         Is. 51:3 The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

The apostle Paul testifies to how he once experienced Paradise:

2Cor. 12:2-4 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.

Paradise is another term for heaven. If Paul entered Paradise for a brief time while still of this world, the crucified thief could certainly be the first New Testament believer to enter heaven following Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus entered heaven the day He died, having overcome sin, death and the grave. That same promise of entering heaven immediately upon death awaits every believer in Jesus:

Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Comments or Questions?

If you would like to leave a comment or question, please click on the “Comment” tag below, then type your comment or question in the box. Below the Comment box you will see a place to leave your name (or Anonymous) marked “Comment as.” Click on the arrows to the right of that box and choose one of the options there by clicking on it. Then click the “Publish” button below the “Comment as” tag, and you’re done!

Your comment or question will appear after I approve it as appropriate (usually within 24 hours). I look forward to your questions and comments. Thank you!

---

[i] Gk.: anabebaka, from anabaino

[ii] Strong’s Greek New testament Dictionary  

[iii] Perfect Active Indicative: a completed action with ongoing results.

[iv] Expositor’s Bible Commentary, in loc

[v] Gk.: paradeiso

Who Was Cain Afraid Of?

Biblegems #118

Question: After God banishes Cain for killing his brother Abel in Genesis 4, Cain complains that others on the earth will kill him for his crime when they find him (Gen. 4:13-14). Who are the others on the earth at that time that Cain is afraid of? Where did these other people come from?

Adam and Eve, the ancestors of the human race, and their children, Cain and Abel, were real, historical people. In addition to Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had many other children  (Gen 5:4). And in the 930 years of Adam’s life (Gen. 5:5), these children grew up, intermarried, and had children of their own, resulting in a population of at least one hundred and twenty thousand people by the time of Adam’s death. We know from Scripture that these descendants of Adam and Eve spread out and established settlements all over the ancient Near East. 

Reading Genesis 4 -5 can be deceptive when it comes to following the passage of time. But a careful reading can be very revealing. For instance, chapter 4:1-2 takes us from the conception and birth of Cain and Abel right into their adulthood. By the end of verse two they are both living independent of their parents and working at their respective occupations. Abel is murdered in verse eight; and by verse sixteen Cain is in exile in “the land of Nod, east of Eden.” Then, in the very next verse, Cain has found a wife, who gets pregnant and has his child, Enoch—all while Cain is building a city, which he names after his son.

The point is, the account of Cain and Abel moves quickly from one key event to another. This is to show that within the first thousand years of human history God’s command to Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28) was already well under way. Thousands of people—the descendants of Adam and Eve—populated the earth, farmed the land, tended livestock, constructed cities, and brought with them the plague of sin and death.

So it is clear that Cain and Abel had many brothers and sisters, most of whom had hundreds of years of separation between them. In fact, in the “written account of Adam’s line” (Gen. 5:1) Cain and Abel are not even mentioned, nor are any of their siblings except Seth. Why? Because Seth represents the ancestral line of Noah (Gen. 5:28-29), who played a principal role in God’s plan of salvation. All the descendants of all the other siblings of Cain and Abel were lost in the Flood, except those who married into Noah’s family and were aboard the ark.

So who was Cain afraid of when he went into exile? His own brothers and sisters and their extended families. The same is true for all of us, for we are all related to one another, only separated by time, distance and multiple layers of intermarriage. We are one family—the human family—and each person’s sin impacts the rest of the family. That’s why salvation from sin and death had to come through a human being, but one who was without sin.

         1 Cor. 15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

The death and resurrection of Jesus has reversed the curse of Adam and Cain!