Garden of Eden Spiritually Interpreted
3:1Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?3:2And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat: 3:3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 3:4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 3:5for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 3:7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
3:8And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. 3:9And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? 3:10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 3:11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 3:12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 3:13And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 3:14And Jehovah God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this,
cursed art thou above all cattle,
and above every beast of the field;
upon thy belly shalt thou go,
all the days of thy life:
3:15and I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed:
he shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.
3:16Unto the woman he said,
I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception;
in pain thou shalt bring forth children;
and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.
3:17And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
3:18thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
3:19in the sweat of thy face
till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return.
3:20And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 3:21And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
3:22And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever- 3:23therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden1, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 3:24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
- Metaphysically, this is the loss of the spiritual body. See Talks on Truth p.151: “In the Genesis allegory it is written that, for fear that man would eat of the tree of life and live forever in his sinful mind, the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden. This means that man does not consciously live in his organism, which is the real Garden of Eden. In his unregenerated state, man reflects his mind into his body.”
Following Entry: Genesis 4