Genesis 1-3 / Imagery?

chair

Well-known member
If you study Ancient Near East ("ANE") literature, rather than pseudo-scientific internet blogs... "Eden" isn't a Hebrew word, and isn't the proper name of a certain place.

It's a Sumerian word. In Sumerian, it refers to the fertile land along the sides of a river which is watered by periodic flooding of the river.

Based on the rivers given in Genesis, all the riverbanks of the Near East are intended - the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, and Dan rivers being the centers of agriculture in the world at the time.

Gan Eden - the Garden of Eden - is a specific location within Eden. According to the book of Ezekiel, it is found in Lebanon, somewhere near the city-state of Tyre.

The Hebrew actually says that God planted a Garden in Eden.
 
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