Introductory Thoughts:
The
author of Genesis was well aware of religious customs and temple practices
among his Ancient Near East (ANE) neighbors.
In the midst of these distorted theologies he presents claims of
uniqueness and truth of the one true God and His holy temple. The first temple established by God upon the
earth was the garden of Eden. The garden
in Genesis 1-3 was the dwelling place of God upon the earth and Adam was its king
and priest. Adam was divinely placed in
the garden in the image and likeness of God to serve and worship Him. These acts were to be the true expression of
what it means to serve and worship the one true God. Adam failed.
All of his ANE descendants did the same and the result was a
multiplicity of false expressions of worship, usually involving temples.
The beginning chapters of Genesis utilize
language which is similar to other ANE group’s use of temples in it’s
description of the garden. According to
Piotr Bienkowski two of the primary characteristics of ANE temples is that they
were considered a “house on earth of the god” and that they contained a statue
of the god “as a divine symbol”.[1] We find each of these elements emphasized in
the biblical record of Eden. Genesis 1
demonstrates God as the sovereign Creator of all. He has power over everything including the
ability to build His world out of nothing.
Then in a particular place called Eden He is said to have “planted a
garden” and there “put the man whom He had formed” (Gen. 2:8). It was in this garden that Adam was able to
meet with God and the relationship seems quite intimate with the enjoyment of
many trees to eat, the provision of a woman helper, and the naming of
animals. The text reads as though Adam
enjoys an up close and personal relationship with his Creator. The idea of God’s house on earth is certainly
present as God dwells among His creation.
There is also the use of Adam as a divine symbol. He is said to be created in the “image and
likeness” of God (Gen. 1:26-27) and to have the ability to subdue the other
creatures in the garden as he exercises “dominion” over them. This divine symbol language can be found in
Robert Alter’s translation as he renders “the man formed” (NKJV) in Genesis 2:8
as “the human fashioned”.[2] This intensifies the placement of God’s
symbol in the garden in the person of Adam.
Alter further emphasizes the symbolic role of man by translating
“dominion” (NKJV) as “hold sway”. He
explains, “the verb radah is not the
normal Hebrew verb for “rule”…and in most contexts in which it occurs it seems
to suggest an absolute or even fierce exercise of mastery.”[3] The divine symbol extends to the point of
dominion. The garden is the house of God
on the earth and Adam is His divine symbol intended to exercise mastery over
the house.
Other scholars have recognized the garden
as a temple in Genesis. Bruce Waltke
describes the garden as an “enclosed, protected order” and “it represents
territorial space in the created order where God invites human beings to enjoy
bliss and harmony between themselves and God.”[4] The Hebrew root gnn refers to a place enclosed, fenced in, or protected.[5] This enclosure language helps us to think of
the garden not only as an actual place but to think of it with certain borders
and dimensions. This is temple language
in Genesis. Waltke recognizes this as he
notes, “the Garden of Eden is a temple-garden.”[6] Perhaps the greatest contributor to the
garden-as-temple discussion is Greg Beale.
He draws connection between Eden and Israel’s temple by observing the
word pair “cultivate/tend” (abad) and
“keep” (samar). These words occur together in Genesis 2:15 and
elsewhere to the Israelites “serving” God and “keeping” His word as well as the
priests “keeping” or “serving” the tabernacle.
Beale’s conclusion is that “Genesis 1-2 not only portrays Adam as a
kingly gardener and watchman but does so in language that rings with the notion
of worshipful obedience.”[7] The reader is recommended to Beale’s work for
a much better and fuller treatment of this entire garden-temple theme. With the establishment of Adam in the garden,
God set His divine symbol in His house on earth. Adam’s intended role was to serve as a king
and a priest in the divinely instituted temple in Eden.
The Temple as A Display Of Beauty and A Blessing to the People
The exhibition of beauty with gold,
bdellium, and onyx stone found in Eden also points us to the divine presence on
earth from the garden-temple to all of Israel’s temple rituals. Gold and onyx were present in Eden and also
were prominent materials in the construction of the tabernacle (Ex. 25-28). The LORD commanded Moses and gave him strict
instructions for the making of the Aaronic priestly garments which were to
include gold and onyx stones in the ephod and the breastplate (Ex. 39:6, 13). Although David was unable to build the first
temple because he was a “man of war” he was the visionary who developed plans
and passed them on to his son Solomon for later construction. David wanted to build a house for the ark of
the covenant which was understood among the people as the meeting point when
God spoke to Moses. It was the place of
containment for the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments which was the
materially present word of God. David’s
instructions for the construction of the first temple included the use of gold
and onyx stones. The meeting place for
God with Adam was the garden. It was the
place of beautiful gold and onyx. It was
where God “commanded” the man which is the Hebrew sawah. The Ten Commandments
given to Moses are miswoth, which is
simply the pluralized version of the same word.
Eden was the place where the word of God was manifest so powerfully that
presence in the garden was a daily reminder that God’s word brought it all into
being. Just like the tabernacle and the
temple, the garden of God was a glorious display of beauty and blessing.
The Solomonic temple built during
Israel’s height of kingdom rule was a glorious display of blessing to the
people and a place of beauty intended as a tribute to the glory of God. The careful integrity placed into the work of
the artisans who built the tabernacle also displayed the same. Each set of builders were given specific
instruction from the Lord regarding the display of beauty (Exodus 31 and 1
Kings 6). Every structure was a display
of fine gold and such craftsmanship that it was a glorious manifestation of
multiplied works of art. The tabernacle
and the temple were both a display of beauty and a blessing to the people. The same can be said of the garden of
Eden. There was a life flowing river
which split into four riverheads called “Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (Tigris), and
the Euphrates” (Gen. 2:14). The rivers
flowing from the one source are to be seen as the blessing of life to God’s
creation. Rivers were commonly
understood as the source of life to any civilization in the ancient world. Pishon is said to “skirt the whole land of
Havilah, where there is gold.” (vs. 11) and to include the presence of
“bdellium and the onyx stone”. (vs. 12)
Claus Westermann notes a connection of blessing from Eden to the rest of
the world, “The purpose is to state that the rivers which bring fertility (=blessing)
to the world have their origin in the river which brings fertility (=blessing)
to the garden of God.”[8] This universal blessing flowing from the
garden of God is a reminder of the garden-temple in Genesis being the divinely
instituted means through which blessings flow to the created order. Temples in the ANE were widely considered
places of beauty and blessing.
Ezekiel served as a prophet during the
days of Babylonian dominance in the ANE.
He preached a message of divine judgment before 586 B.C. but shifted to
a message of hope and divine deliverance after the destruction of the Jewish
temple. The Babylonians ransacked the
Jerusalem temple in 586 B.C. and many Jews were taken into exile. It is during this exilic period that Ezekiel
received the “word of the Lord” which included a lamentation for the king of
Tyre. The exact identity of this king
continues to cause a lack of certainty as the reference appears to speak of one
who existed “in Eden, the garden of God” (Ezek. 28:13). Perhaps we should see this king as a later
personification of the evil one who first appeared in the garden to deceive
Adam and Eve. I. Howard Marshall sees
the evil one further personified in King Herod who was considered to “speak as
a god” to the people of Tyre in Acts 12 just before he experienced his wormy
demise.[9] We may not have certainty as to the identity
of this king but it is interesting to reflect upon the description of what was
present in the garden. The presence of
“every precious stone…onyx…gold” (Ezek. 28:13) is mentioned as a covering for
the one was in Eden. Again there is a
connection in the ANE between kingly characters who sit on thrones in palaces
and the depiction of gold and precious jewels in the Genesis garden-temple.
The Temple Set Upon A Mountain
It is worth noting the mountain motif
found in the temple locations of the ANE.
The Solomonic temple was likely located upon Mount Zion and although
there is doubt about its exact location it is usually recognized that it sat
upon a mountain of some sort. Although the
tabernacle which preceded this temple was movable it was on Mount Sinai that
God gave Moses the instructions for it’s building and use. The ziggurats in ancient Mesopotamia are
thought to be “stairways to heaven” by which the “deity descended from the heavens
to reside among the people.”[10] The temples were constructed right next to
these high places as a “place of rest for the deity.”[11]
John Walton also notes a connection
between ANE temples including the Temple of Solomon and the garden of
Eden. He states, “Mount Zion is
understood as the mountain of the Lord (e.g. Psalm 48) and the place where his
temple, a representation of Eden, was built.”[12] The exact location of Eden alludes us but
it’s place atop a mountain appears to be indicated in Genesis as it is
described as the source of the four mighty rivers. Since rivers flow downward the author must
have expected the readers to envision the garden of God upon a mountainous high
place.
The opening chapters of Genesis present
the garden of God as His temple upon the earth in ways similar to other ANE
temple practices. The later construction
of the Tabernacle and the Solomonic Temple have many shared characteristics
with the first temple in Eden. God
“planted a garden” (Gen. 2:8) which functioned as His house upon the earth as
He visited with man. God “put the man
whom He had formed” (Gen. 2:8) in the garden as His divine symbol. This man was made in the “image and likeness”
(Gen. 1:26-27) of God and was given “dominion” (Gen. 1:26, 28) and commanded to
“subdue” (Gen. 1:28) creation from the temple.
Adam was given the priestly duties of “tending and keeping” (Gen. 2:15)
the garden-temple as it was to be a blessing to the people and a glorious
display of the beauty of God. Gordon
Wenham poignantly summarizes, “The garden of Eden is not viewed by the author
of Genesis simply as a piece of Mesopotamian farmland, but as an archetypal
sanctuary, that is, a place where God dwells and where man should worship
him. Many of the features of the garden
may also be found in later sanctuaries, particularly the tabernacle or
Jerusalem temple. These parallels
suggest that the garden itself is understood as a sort of sanctuary.”[13]
[1] Bienkowski, Piotr and
Millard, Alan , eds., Dictionary of the
Ancient Near East, (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2000), pg. 285-286.
[2] Alter, Robert, Genesis, (New York, NY: W.W. Norton and
Company, 1996), pg. 8.
[3] Ibid, pg. 5.
[4] Waltke, Bruce, Genesis, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2001), pg. 85.
[5] Holladay, William, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the
Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 1988), pg. 63.
[6] Waltke, pg. 85.
[7] Beale, G.K., The Temple and the Church’s Mission, (Downer’s
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), pg. 81.
[8] Westermann, Claus, Genesis, (Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener, 1974-82), vol. 1, pg. 216. Translated by John J. Scullion as Genesis: A Commentary, (London: SPCK;
Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984-86).
[9] Carson, D.A. and Beale,
G.K., eds., Marshall, Howard I., Commentary
on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2007), pg. 581.
[10] Walton, John, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old
Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), pg. 114.
[11] Ibid, pg. 114.
[12] Ibid, pg. 127.
[13] Wenham, G.J., Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden
Story, Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Division
A: The Period of the Bible (Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1986),
pg. 19.
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