Was the Garden of Eden a real place ?
. Garden of Eden. The most celebrated garden of history is the garden of Eden. It seems to have been an enclosed area, bounded, no doubt, by natural barriers. The garden, located “in Eden, toward the east,” had an entrance on its eastern side. It was here that cherubs were stationed with the flaming blade of a sword, after Adam’s sin, to block man’s access to the tree of life in the middle of the garden. (Ge 2:8; 3:24) The garden was well watered by a river flowing from it and parting to become the headwaters of four large rivers. This parklike “paradise of pleasure” (Ge 2:8, Dy) contained every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food, as well as other vegetation, and was the habitat of animals and birds. Adam was to cultivate it and to keep it and eventually to expand it earth wide as he carried out God’s command to “subdue” the earth. It was a sanctuary, a place where God representatively walked and communicated with Adam and Eve; it was a perfect home for them.—Ge 2:9, 10, 1
