Gardens are full of rich Biblical significance. There are several different uses of the term ‘garden’ in the Bible. Often it is an agricultural application, referring to vineyards, groves of fruit trees or vegetable plots. (Jeremiah 29:5 , Deuteronomy 11:10 ). In other applications, it is primarily an outdoor environment; a place of beauty for gathering and entertaining (Esther 1:6, Ecclesiastes 2:5). There are also places where God refers to His people as His planting, His garden (Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 61:3). It was in a garden that God chose to first put His highest creation – people. And gardening was the first occupation given to people (Genesis 2:15).
The location of Eden per the account in Genesis 2 is where several rivers came together, two of them being the Tigris and Euphrates. This would place Eden in modern day Iraq; not what most people today would envision as a garden setting! But the land was not always this way. Consider the reputation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Until quite recently, much of this land consisted of extremely fertile fields and lush marshes – similar in some respects to Florida and the Everglades. However, under the regime of Saddam Hussein, diversion canals and dams were built that deprived the land of the water that once flowed there. Satellite infrared imagery from before and after is astonishing. (See this article: http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/student/hubbard1/webpage.htm ) Fortunately, the environmental significance of the Mesopotamian marshes has been recognized and restoration projects are underway.
What else do we know about Eden that makes it so significant? First and foremost, it is a place where man and woman communed with God face to face, unhindered in any way. The transparency of the relationship was mirrored by the man and woman dwelling there “naked and unashamed”. It also seems as if there was a time of day when this communion may have occurred regularly, referred to in Genesis 3:8 as “the cool of the day”. This phrase conjures up pleasant images in my mind, and is perhaps why Phil Wickham’s song “Eden”, which I referred to in the last blog entry, moves me so. (Perhaps the “cool of the day” is even more meaningful to me right now since we’ve had an unseasonably hot spell here in southeastern PA!) It is the concept of a pleasant place to meet with God, surrounded by the beauty of His creation that resonates within me and compels me to create such places where I hope that people can meet with Him in refreshing and restorative ways. Recapturing Eden! All was wonderful there…..until the fall.
