Did God create the garden of Eden as a model of heaven above, or as a place to showcase God's majesty in the earth, where God created Adam to "dress it and to keep it" ? (Genesis 2: 15)
Digging deeper we find the phrase "in the earth" written two times in the Bible. The first time is in Exodus 20: 5 and the second time is in Philippians 2: 10. Yet another phrase "under the earth" is also found in these two verses.
The King James Version of the Bible retains the original phrase "in the earth" while later translations have changed this phrase to read "on the earth". Clearly, there is a difference in these two phrases: "on the earth" means on the surface of the earth while "in the earth" means inside the earth, or, beneath the surface of the earth.
We know that Abraham's bosom was in the earth and we also know that "the heart of the earth" is inside the earth. We know these things are true because the Bible tells us so, and we also know that Bible has never been wrong!
Therefore, we should be able to believe that the garden of Eden was "in the earth". We are not told, however, just how deep in the earth was Eden's location.
Living in the earth would have enabled people to live hundreds of years. The environment was not polluted, nor did people experience the harsh rays of the sun from living on the surface of the earth. How much, then, could people accomplish by living hundreds of years?
Also, how many babies could women bear if their child-bearing years covered a span of hundreds of years? For example, if a woman was fruitful with one child per year for one hundred babies, she would have given birth to one hundred babies. Therefore, if each woman did that, then the population down under would have reached a staggering number, perhaps several billion, from the time of Adam until the time of Noah's flood!
One theory suggests that Noah built the ark "in the earth".
And when "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and when the windows of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7: 10) the ark was lifted up, inside the earth, and came out at the North Pole, after which the ark drifted on the water and landed on the mountains of Ararat.
While this theory sounds plausible, there remains no evidence that tells us that it is true. We do know, however, that what happened after the ark landed at Ararat is true.
After that, God said, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you" (Genesis 9: 3). Because of the sudden change in his environment, man's diet also changed and would include meat; whereas before he had been a vegetarian "in the earth".
Digging deeper we find another place "in the earth" and that place was Nod, located on the east of Eden. And this was the place where Cain did not want to go.
"And Cain said unto the LORD, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth: and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and that every man that findeth me shall slay me. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." (Genesis 4: 13, 14, 16; underline mine).
We are not told, however, about the inhabitants of Nod. Perhaps they were hybrids, which is a mixture of human DNA with the DNA of other creatures, which would have been a nation of evil, for everything that they produced would have been evil because of their evil minds; thus Nod was a land of lawlessness.
But Cain also had an evil mind, and all of his generations from him and after him would have also been evil because they inherited the DNA of Cain.
Digging deeper we find yet another story that is interesting.
Some scholars believe that the Greek philosopher, Plato, got some of his ideas from reading Hebrew transcripts of the Bible while he was in Egypt. If this is true, then maybe the land of Nod was Plato's Atlantis.
For several centuries, moreover, men have been scanning the globe in search of Plato's Atlantis. They have not found Atlantis on the earth, nor will they, because Nod was "in the earth"---and Nod was destroyed and all life died there when "when the fountains of the great deep were broken up".
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be will you today.
Digging deeper we find the phrase "in the earth" written two times in the Bible. The first time is in Exodus 20: 5 and the second time is in Philippians 2: 10. Yet another phrase "under the earth" is also found in these two verses.
The King James Version of the Bible retains the original phrase "in the earth" while later translations have changed this phrase to read "on the earth". Clearly, there is a difference in these two phrases: "on the earth" means on the surface of the earth while "in the earth" means inside the earth, or, beneath the surface of the earth.
We know that Abraham's bosom was in the earth and we also know that "the heart of the earth" is inside the earth. We know these things are true because the Bible tells us so, and we also know that Bible has never been wrong!
Therefore, we should be able to believe that the garden of Eden was "in the earth". We are not told, however, just how deep in the earth was Eden's location.
Living in the earth would have enabled people to live hundreds of years. The environment was not polluted, nor did people experience the harsh rays of the sun from living on the surface of the earth. How much, then, could people accomplish by living hundreds of years?
Also, how many babies could women bear if their child-bearing years covered a span of hundreds of years? For example, if a woman was fruitful with one child per year for one hundred babies, she would have given birth to one hundred babies. Therefore, if each woman did that, then the population down under would have reached a staggering number, perhaps several billion, from the time of Adam until the time of Noah's flood!
One theory suggests that Noah built the ark "in the earth".
And when "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and when the windows of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7: 10) the ark was lifted up, inside the earth, and came out at the North Pole, after which the ark drifted on the water and landed on the mountains of Ararat.
While this theory sounds plausible, there remains no evidence that tells us that it is true. We do know, however, that what happened after the ark landed at Ararat is true.
After that, God said, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you" (Genesis 9: 3). Because of the sudden change in his environment, man's diet also changed and would include meat; whereas before he had been a vegetarian "in the earth".
Digging deeper we find another place "in the earth" and that place was Nod, located on the east of Eden. And this was the place where Cain did not want to go.
"And Cain said unto the LORD, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth: and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and that every man that findeth me shall slay me. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." (Genesis 4: 13, 14, 16; underline mine).
We are not told, however, about the inhabitants of Nod. Perhaps they were hybrids, which is a mixture of human DNA with the DNA of other creatures, which would have been a nation of evil, for everything that they produced would have been evil because of their evil minds; thus Nod was a land of lawlessness.
But Cain also had an evil mind, and all of his generations from him and after him would have also been evil because they inherited the DNA of Cain.
Digging deeper we find yet another story that is interesting.
Some scholars believe that the Greek philosopher, Plato, got some of his ideas from reading Hebrew transcripts of the Bible while he was in Egypt. If this is true, then maybe the land of Nod was Plato's Atlantis.
For several centuries, moreover, men have been scanning the globe in search of Plato's Atlantis. They have not found Atlantis on the earth, nor will they, because Nod was "in the earth"---and Nod was destroyed and all life died there when "when the fountains of the great deep were broken up".
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be will you today.
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