Where in Time and Place Might Eden Be?
Part II
by R.E. Slater
Genesis 2.1-14 ESVThe Seventh Day, God Rests1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.The Creation of Man and Woman4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.5 When no bush of the field[a] was yet in the land[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed 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 the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Wikipedia - The Garden of Eden
In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (Biblical Hebrew: גַּן־עֵדֶן, romanized: gan-ʿĒḏen; Greek: Εδέμ; Latin: Paradisus) or Garden of God (גַּן־יְהֹוֶה, gan-YHWH and גַן־אֱלֹהִים, gan-Elohim), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.[1][2]
The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location:[3] at the head of the Persian Gulf, in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea;[4] and in Armenia.[5][6][7] Others theorize that Eden was the entire Fertile Crescent[8] or a region of "considerable size" in Mesopotamia, where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as Telassar.[9][10]
Like the Genesis flood narrative, the Genesis creation narrative and the account of the Tower of Babel, the story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life.[11] Scholars note that the Eden narrative shows parallels with aspects of Solomon’s Temple and Jerusalem, attesting to its nature as a sacred place.[12][13] Mentions of Eden are also made in the Bible elsewhere in Genesis,[14] in Isaiah 51:3,[15] Ezekiel 36:35,[16] and Joel 2:3;[17] Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 47 use paradisical imagery without naming Eden.[18]
The name derives from the Akkadian edinnu, from a Sumerian word edin meaning 'plain' or 'steppe', closely related to an Aramaic root word meaning 'fruitful, well-watered'.[2] Another interpretation associates the name with a Hebrew word for 'pleasure'; thus the Vulgate reads paradisum voluptatis in Genesis 2:8, and the Douay–Rheims Bible, following, has the wording "And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure".[19]
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Wikipedia - Telassar
Telassar (Tel-as'sar) is mentioned three times in the Bible. First in 2 Kings 19:12 [1](or according to the Greek Septuagint, 4 Kings 19:12), then in Isaiah 37:12[2] and in Ezekiel 27:23.[3]
According to Rashi, [a medieval French rabbi, the author of comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and the Hebrew Bible,], Eden is the name of a kingdom.[4]
According to those two scriptures, Tel-assar was a place inhabited by "the people of Eden" and is mentioned along with Gozan and Haran, which are in northern Mesopotamia, and Rezeph, the exact location of which is not known, several places having had this name.
One such site, thought by some to have been part of an ancient district, is identified with modern Rusa’feh, located West of the Euphrates about 145 km (90 mi) South of modern Haran. It is thus in the vicinity of the suggested site of Gozan, with which Rezeph is mentioned. Sennacherib boasted, through his messengers, that the gods worshiped by the people of these places had been unable to deliver them from his forefathers. This area concurs with T. G. Pinches' etymological explanation in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) as follows:
"As Telassar was inhabited by the 'children of Eden,' and is mentioned with Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, in Western Mesopotamia, it has been suggested that it lay in Bit Adini, "the House of Adinu," or Betheden, in the same direction, between the Euphrates and the Belikh. A place named Til-Assuri, however, is twice mentioned by Tiglath-pileser IV (Ann., 176; Slab-Inscr., II, 23), and from these passages it would seem to have lain near enough to the Assyrian border to be annexed. The king states that he made there holy sacrifices to Merodach, whose seat it was. It was inhabited by Babylonians (whose home was the Edinu or "plain" see EDEN). Esarhaddon, Sennacherib's son, who likewise conquered the place, writes the name Til-Asurri, and states that the people of Mihranu called it Pitanu. Its inhabitants, he says, were people of Barnaku.[5]
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Says Gleason L. Archer (1982) - Source
Genesis 2:10–14 furnishes some clues to the general location of Eden, but it presupposes geological conditions that [may] no longer hold. Hence it is hazardous to conjecture any site more precise than the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the highlands of Armenia (i.e., the eastern border of modern Turkey).
The large river flowing from Eden subdivided into the Tigris and the Euphrates, as well as into two other long rivers (the Pishon, leading down to Havilah, along the southern coast of Arabia, and the Gihon, which went over to Cush—which may have been some Asiatic region lying to the east rather than the African Cush that was Ethiopia).
This indicates that the site was a high plateau or mountainous region (insuring a cool and comfortable temperature for Eden during the summer season), having copious headwaters to supply the four major river systems this passage describes. The Havilah, through which the Pishon flowed, was rich in gold, spices, and deposits of precious stones—which were found in abundance along the southern or southwestern coasts of Arabia.
For the Cush, no such helpful clues are given; the name has been connected by some scholars with Kish in Sumeria or with the Kassites (who are thought to have originated in the Zagros mountain region).
The most plausible explanation for the later complete disappearance of the Pishon and Gihon rivers is the theory that mountain-building activity accompanying continental drift (for Arabia was originally connected with the Somalian and Ethiopian coast during prehistoric times) may have terminated those two river systems in the antediluvian period. This would be analogous to the uplift of the Mount Seir Range in Edom, which prevented the Jordan River from flowing all the way down to the Gulf of Aqaba, as it originally did.[1]
[1]Archer, G. L. (1982). New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Originally published: Encyclopedia of Bible difficulties. 1982. Zondervan’s Understand the Bible Reference Series (69). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
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The Garden of Eden
Commentary by R.E. Slater
*highlights in red = emphasis not a weblink
Some Evolutionary Facts
- Firstly I would not suppose to imagine continental drift due to some earlier antidiluvian time as Gleason Archer does... the earliest of the homo sapien #1 species would've been entering into the Middle East from Africa region may have been 550,000 and 750,000 years ago (Smithsonian, Feb 2021, source). This would not allow enough time for continental drift which requires not millions of years, nor tens of millions of years, but 250 millions of years at a few centimeters per year on average. Further, this dating of the first grouping of early man allowed for travel into Europe, Asia, and Oceania during the last ages of homo erectus, the homo neanderthals and homo denisovans (these are previous homo species from the same line which eventuated to birth homo "sapien" #1)
- Secondly, the earliest of the homo "sapien sapien" #2 species (= modern man) which left Africa may have been around 300,000 years ago or as recently as 75,000 years. This latest grouping to leave Africa eventually out-populated all earlier forms of the homo species as testified in genomic studies the past twenty years (sic, however, there are admixtures of all earlier homo groupings with modern man).
- Thirdly, during the past half-million years today's current continents did experience many multiples of ice ages and warming periods. These shaped human + animal (fauna), and flora evolution by diversity per environmental time period.
- Fourthly, it wasn't until the past 5,000 or 6,000 years ago in which human writing began to occur in the late neolithic age. All earlier mesolithic and paleolithic ages could only pass down their legends orally.
- Lastly, we need to be mindful of the evolution of the human larynx during the past 50,000 to 100,000 years ago... about the time modern man was migrating from Africa (currently placed around 75,000 years ago). Why? Our species was developing a language beyond grunts and nods, screams and wails. A spoken language in which oral legends could be developed and passed along.
Oral Traditions
Now oral history substantively lasts only so many generations. Think back to your family's lineage. It's oral history holds for three maybe four generations... you might know a few things but most things are lost after great grandma and granddad pass away. To survive it must be sung or written down.
Here are a few factoids regarding (re) oral tradition:
Under optimal conditions, as suggested by science-determined ages for events recalled in ancient stories, orally shared knowledge can demonstrably endure more than 7,000 years, quite possibly 10,000, but probably not much longer. Oct 18, 2018
Volcanic eruptions that occurred in the region about 37,000 years ago appear to have been incorporated into the local aboriginal creation story, or “Dreamtime,” which may be the longest surviving oral history still being passed on from generation to generation.Jul 31, 2020
Oral history is normally not the best method for obtaining factual data, such as specific dates, places or times, because people rarely remember such detail accurately. More traditional historical research methods — courthouse records, club minutes, newspaper accounts — are best for specifics.
A legend is presumed to have some basis in historical fact and tends to mention real people or events. Historical fact morphs into a legend when the truth has been nuanced or exaggerated to the point that real people or events have taken on a romanticized, "larger than life" quality.
5 - For more information on Oral Tradition please refer to Wikipedia on this same subject.
Articles to Date
I began about a year and a half ago in 2021 posting a number of articles on topics such as "God, Man and Evolution; The Evolution of God and Religion; The Evolution of the Earth; The Evolution of Man and Religion"; and such like. Currently I am working through the Evolution of Man from the Neolithic Period to the Paleolithic Period of which these articles will be a part of.
Below is an incomplete listing of past articles
Originally I imagined the Hebraic Origin Stories had their beginning in a combination of Babylonian, Akkadian, and Sumerian Origin Stories. Hence, I stated semi-factually that the earliest date one might give to the Genesis Creation narrative may have been 2500 BC during the Babylonian Kingdom (which, by the way, rose and fell several times in-and-around Israel's own history... that is, it preceded it; then fell immediately after it began; then arose; then fell again... which history I'll recount here someday).
Realize too that the Oral Traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may have occurred generally between 2200 to 1800 BC so my thinking at the time was to state that Genesis' oral traditions may have begun even earlier around the 2500 BC timeline of history when they once tied into Babylons oral traditions. And of that 2500 BC date we might infer to Akkadian and Sumerian Origin stories which are even older and informative of Babylon's own origin story. Thus and thus, Israel's own origin story may circumvent that of Babylon's and inveigh upon even earlier origins. Which is also why Semitic origin stories all seem peculiarly similar to one another having lost their centers and having become disassembled into the regional histories of earlier civilizations.
I find in this then a useful conjecture but when review these I will recount them for that civilization's usage alone and not the next. Hence, Israel's story is not that of Sumeria and Akkadia's story is not that of Israel. They serve their purpose preeminently for that civilization alone. And yet, there seems to be a general nod towards a lost, but familiar center.
I will pursue this line of inquiry because in my curiosity I am asking "what in the world had occurred - and was occuring - before Israel's own origins?" Which then led to my thinking that I would have to explore all the earlier ancient Semitic civilizations in Mesopotamia and necessarily include the non-Semitic civilizations of Egypt, East Africa, Central, South, and NW Africa. Which then lead me to thinking how man's evolutionary history had developed back a half-million years ago or longer. And so, it's taking awhile to collect this information, read, and think through it. But thankfully there is an abundance of resources on the Internet that if found, and found in its truest form, might elicit helpful conjectures.
The Problem of Bible Education
Since evolution nor evolutionary paleontology is not typically taught in conservative bible schools and seminaries I have had to learn this vast subject on my own. My earliest essays on Adam and Eve are found in the early years of my deconstructive phase beginning between the years of 2011 and 2013, though these same subjects have been added too many times over once I brought science into the discussion and began reconciling the bible with science, paleontology, and evolution - and not simply with biblical archaeology.
It was at this point I also realized I needed a new philosophic-theology and not the "Christian Realism" one I was handed. So another deter and more years passed. This too is not a subject taught in bible schools having assumed the philosophic era it is in... is the correct era to continue in....
Generally, the church, or school, has called it's own multifaceted era by one descriptor - "secular" - refusing to realize that it too is part of this or that stream of secularity; even though it attempts to give voice against it by isolating itself. But like the ostrich with its "head stuck in the ground" when frightened the church needs to look around itself and determine if it's reaction is reasonable or not. For my part, I think it isn't. Refusing to see oneself, or to acknowledge one's identity and actions by running away and preaching self-righteous apologies of defense (or offense) only mis-leads and mis-grounds itself into backwards lands of unhelpfulness, untruth, and mis-guidance.
Need a present day example? Look at MAGA Christianity = Trumpian Christianity, wherein the church believes it should actively remove the Constitutional democracy it is part of for a neo-fascist would-be dictator who can make all the bad stuff go away. MAGA churches have painted themselves into a corner and will not repent of its wrong-headed beliefs. Rather, they would tear an open and expanding democracy apart to replace it with their own reconstructed dominionism which, history has shown us to be the uncivil and chaining church legalisms placed upon the rights and liberties of people. I call this dictator an antiChrist. But my MAGA friends claim his as their newest Christ-like idol promising them the freedom to remove the rights of the detested other by any abhorrent means possible, including the caging of innocents and children.
A New Era of Leaving and Embracing
And so, here I am in the year 2024 still sorting out how to read the bible and it's earliest oral histories some claim to be real and others mythic, legendary, and folkloric lore. Genesis may be all of the last three descriptors but I believe it also has a more mundane earthy history behind it even as past civilization's many oral histories have had as well. It's just a matter of sorting them out. Look at England - who's perspective do we go with? The Druids who originally inhabited the lands? Invading Anglos and Saxon? The Romans? The French? The Germans? American? Or the extuant Refugees resettled into it? England has a long history formed of many beliefs and cultures.
I recently wrote up a series of articles on Noah and the Ark. I think that makes two, maybe three attempts at the subject from various viewpoints. Accordingly, I now wish to examine and enlarge the hoary histories which lie behind the Old Testament book of Genesis by examining man's religious history and beliefs, his creational-origin stories, and generally, what civilizations may have been like in those earlier time periods before 2500 BC.
By doing so, I'd like to bring our bible knowledge forwards into the 21st Century and no longer be content to let it rest in its traditional beliefs. Not long ago, when talking to a college-educated young couple, I had mentioned to them that the evolution of man was much older than Bishop Ussher's date of 6000 BC. My listeners snickered at my folly and apparent lack of bible-knowledge... which in turn told me where young, college-educated, working adults were in their bible literacy gained from their Sunday Schools and bible studies in bible churches.
Certainly any parent will draw back when hearing that Adam and Eve never existed. That their story can be held as a metaphor by the ancients for God's (e.g., Israel's) creational narrative of the world. And as a longtime youth, college, and young adult lay pastor and teacher, my concern is to help young people not lose their child-like Christian faith over something so profound as paleological dates-and-timelines not matching up with their own internal beliefs. My spiritual gift is to recreate a contemporary Christian faith which can bode well with the times and eras the church usually manages to mangle however sincere it's "reform".
Conclusion
Thus Relevancy22 was born to help evolve a postmodern/metamodern Christian's faith without having to spin off into La-La land which Christian's have termed as mystical. Hence, behind the oral traditions of the bible lay generations of earlier civilizations dealing with climate change, how to survive insufficient drought-starved crops, and deal with their neighbor in community settings. The Bible is part of this story and I would wish to help fellow Bible-believers to reappraise their faith in less mystical terms.
To do this, I had to find a new philosophic-theology which could keep the Christian faith by updating its faith into the real world of today and no longer on the basis of yesteryear's synthesized-eclectic traditions. To help the traditional Christian church dogmas forwards towards an evolutionary history which could be accepted and understood.
Since 2011, I've come a long way towards developing a feet-on-the grounds Natural Theology while connecting it to a more consistent Supernatural Theology. I am using Whitehead's Process-based Philosophy and its derivative Process Theology (per my own evangelic and old-timey Baptist backgrounds) to help me do this. I believe it to be the best way forward over all that I have learned in various churches, university, bible college and seminary.
And for those who are unafraid to journey with me I will continue an honest expose of more realistic bible studies. A majority of the work has been done and is stored on this site here but there is still more to do. Part 2 will next look at the older cultures mentioned above.
Enjoy,
R.E. Slater
February 14, 2024
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| Source via British Bible School |
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| Timeline here is read from right to left |
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| A Zoom-able Timeline |
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