Information Related to "Answers from Genesis - Part 4"
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We continue exploring the book of Genesis and the common questions asked
about it. Here are the answers as we best understand them in light of the
Bible.
No one knows for sure, because it was located in a pre-Flood landscape, but the Bible leaves some geographical clues about where it existed.
The Bible states the Garden of Eden was situated where four rivers branched out (Genesis 2:10-14). Two of the rivers mentioned in the Garden of Eden are still known today—the Hiddekel (the Tigris) and the Euphrates (Genesis 2:14). The other two rivers, the Pishon and the Gihon, are not readily identified.
It is possible, though, that two great dry river beds revealed in that area by satellite imagery could turn out to be these two ancient rivers—the Pishon and the Gihon (see Smithsonian, "Has the Garden of Eden Been Located at Last?" Vol. 18, 1987). It may be that the Garden of Eden was located close to where the Tigris and the Euphrates converge and empty their waters, in the northern tip of the Persian Gulf.
An alternative view has more recently been presented by archaeologist David Rohl in his book Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation (1998), as well as in a TV documentary on The Learning Channel, In Search of Eden (2002). He proposes that the Garden of Eden could have been situated near the headwaters of the Tigris and the Euphrates—more specifically in northwest Iran. He makes a plausible argument based on linguistic and historical evidence. Yet for now the matter remains one of conjecture.
It's interesting to read the legends that grew up in various cultures about the Garden of Eden. The Sumerians, who lived in the southern region of Mesopotamia (which means land between the rivers), believed their origin was in the land of Dilmun, a paradise where all the animals were tame and neither sickness nor death existed. They wrote, "It is a pure, clean and bright place ... where the lion does not kill, nor does the wolf devour the sheep" (Samuel Kramer, History Begins in Sumer, 1974, p. 228).
The Babylonians called this paradise Eridu, where "Adapa" (the Babylonian Adam) lived. They said he was the seed of mankind, but later offended the gods by obtaining secret knowledge and was made mortal, thus bringing sickness upon the people. They wrote, "Near Eridu was a garden, in which was a mysterious Sacred Tree, a Tree of Life, planted by the gods ... protected by guardian spirits, and no man enters" (Halley's Bible Handbook, 1965, p. 66).
Archaeological evidence shows the entire area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to have been significantly populated from the beginning of civilization, and it is the region where the most ancient forms of written script—pictographic and cuneiform—have been found.
In any case, it's probably impossible to know just where the Garden of Eden was, despite the clues we have. It couldn't be found by archaeology even if one knew the vicinity in which to look, as there would be no ruins to excavate—civilization having developed after man's expulsion from Eden.
Furthermore, the garden was part of the pre-Flood world that was completely covered with water and destroyed during the great Flood. No recognizable remains of the Garden of Eden would have survived by the time Noah, his family and the animals disembarked and began to populate the newly transformed terrain.
Still, in giving us indications of its whereabouts, God assures us that this paradise was a real place—where real history happened.
Some erroneously jump to the conclusion that Enoch was taken up into heaven, but notice the Bible nowhere says this. It simply says that God "took him." It does not specify where he was taken.
Jesus Christ later stated in the Gospel of John that "Scripture cannot be broken" (10:35). One of the points He was making was that one passage of the Bible cannot contradict another passage.
This same Gospel of John reveals a startling fact very pertinent to this matter: " No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven" (John 3:13, emphasis added throughout).
Clearly, Jesus Christ was the only human being who had ascended into heaven. The phrase "who is in heaven" lets us know that this was written by the apostle John after Christ's return to heaven. So even as late as this statement, no human being—and that includes Enoch—had ascended into heaven.
We later read about Enoch's fate in Hebrews 11:5: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God." The word rendered "taken" can also mean "transferred elsewhere." And the New American Standard Bible says this was done "so that he would not see death"—a better translation than "did not," since we know from the same chapter of Hebrews that he died.
Notice in verse 13 the summary given of all of the men and women of faith listed here, including Enoch: " These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13). So Enoch definitely died as well as all the rest.
How then can it be that Enoch was transferred elsewhere so he wouldn't see death? God doesn't give us all the details of what happened, but a few scenarios have been proposed that do not conflict with the fact that Enoch died as the Bible says.
It may be that God transported Enoch elsewhere to keep him from being killed at a certain time—perhaps protecting him from martyrdom at the hands of angry persecutors who didn't like his announcement of coming divine judgment (see Jude 14-16). God likewise supernaturally transported Elijah and Philip to other places on earth (see 2 Kings 2:11; Acts 8:39).
On the other hand, we should observe that Enoch died young for his time—at age 365 while those before and after him lived into their 800s and 900s. Because of this, some speculate that God "took him" from life prematurely so that he would not have to live out his remaining centuries in a miserable world (compare Isaiah 57:1-2). His next moment of consciousness will be the resurrection. In this case, "so that he would not see death" would refer to his not having to experience the process of dying—his life ending instantly.
Still others, putting the likelihood of Enoch experiencing persecution together with his early death, have concluded that Enoch was murdered—martyred for his preaching. Enoch being taken and not found would then refer to God removing his body and burying it—as happened with Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). It is even proposed that the murderer was Cain's descendant Lamech, who killed a young man (Genesis 4:23-24)—but there is no way to know if this was Enoch. In this case, Enoch being taken or transferred so that he would not see death is taken as separate matter—that of him being spiritually converted, transferred from the world's ways to God's way of living, so that he would not see ultimate death in the lake of fire (compare Colossians 1:13; John 8:51).
Again, we don't have enough details to know exactly what is intended. But we do know that Enoch did not skip death and go to heaven. He died, and no human being has ascended to heaven except Jesus Christ. To learn more, send for or download our free booklet What Happens After Death?
Scholars debate and disagree over the meaning of the reference to "the sons of God" in Genesis 6:1-4. Some people read into these verses the idea that it refers to angelic beings marrying women and producing a race of giants. Christ explained that is impossible, teaching that angels don't marry and, by implication, don't produce children either (Luke 20:34-36).
Human beings are clearly the subject in Genesis 6—not angels. God said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh ..." (verse 3) and, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth..." (verse 7).
The "giants" in verse 4 were simply people of giant stature. Similar people are spoken of in later times, most notably Goliath and his family.
How, then, can we understand Genesis 6:1-4 ? Human beings are also sons of God. This is not referring to becoming spiritual sons of God through conversion, but to the fact that all people are sons of God by creation (Luke 3:38). The attitudes and actions of these "sons of God" were so wrong that they provoked God to send the Flood.
Halley's Bible Handbook raises the possibility that these sons of God were the descendants of Seth. Seth, the Bible records, was made in the image of Adam, who was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26; 5:1-3). Speaking of Seth's descendants, Genesis 4:26 adds, "...men began to call on the name of the Lord ," a phrase that could also be rendered, "called after the name of the Lord"— that is, the "sons of God." If so, the women, "the daughters of men" whom these "sons of God" married were the descendants of unrighteous Cain. By marrying these women, the righteous sons of Seth turned from God, leading Him to say that the entire world was then corrupt (Genesis 6:5-7,12).
An alternative explanation is that "sons of God" in Genesis 6:2 should be rendered "sons of the gods" and refers to self-willed men who called themselves such, not in worship of the Creator, but of pagan deities. Either way, their marriages would have been in defiance of the Creator God, as they lived contrary to His will. And in light of God's characterization of society riddled with violence (verses 11 and 13), it could be that such men forcibly took the women as wives.
Regardless of which explanation is accurate, the idea that a half-spirit, half-human race resulted from angels marrying women is not what the Bible teaches.
Genesis 7:19-23 states, "And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered . The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth ... So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive."
Jesus Christ confirmed that the Flood had been a universal flood. He said, "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:38-39).
As Gleason Archer, professor of Old Testament Studies, explained, "Now the most elementary knowledge of physical law leads to the observation that water seeks its own level ... If the water level rose thirty thousand feet so as to submerge the peak of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, it must have reached that level everywhere else on earth ... Therefore we must conclude that the Flood was indeed universal, or else that the biblical record was grievously in error" (1982, p. 82).
It may be that mountains were not then as tall as Everest, but even if they were relatively small, the whole world would still have been covered in water.
Arguing against a worldwide flood, some have supposed that there was not sufficient water to cover the entire earth or that there should be more water on earth today if a worldwide flood really occurred.
On his Creation Science Defense Web site, Tom Carpenter explains these apparent problems: "It is also important to consider that most of the earth's surface now is covered by water (70 percent) and if the entire earth's surface were leveled out, the waters of the ocean would cover the earth to a depth of 1.7 miles. Therefore, if the mountains rose and the valleys sank, the water of the Flood would have ended up mainly in the oceans ... It is also important to consider the geologic fact of fossils of fish on the tops of mountains" (www.creationdefense.org/69.htm). VT
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