Synonymous with paradise, God created the Garden of Eden as a home for the first man and woman. After God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden for their disobedience, what happened to it? Was Eden an idea alone or a physical location, as the Bible seems to imply?
Eden in the Book of Genesis
According to Genesis 2:8-15, God created the Garden of Eden following the seventh day.
8: And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9: Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10: A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11: The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12: and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13: The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14: The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
As Genesis continues, Adam and Eve disobey God’s command by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God cast them out of Eden, and humanity lost the glorious garden.
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