Eden and the Garden

Weekly Torah Lesson

Parasha: BeReishit: In the Beginning
Torah: BeReishit 1:1 – 6:8

A river went out from Eden to water the garden. Genesis 2:10

There is Eden, and there is the garden. Eden is a place of delight, far beyond the garden, beyond all created things. Yet its river nurtures all that grows in that garden. The garden is wisdom, understanding, knowing—where all of creation begins. Adam is placed in the garden, to work with his mind, and to discover the transcendent Eden flowing within. So too, that is the objective of all man’s toil in this world: To reach beyond his own mind. Not to a place where the mind is ignored, but rather, to its essence, to the inner sense of beauty and wonder that guides it. To Eden. Understanding “Eden” and “the Garden” to be two separate entities had never entered my mind until this morning. After thinking about the possibility of such a physical relationship of two separate entities being jointly connected but separate, the pattern of the Mishkan and the later Temple began to take on more meaning. Look at what the next two verses show us:

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Ge 3:24)

The “garden” is pictured In the pattern of the Mishkan / Temple and is known as “The Holy Place”. The Holy Place is connected to the Holy of Holies and houses the Golden Minorah, The Golden Altar of Incense and the Gold table where the twelve loaves of unleavened bread are kept. There is limited access to this area. Only the priests are allowed to enter the Holy Place twice a day to offer up incense on the altar and to light the menorah. The Holy of Holiesis adjacent to The Holy Place but is separated by a heavy curtain, known as The Veil. Notice the description of this “veil”.

“31 And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 33 And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. 34 And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.” (Ex 26:31-34)

Notice what is embroidered on the veil. The Cherubim are there to remind us that passage beyond the veil is strictly forbidden. Only the High Priest, once a year, may enter behind the veil to make atonement for himself and for the people of Israel. The only reason that he was allowed to perform this ritual every year was to picture what Messiach was going to do for us when He shed His blood. I could go on for a long time but I think that there is enough here to stir up your thinking about what Yeshua actually did for us. Through His shed blood, we actually have access into “Eden”. Where Avinu, the Ultimate Source, is waiting to show His mercy to us. ?