Where was the Garden of Eden?
Holy Land: IV
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. This post is part of our Holy Land series. For the full map of Cosmographia posts, see here.
“Once upon a time there was a king's son; nobody had so many and such beautiful books as he. In these all that had ever happened in the world he could read and see depicted in splendid engravings. Of every people and every land could he get information, but as to where the Garden of Eden was, not a word was to be found therein; and this, just this it was, on which he meditated most of all.”
— Hans Christian Andersen, The Garden of Paradise (1839)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Then He created a heaven on earth — a bountiful garden paradise — and placed in it a new creature, raised up from the dust and given life — Man. And it was good.
But even in paradise, pangs of loneliness can grip the hearts of men. God looked down on his First Man, all alone, and decided to form from his rib a partner, bone of his bone, fairer flesh of his flesh — Woman. And it was good.
Together, Adam and Eve roamed God’s garden — unclad, but unashamed. All paradise was theirs, and theirs alone. All save one tree.
Bittersweet that forbidden fruit, whose mortal taste brought death and woe into the world. A slithering temptation; a Fall from Grace.
We are become KNOWLEDGE, DESTROYER of worlds.
They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
— John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book XII) (1667)
Burdened with pain and knowledge and death, humanity was ejected from Eden, forced to spend our days mortal and afraid.
And yet, we have never forgotten our first abode, that heavenly garden. Over the centuries, some — like Adam and Eve in ages past — have dared to looked over their shoulder, back to Eden, the most holy of lands. Some have even searched for it.
If only, they say, we could find it again, perhaps we could recover what was lost. Perhaps we could restore our place in God’s favour, and walk beside Him once again.
But where to look? Well, that is the question.