Where does the idea of Eden come from?

The creation story in the Bible relates the location of the Garden of Eden in relation to four major rivers Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, Euphrates, as well as in relation to a number of named regions Havilah, Cush, Asshur or Assyria. This seems to suggest a setting in the ancient near east, specifically somewhere in Mesopotamia. In this garden Adam was created from the dust of the earth and was designed to tend to its livelihood. “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden and there he put the mand he had formed (Genesis 2:8).”
The Garden of Eden was an environment that was constructed for mankind to live in perfection but because Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s orders to not eat from a certain tree they were cast out of it. Genesis 3: 17-19 says, “cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.” From this point on mankind has had to plow and work the fields to harvest food as sustenance inorder to live. If you believe in the Bible then you know that is not possible to recreate Eden because we do not have the capacity to create perfect plants that are self sustaining and full of nutrients. But what is possible for us to do is take better care of what God as given us to work with. There needs to be awareness and growing concern for the balance of extraction and re-plantation that must go on in order to continue food for civilizations. As it stands today in very broad terms we are taking from the earth more than we are putting back into it. We need to understand that its not possible to return to Eden but we can take care of what has been given to us.

Jeffrey Lee