THE TEMPTATION IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

GENESIS 2:4–3:24

The beginning of our discussion takes us to the Garden of Eden. While the exact location of the Garden of Eden remains unknown,1 one thing is certain: the description of this place as a water-rich region is key in establishing the geographical setting for this account and for those to come. The Lord placed Adam and Eve in this highly desirable living space, and the serpent used that place to shape his temptation of Adam and Eve.

Although the Garden of Eden no longer exists, following the Bible’s lead, our search for its previous location takes us to one general region: Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers (Gen. 2:14). Most place the Garden of Eden either in the Armenian Mountains of eastern Turkey, where we find the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, or in southeastern Iraq, near the effluence of those rivers into the Persian Gulf.2 Nothing more conclusive than that can be said.

Even though its location remains a mystery, we do have a description of this place that became the home of Adam and Eve. The writer of Genesis called it a “garden” (gan), a living space akin to the royal parks and “King’s Garden” (Neh. 3:15) of a later age.3 Please note that this was not paradise in the popular sense of that term.4 The Garden of Eden was not a luxury hotel filled with attendants whose job was to dote on vacationing visitors. It was an everyday living space of a royal garden by which the King offered his residents security from harm, plentiful food, and abundant water (Gen. 2:5–6, 10–14). The last item in that list is the one that would have especially caught the attention of those in antiquity living in the Middle East. To put the water issue in perspective, consider the following modern reality. The average United States citizen uses about 10,000 cubic meters (2.6 million gallons) of fresh water each year. In Egypt the per capita total drops to 1,100 cubic meters and in Israel to 460 cubic meters per capita.5 Those of us who live with more fresh water than we need may not be solidly struck by this dimension of God’s garden, but the people in this part of the ancient world were. Nothing meant contentment for the residents of this ancient world like a ready supply of fresh water. Because the Garden of Eden had it, Adam and Eve needed to change nothing so as to make their living circumstances better.

Sarcophagus lid (fourth century AD) depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The serpent, a saboteur, used the blessings found in the King’s royal Garden of Eden to sow the seeds of doubt and discontent. He proposed to Adam and Eve that the Lord was holding out on them, implying that the Lord had provided a royal living space and a living experience that was incomplete and less fulfilling than it could have been (Gen. 3:1–5). This first couple was persuaded to mutiny against the legitimate King in his royal garden. As a result, they became enemies of God and were required to leave the garden.

Painted shrine offering with serpents (sixth century BC).

But the Lord would not have it be this way forever. So the Garden of Eden witnesses a third great event. Before they were driven into the clutches of a world corrupted and broken by mutiny, God promised that he would fix the problem by providing a Rescuer who would destroy the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

When the serpent tempted the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden, he did so for a reason. The Lord gave Adam and Eve dominion over his royal garden and provided them with water, food, and security. But the serpent wanted the allegiance of Adam and Eve, so he tempted them to mutiny against the Lord in God’s royal garden. As the Lord warned, this brought death and destruction into creation and gave the serpent dominion over that which was intended for humanity. Even in the light of this mutiny and its consequences, the Lord promised to bring the Rescuer who would destroy the serpent and provide humanity with a means of rescue and restoration with the King of the Universe.

Euphrates River in northern Mesopotamia—a suggested location of the Garden of Eden.

Possible locations of the Garden of Eden