The Impossible Spaces: A Commentary on Gen. 2:8–15

Santiago García-Jalón

doi:10.3390/rel12080656

Abstract

A close analysis of the text of Gen. 2:8–15, pertaining to the Garden of Eden, shows the structural differences between said text and others from ancient mythologies that mention or describe a paradise. Likewise, that analysis suggests that the data provided by the Bible to locate paradise are merely a narrative device meant to dissipate all doubts as to the existence of a garden where God put human beings. Similar to other spaces that appear in the Bible, the Garden of Eden is, in fact, an impossible place. Throughout the centuries, however, recurring proposals have been made to locate paradise. As time went by, those proposals were progressively modified by the intellectual ideas dominant in any given era, thus leading the representations of the location of Paradise to be further and further away from the information provided by the biblical text.

Highlights

The ancient idea of paradise being in the East—a reference that varied as the notion of the ‘East’ was widened by different expeditions to Asia—gave way to a desire to locate the common source of the four rivers flowing from the Garden of Eden, which first required them to be identified
In contrast with the concision of the description of paradise—the reader only learns that it contained “every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”—Genesis provides ample geographical data: the garden is in Eden, eastward, and from it flow the four rivers, the names and the courses of which are specified profusely. This way of proceeding is all the more surprising compared to what is habitual in other works of ancient and medieval mythology that deal with paradises
From a present-day perspective, everything concerning the location of the Garden of Eden should probably be regarded solely as a pragmatic resource: the text draws the reader’s attention towards the possible location of paradise, persuading them to accept its existence implicitly

Summary

Introduction

The ancient idea of paradise being in the East—a reference that varied as the notion of the ‘East’ was widened by different expeditions to Asia—gave way to a desire to locate the common source of the four rivers flowing from the Garden of Eden, which first required them to be identified This task was more and more influenced by cultural factors that reveal a deep intellectual change in the attitude towards the sacred Scriptures. In comparison with the representations of the Garden of Eden, the iconography of the rivers of paradise holds a minor place in art history It probably contributes, more efficiently to highlighting the impact that factors external both to the Bible and to the religious institution that receives and transmits it have on the interpretations of the biblical text.

The Structure of the Text

The Data Used to Locate the Garden of Eden

A Narrative Strategy and Its Meaning

The Search for Paradise

Conclusions