The Garden of Eden was the home for Adam and Eve along with animals.  The Garden of Eden was created perfect for those who were there and it is was their home.  The Garden of Eden had to be an amazing place that had incredible features. 

Adam and Eve had a very unique relationship with God during this period of the Earth's history.  Some Biblical Scholars theorize that God, as a Theophany, talked and maybe even walked with them.  In Genesis 3:8, which is after the incident of eating the Forbidden Fruit, lets us know that God's presence was heard in the Garden of Eden without seeing God.  According to some other Biblical Scholars, the Genesis 3:8 verse cannot be used to justify God walking with Adam and Eve as the verse states that they heard God's presence. 

Throughout the Garden of Eden scriptures, God would routinely talk with them which meant His presence was with them and might also mean walking in the past time in the form of a Theophany.  If it was not a Theophany, then it may have been in the same way that God spoke with Moses.

Location on Earth

The Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter two, describes the location having four major rivers, discussed further in this topic, where one of the rivers is named the Euphrates and then another Tigris.  Some Biblical Commentaries have then theorized that the Garden of Eden must have been somewhere near the modern-day two river system named the Tigris-Euphrates River System that is part of modern-day Iraq.  This correlation of a name of a river cannot necessarily be made as explained shortly.

The problem with any research is the Great Flood of Noah changed the whole Earth in many ways which would may have affected the course of existing river beds along with many other topological terrain features.  Some Biblical commentaries have theories based on modern-day names and archeological information that leads to the theory of the area known as the Fertile Crescent, area of modern-day Iraq extending down to part of north east Africa, are the same area of the Garden of Eden.  This can never be positively verified because the scriptures do not give us this information.  Moses most likely knew it because of information given to him by the Holy Spirit when he wrote the Book of Genesis, but Moses did not let us know as God did not instruct him to do so.

There is the possibility of the confirmation of some features surviving the Great Flood of Noah such as the Great Pyramid because of two scriptural verses of Isaiah 19:29-20 and Jeremiah 32:30; and, information from the writings of Josephus in The Antiquities of the Jews.  This possibility is mentioned because the area of the Great Pyramid is near the Fertile Crescent area.  There are some Biblical Scholars who have also come up with the theory that the builder of the Great Pyramid was Enoch.  This author is not endorsing the Great Pyramid and does not believe in this theory of Enoch building the Great Pyramid, where both are mentioned for the reader's general knowledge.

Possibly one of the prevailing beliefs is the area of the Garden of Eden must have been in the area where Noah descends down from Mount Ararat after leaving the Ark, which would be modern-day Iraq.  As already mentioned, Archeologist often calls this area of the Middle East the cradle of Civilization or the Fertile Crescent which then draws the wrong conclusion that this must have been the same area of the Garden of Eden.  The Garden of Eden could have been located anywhere on the Earth, with no restrictions because the Great Flood changed the whole Earth where before Biblical Scholars believe the whole Earth was a tropical paradise with a water canopy amongst other amazing attributes that extended life.  We cannot go by future scriptural references that give details on where Noah descended after leaving the Ark.

It is this author's opinion that the Garden of Eden cannot be found, cannot be determined and was buried/destroyed in the Great Flood  This does not mean that there are not fascinating aspects of the Garden of Eden to discover based on the scriptures.  For the Christian, there is a great deal of information dealing with the Garden of Eden that is a very rewarding undertaking to understand, plus it confirms an aspect of the animals in the Great Flood that this author has not seen in any Biblical Commentaries.

How Long Were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?

There is often heard the question on how long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after the Creation week.  This is a question, which is often asked, that this author's believes is not answered in the scripture for many reasons.  These two points are this author's theory on why we are not given the amount of time as God knew:

1. That giving any duration on how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, before being exiled, would cause many types of theories dealing with the age of the universe, and also the age of the earth that do not add to our Faith in God.  This is discussed more in the topic on the Gap Theory of Genesis 1:2.
2. That giving any duration would generate more questions such as:
   (a) What did Adam and Eve do for all of the unknown quantity of years of time besides giving names to the animals?
   (b) Were there other places that Adam and Eve went besides the center of the Garden of Eden where the Forbidden Fruit was located?
   (c) If Adam was there for the unknown quantity of years before Eve, was Adam lonely, and does that mean men do not need women in their lives?
   that also do not add to our Faith in God.

From scriptural inferences, there were aspects about the Garden of Eden, prior to the exile, that were probably like Heaven as the Earth was a connected subset part of the Kingdom of God, in a more direct sense then we can image, before the Fall of Adam and Eve. 

• The Garden of Eden was perfect with no sin, but there was introduced at some point the Forbidden Tree that was associated with Lucifer.
• God, possibly as a Theophany, would directly speak to Adam and Eve there. 

This theory, on aspects probably like Heaven, is based on the future eternity when God rebuilds all things where the New Heaven and New Earth will be part of the Kingdom of God in a more direct way as read in Revelation 21:1-3.  Also, Paul was not allowed to write about his experience, 2 Corinthians 12:4, of being taken up to a part of Heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Note that we know how long Adam lived, which was 930 years after being exiled.  We are not given the time period that Adam was in the Garden of Eden as stated above in this topic. 

In Genesis 2:20, we learn that Adam was naming the animals.  For this to occur, then this would indicate a very long time with the biological proposed approximation of 5,404 members in the Family divisions of all living creatures.  (For more information on animals of a Family creating others of their Kind, species, see the topic on evolution, where evolution is false.)

How Was the Garden Of Eden Named?

In Genesis 2:8, shown below, the scripture lets us know that God planted a garden in the east, in a place that God called Eden.  Note that the whole Earth has the land and water separated, where before the entire Earth was covered in water, Genesis 1:2.  Genesis chapter 1 was a general summary and Genesis 2:4 starts off with more details.  Chapter breaks in the Bible were invented by man.  The end of Genesis chapter 1 should have been put at Genesis 2:3, in this author's opinion.

Some points:

• Note that there are a few perspectives on Genesis 2:4 where this author's opinion is this verse is about the second re-creation of the Earth after some problem that caused the Earth to be formless, which is often described as the Gap Theory of Genesis 1:2.
• There is no rain on the earth until the Great Flood of Noah.  Genesis 2:6, in some translations, has the word "rain" where it should be "mist". 
  (a) In Genesis 2:5, there is the mention "God had not sent rain on the earth",
  (b) In Genesis 9:13-16, God gives Noah and Noah's family a sign in the sky called a rainbow.  If there had been rain before the Great Flood then there most likely would have been rainbows, but Genesis 9:13-16 infers this is new.  In other words, if rainbows already existed then it could not have been a sign.  Note that Creation Scientists have theories, which this author believes are correct, that after the Great Flood the barometric pressure and speed of light changed to allow rainbows to happen.
• The scriptures inform us that Eden is the located in the east area.  God calls it the east where we are not given the location on the Earth.
• God made the garden, so God called it a garden.
• The created man and woman were placed in the garden.
• In Genesis 2:15, the full name of "Garden of Eden" is first used. 
• In Genesis 3:2, Lucifer who was possessing the Serpent, only calls the area "the garden".
• The use of the name "Garden of Eden" is similar to how we would call something a city inside a State or Province.  Notice in Genesis 2:8, that it states that "garden in the east, in Eden".  It does not state that God made Eden into a garden.   

Was There an Entrance and Exit?  Why Cherubim?

In Genesis 3:24, Adam and Eve are being driven out from the Garden of Eden because of their action of eating the Forbidden Fruit, which was three sins:

1. Not trusting God that He always had the best for them,
2. Eating the forbidden fruit, and
3. Believing Lucifer's lies that God was not providing everything for them.

Many of us, including this author, have sometimes heard well-meaning sermons that there was an entrance to the Garden of Eden because of the passage in Genesis 3:24 "to keep the way of the tree of life", which is not so straight forward because of when the entrance was spoken about.  The well-meaning sermons, too often incorrectly gave the listener the impression that the:

• Garden of Eden was small.  This is not true.
• Garden of Eden had walls around it of some kind to make it only have one entrance.  This is not provable.
• Garden of Eden disappeared after the exile of Adam and Eve.  This is not provable.

When looking at verse 3:24, which is a summary scriptural statement, and reviewing parts of the verse:

1. The word Cherubim is plural for Cherub.  Cherub are very powerful Angels and they were guarding the way to get to the Tree of Life by being at the east of the Garden of Eden. 
2. The way to the Tree of Life is not defined but it had a way to get to it.  The way apparently required starting at the east of the Garden of Eden. 
3. What is not known is whether or not there were other ways into the Garden of Eden, albeit the other ways did not allow passage to the Tree of Life.
4. We can correctly assume Adam and Eve, along with future descents of theirs did not have the ability to walk, run, craw, dig a tunnel or do anything to get past the Cherubim.  This is not meant as irreverent.
5. Lucifer and the Fallen Angels have the ability to move in the air and additional dimensions that we cannot see because of Ephesians 6:12 and many other scriptures.  Therefore, the Cherubim had to guard multiple way to get to the Tree of Life.

   Ephesians 6:12

   For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

6. God drove out Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.  We are not told where God drove them out to.  In other words, God could have drove Adam and Eve to any direction away from the Garden of Eden.  If there is only one entrance then it could mean that God drove out Adam and Eve to the east of the Garden of Eden, but God is not restricted by an entrance or any barriers around the Garden of Eden.

Therefore, it is possible that the following theory can be concluded from the points 1 through 6 just listed:

1. The Tree of Life could have been visible from the east entrance of the Garden of Eden, and still be hundreds of miles from the East Entrance.
2. There was at least one entrance to the Garden of Eden that was called the East Entrance.  When taking into consideration the whole Word of God in the entire Bible, God always makes one way only in all examples when dealing with choices.  A few examples:
   (a) to enter the Ark of Noah required getting in before the Great Flood and the entrance door was closed by God before the Great Flood,
   (b) to live life on Earth, God is "the way" and the source of life,
   (c) to obtain Salvation is only obtainable one way through Jesus Christ.
   which therefore most likely means there was only one way into the Garden of Eden  after Adam and Eve's sin of eating of the Forbidden Fruit. 
3. The Cherubim were able to guard from all directions.  All directions include coming from the air, beneath the ground along with the locations that Ephesians 6:12 states.
4. We do not know if there were multiple entrances to the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve's eating of the Forbidden Fruit.  More on this possibility shortly in this topic when discussing the animals that were populating the Earth after the Creation.

Regarding use of the Cherubim, Biblical Scholars point out that a simple Angel could have prevented Adam and Eve from having access to the Tree of Life.  By God placing several Cherubs to guard with a weapon, that is described as a flaming sword means it was required.  Because of the significance of the use of multiple Cherub, then this had to mean it was to stop Lucifer, along with other Fallen Angels, to have access to the Tree of Life where they could have used the fruit to be given to human beings.

Did Adam and Eve Come In and Out of Garden of Eden?

Animals most likely were required to explore and migrate outside of the Garden of Eden as their population increased.  This included animals that could fly and those that lived in the water.  The animals had to also be populating the Earth before Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit in order for Adam, Eve and their descendants to have use of the animals after being exiled from the Garden of Eden. 

Were All Of The Animals In The World Today in the Garden of Eden?

Evolution is very easily provable to be absolutely false so the answer to the question of "were all the animals in the Garden of Eden?" is yes.  This is possible because creating all of the species of animals and plants can be done by change based on their kind, Genesis 1:24, which also includes a limitation to not be able to change into something totally different.  As an example, a sparrow cannot change into a hawk, but the sparrow can change feather colors, size, length of the beak because God designed the change "according to their kinds", which can happen based on many things such as the environment the creature lives in.  We call the variation a species.  All species are part of biological family, like dogs with all of their breeds, that can be called species, are part of the Canine Family.  For a more information read the topic on Evolution.

Additionally, we know that even today, there are species of animals and plants that are becoming extinct or are already extinct which were around as little as a few decades ago.  This means that there were possibility animals:

• In the Garden of Eden that became extinct,
• After the exile that became extinct, and
• After the Great Flood became extinct because of Earth's changed environment.

What Was The Size Of The Garden of Eden?

The word "Garden", in the title "Garden of Eden", in many of people's mind also conveys something not that large or a small area where some vegetable plants are grown.  In some places in the world the term "garden" simply means the backyard or the area that surrounds the home.

From reading the scriptural passages about the four rivers in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10-14:

1. Pishon, which winds through the entire land of Havilah.
2. Gihon, which winds through the entire land of Cush,  (Cush is consider to be modern-day Ethiopia.)
3. Tigris, which runs alongside the east side of Ashur,
4. Euphrates.  (Possibly the largest of the Rivers.)

then this alone conveys a very large area of most likely millions of millions of acres of land that could have encompassed much of what we think of as the size of modern-day Middle East area, extending down to areas of North-East Africa that encompasses modern-day Ethiopia.  This author is NOT stating the Garden of Eden was located in the Middle-East, although that may be the location area.

Regarding the rivers, also notice the phrase "entire land" that is used to describe the first two rivers, and the third river runs along "the east side of Ashur".  We do not know the size of Ashur but it had to be large enough to have a river running through it.  The fourth river may have been the largest river which is not given any geographical details or boundaries to determine a size.

We know from the Great Flood of Noah that the topology of the Earth most likely changed a great deal so we cannot make correlations with rivers that have the same names as those used in Book of Genesis, even if there are rivers with those names in any area of the world including the Middle East.

There may be some critics or even well-meaning Theologians who might state that the four rivers were streams, with the intent of meaning something not very large, but the scriptures use the term rivers in Genesis 2:10-14.  As mentioned earlier in this topic, God informs us that mist came up from the ground to water the land, which conveys the water also would have to have a method to disperse, runoff, which is most likely a source for initially streams that became rivers that went into the oceans.

Knowing Evil for the First Time

• Before the rebellion of Lucifer in Heaven, evil did not exist. 
• In eternity past, God existed with all of the Time Domains that He created with the possibility of infinite sets of heavenly locations in the Kingdom of God, where there was no evil anywhere. 
• We know that God is all knowing, omniscient, so with extreme reverence before the rebellion of Lucifer:
  (a) God did not know about evil in the direct experiential sense.  In other words, there was no evil to know about.
  (b) All of God's created places did not have evil in them.
  (c) Note that we know from John 8:44, Lucifer in the beginning had no truth in him, but we are not told when Lucifer manifested the thoughts that lead to the rebellion with war against God. 
• After Adam and Eve had eaten the Forbidden Fruit, then verse 22 meant that they both became aware of both good and evil.  Before the sin of eating the Forbidden Fruit, they would have not known about evil.  It is this author's opinion, that the first part of the sin was Eve doubting God when listening to the lies of Lucifer. 
• Lucifer absolutely deceived and lied to Adam and Eve about the Forbidden Fruit.  Lucifer spoke a half truth, "like God, knowing good and evil" about the consequence, and the way Lucifer said it had the interpretation to Eve in Genesis 3:5 to mean that God was holding back something good from Eve, which is absolutely not true, a lie, along with evil.  (This author is not stating Lucifer was telling the truth, but describing the deception.)

As discussed above in this topic, it became necessary that God would prevent access to the Tree of Life for not only humankind but also Lucifer with the fallen angels so that the Tree of Life's fruit could not be given to humans.  Access before the Great Flood would have allowed humans to life forever. 

Forbidden Tree, Why was It There?

What to read next?

What is Salvation?  Is it possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?