Eden as a Temple
The first temple was Eden.
Last week we were introduced to the first gardener, God, who went about making a garden in Eden, a place into which he would place the man. In turning the desert into a garden God sets himself up again as an example for his image bearer to follow.
In chapter 1 God is portrayed as a workman, a wise master builder. He works from sunup to sundown for six days, completes his work, then rests on the seventh day. Like him, his image bearer is given a task to perform. He, too, is to form and fill just as God has done, and when he is finished there will be an eschatological rest for him as well. Here in chapter 2 the same dynamic is in play. God takes an arid land and turns it into a garden. He does so by watering the ground and then forming a man from the ground to cultivate the garden. Again, God’s image bearer in the physical realm will imitate God in his work.
Friday we touched on a concept that doesn’t get talked about too much but it should, and that is the concept of Eden’s garden as a temple. The design of the tabernacle and later of the temple was given by God.
Exodus 25:8-9 ESV - And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
The artisans, the builders of the tabernacle and its furniture, were filled with the Holy Spirit for their task and given a pattern to follow. That pattern was shown them on the mountain.
Numbers 8:4 ESV - And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Stephen mentions this in Acts 7, and also the writer to the Hebrews. The tabernacle pointed back to Eden, but also forward to Christ and the new Eden. I want to show you a few things that link Eden to the tabernacle to the temple to the Church and then finally to the New Jerusalem and the eschatological Eden of Revelation 21 and 22. Let’s start by looking at a few of the verses we covered last week from…
Genesis 2:10-14 ESV - A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Why the mention of gold in verse 12? Have you ever found that odd? Also there is the mention of the onyx stone which is a precious stone, a gem. No one knows for sure what the bdellium mentioned here is. It is either a resin used in the burning of incense or it could be an ancient word for pearls. None of these things are found in primeval Eden, mind you. They’re in the land of Havilah which is outside of Eden. But they’re mentioned for a reason.
In Exodus 25 the instructions are given for the tabernacle. Most of the items within are to be overlaid in gold. The priests are to be adorned in precious stones and onyx is specifically mentioned. Over the mercy seat are spread two cherubim of gold whose wings touch, reminding us of the cherubim of Eden whose job was to guard the garden of God and bar the way so that Adam and Eve could not re-enter. In Ezekiel 28 the prince of Tyre (Satan) is called an anointed cherub from the garden of God. The golden lampstands in the tabernacle and temple were designed to look like trees and beautiful flowers—like Eden.
Exodus 25:31-35 ESV - “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.
Branches, blossoms, calyxes, and flowers. (Calyxes are the protective leaves around a bud before it has opened up and bloomed.) Sound like a garden-like place? The curtain of the tabernacle separating the holy place from the holiest of all was to be decorated with more cherubim. The priests were adorned with robes with pomegranates on them and breastplates of jewels. The tabernacle was to remind them of Eden, and Moses’s description here of Eden is pointing toward that.
The design of the temple was essentially the same, only it was a permanent location. It was built, like the garden, on a mountain—Mount Zion. Just as Eden is called the mountain of God in Ezekiel 28, so Mount Zion becomes known as the mountain of God. Just as the tabernacle in the wilderness was the dwelling place of God in the midst of his people, so Mount Zion is said to be the same. There is even a river that flows out of Mount Zion named, interestingly enough, the Gihon, after one of the rivers mentioned flowing out of Eden in Genesis 2.
Tomorrow we will look at how Adam was set up to be a priest in this garden temple.