Stephen
Terry, Director
Education in the Garden of Eden
Commentary
for the October 3, 2020 Sabbath School Lesson
"...For the foundations of the earth are the
Lord's; on them he has set the world." 1 Samuel 2:8b, NIV
Central to the
Creation Story is the Garden of Eden. This biblical account is a simple
rendition of why it was there, what happened within its precincts, and why mankind
no longer has it. Bookending millennia of experience with Genesis, the book of
Revelation says mankind's access to the garden will one day be restored. But the
legend of the Garden of Eden is filled with paradox and enigma within enigma.
Some of the perplexing questions it raises seem beyond our understanding. For
instance. If there was no death in that garden, what happened to the flowers
that were plucked? Did they remain forever littering the ground? Or did they
magically disappear? What about God's command to Adam and Eve to "Be fruitful
and increase in number; fill the earth?"[i] What does that mean? Was it
the seven to eight billion people taxing the earth's resources today? Why was
Eve judged for giving in to the serpent's temptation if she did not know what a
lie was, never having been lied to? If Eve was to be the mother of all mankind,
why did she not have children until after they left the Garden of Eden? These
and other things raise questions in our minds today, but they may have been
well understood in that ancient garden for the simple reason that they could walk
and talk with God face to face.[ii]
Sin has long been a
mystery, occurring originally in the presence of God in heaven. Its foundation
is a lie originating with the devil.[iii] Sin is the whole cloth
woven from lie upon lie. Its power can be seen in the fact that it deceived a
third of the holy angels, who then, along with the devil, lost their place in
heaven.[iv] We tend to be harsh on Eve
for succumbing to temptation and have created an artificial theological edifice
to justify subjugating women based upon that harsh judgment. But if angels,
dwelling in the presence of God for ages were deceived, is it fair to lay the
sins of all humanity on her inexperienced shoulders? God may understand this
better than we are willing to, and this may be the foundation for the grace he
offered through Christ. Humanity, deceived into sin, may have more hope than
the one who knowingly deceived and continues to deceive mankind. The future for
each of us who wants to return to fellowship with God may be far more hopeful
than that of the deceiver, who will be judged in flames.[v]
The message of the
fall and the hope of redemption is writ large in Eden. Some want to make the
Creation Story about science or history as though those were the central issues
involved. But they are only tangential and maybe of no more importance than
wondering if Adam and Eve had belly buttons. Eden is often forced to be a story
about modern agendas, twisted to fit denominational idiosyncrasies that have little
to do with the redemption story. One example is the desire to use Eden to
support an austere, vegan diet. Pointing to man's diet in Genesis, chapter one,
"I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every
tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food,"[vi] some assert that, even in a world
challenged by decay and death, God expects us to follow that diet. While this
may seem to make sense to some, it is challenged by God's later commands to eat
animal flesh. The first was to Noah, after the flood, and is often referred to
as part of the Noahic Covenant.[vii] Later, after the exodus
from Egypt, the sacrificial system involves the killing and eating of many,
many animals on an institutional scale, which may demand reinterpretation of
Abel's sacrificial lamb that so offended Cain as being a sacrificial meal of
flesh that the Jews were called back to through Moses, just as they were also
called to remember the Sabbath of Creation. In addition to the institutional system
of sacrifices, the consumption of animal flesh, specifically ordered by God in
relation to the Passover memorial, has continued to be observed by many Jews to
the present day, just as they have with the Sabbath. The real lesson of the
Creation Story is not about food, or running around naked, or any of the other
strange practices that people involve themselves with today, claiming that Genesis
demands it and so it is biblical.
The real story is that
God intended beauty for us and not ashes. Jesus tried to remind us of this when
he read from Isaiah, chapter 61, in synagogue one Sabbath. But because he had grown
up in Nazareth, the people could not see anything but the simple carpenter's
son in him. And even though, they had heard of the miracles he had performed in
fulfillment of what he read, they became so incensed, they tried to end his
life then and there. In the garden, Eve's choice to disobey God may have been to
some degree because of her lack of experience. After all, after they ate the
fruit, their eyes were opened, and they knew then the wrong they had done.[viii] This implies a prior naivete.
But what Jesus encountered seemed like willful, deliberate disobedience to the extent
that mankind not only disobeyed, but also sought the death of the one they were
disobeying. Herod had done this with John the Baptist, just as many others had
done with their righteous accusers throughout the centuries. Little wonder then
that such precedents led to the cross. But even then, despite such willful
evil, Jesus represented the character of God as willing to forgive. While he
was hanging on the cross, he said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing."[ix]
This is perhaps the
greatest enigma arising from the Creation Story. How can God, who was misrepresented
and disobeyed then and has been the victim of such a distortion of his
character for many thousands of years, continue to speak grace and compassion,
not only into that original garden, but through time, even to our present day?
We live post Eden, after the knowledge of good and evil has been imparted. We
are therefore without excuse when we choose to live selfishly and harm others.
To our way of thinking, we are more condemned than that original pair, yet we
still pursue evil. In spite of that, God pursues us with his love as a hound on
the trail of a lost child, baying his reassurance that he is coming to the rescue,
and urging the child to move toward his voice. The devil would have us believe that
the hound wants to destroy that lost child and is eager to do so. But the father
of lies is not to be believed. Though he had access to Adam and Eve in the garden
and continues to have access to us today, he still is a liar.
After Adam and Eve disobeyed,
God came looking for them. He had to know they had done so if he is omniscient.
But despite that knowledge, he was still seeking them to offer them fellowship.
But they withdrew from him, showing that they would no longer feel comfortable
in his presence. Filled with shame, they needed somewhere to live where they
could try and live down what they had done. God worked with that and gave them
their own space outside of Eden. To our way of thinking, we might have abandoned
them to whatever fate awaited them as a just reward for their sin, but thankfully
God does not think that way. He continued to be a part of their lives, although
at a distance. This can be seen in Abel's sacrifices to him, and in his voiced shock
when Cain killed Abel. God had promised eventual redemption to Adam and Eve,
and he has always remained near at hand, able to not only hear our crying out to
him but to read our hearts as well. He knows those who are his and invites
others to join them.
It is possible to find
our way back to the relationship we had in Eden. Through the millennia the path
has become overgrown with weeds sown by the enemy.[x] But the way still fluoresces with
the glow of God's love. His love shines as a light in our world.[xi] While the choking weeds
may trip us and prick us with thorns, if we remain on the path, moving
in the light, we will find healing. We may think that we need to become experts
at pathfinding first or equip ourselves with tools to remove the weeds. But the
nature of the problem is that we will never feel we have enough pathfinding
skills, and there will always be one more tool we need for the weeds. All we really
need is faith to follow the light God provides, found in his word.[xii] Since the very beginning,
it has always been about following the light of his word, nothing else.
