Where Is Eden? An Analysis of Some of the Mesopotamian Motifs in Primeval J (original) (raw)

Joel Klenck, The Region of Eden: Analysis and Debate

Creation Science Research Quarterly, 2009

Eastern Anatolia, southern Iraq, and Jerusalem have been proposed as the regions that once contained the Garden of Eden. Several creationists have argued that it is impossible to locate the region of Eden due to the dramatic changes to the surface of the earth during the Noachian Deluge. However, a close analysis of relevant Biblical passages and the archaeology, geography, geology, paleontology, and paleobotany of Anatolia, the Near East, and North Africa suggest that the region of Eden was located in southeastern Anatolia. This region provides source waters for four rivers, following Precambrian rift valleys or faults, which are connected to the Biblical locales of Asshur, Havilah, and Cush. The rivers traversed a landmass that originated in the Precambrian not covered by the alleged expanse of the Tethys Ocean. Furthermore, southeastern Anatolia is associated with the ancient kingdom of the House of Eden. Although the Bible states that the Flood was a global catastrophic event, the confluence of biblical texts with geographical, geological, and other data provides a compelling indication that its effects did not eradicate all evidence of Eden's original location.

From Eden to Babylon; Reading Gen 2-4 as a Paradigmatic Narrative

in Pentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch: Identifying Literary Works in Genesis Through 2 Kings, Thomas Dozeman, et al. eds.; SBL Press 2011 , 2011

Whatever sources may lie behind the narratives in Gen 2-4, it is recognized that these chapters have undergone purposeful editing designed to impose continuity and thematic coherence. Notwithstanding, there is still much debate about their purpose within their specific context in the primeval history. This essay addresses these matters by examining how Gen 2-4 might be read as paradigmatic texts relating to exile. Read together, Gen 2-4 illustrate how exile is the inevitable consequence of violating YHWH's basic demands of compliance with his injunctions and upholding essential social norms. I suggest that the placement of these narratives together at the opening of the primeval history was intended to provide a key for understanding the unfolding of the Pentateuchal narrative. In addition, I consider how technical aspects of scroll production contribute to understanding their placement. Moreover, in as much as they foreshadow the conclusion of the DtrH in 2 Kgs 25:21, they play a central role constructing a thematic frame for reading Gen – Kgs as an Enneateuch or Primary History. This view holds implications not only for understanding the purpose of Gen 2-4, but for the historical context of their composition. In addition, I engage the question of whether the concept of an Enneateuch is a deliberate literary construct, or whether it is a reading strategy for uncovering a significant message within a set authoritative scrolls.

A Literary and Cultural Analysis of the Creation Narrative of Genesis 1:1-2:3

[This is a DRAFT paper. In an updated paper to be released, some information will be changed and the presentation refined.] Genesis continues to defy. Centuries of attempts to shape it to conform to the prevailing paradigm have created a theoretical maelstrom, around which swirl literal theories of chaos. So unsettled are the waters that much of the Genesis text is still in darkness due to modern cultural presuppositions, prior creedal beliefs, and conflicting inherited scholarship. The effort in this study is to look afresh and minimize prior theoretical, creedal or genre expectations. The goal is to discover the original intent of the author that is obscured by cultural and literary expectations. The proposed approach is merely a grammatical-historical method with a heightened awareness of original cultural context and literary genre to overcome hindering eisegesis influences. This approach lead to the documentation of a highly detailed literary structure which is beautiful and inspiring. The structure has been outlined by others before, but the present study provides a number of tables detailing the structure to a greater level. In addition, a historical survey of selected Ancient Near East cosmologies near the time of the writing of Genesis, provides the perspective of the original audience which we can temporarily enter to review the discovered structure. It reveals the polemic purposes that motivated the narrative's structure and wording which have often been mistaken for other purposes or derived from other processes that were concomitant to the commenter's worldview and not Genesis.

J's Problem with the East: Observations on the So-Called Yahwistic Texts in Genesis 1-25

in: Jaeyoung Jeon (ed.). Social Groups Behind the Pentateuch. AIL 44. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021., 2021

The cardinal direction east appears often in the book of Genesis, much more so than in other biblical books. 1 The east serves as a place of intrigue for the story in Gen 2:4b-3:24, the narrative of Jacob and Laban, and probably also the story of the tower of Babel. Furthermore, the east often appears as the position of a main protagonist: the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword guarding the tree of life are situated at the east of the garden of Eden, and Cain, too, lives east of Eden. Lot chooses the region of the plain and the city of Sodom, located in the east, as a place to live. Finally, Abraham sends all of his sons borne by concubines to the east, away from his favorite son, Isaac. How can one explain this concentration of references to the cardinal direction east in the book of Genesis? Analysis of all these texts will reveal different if not contradictory images and appraisals of the east. One reason for the great number of texts mentioning the east seems to be the disagreement between the biblical authors on this point. This article seeks to clarify what is at stake in this disagreement and the role the latter played in the process of the formation of the primeval history and the Abraham narrative.

Man, Soil, Garden: Basic Plot in Genesis 2-3 Reconsidered

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1992

Genesis 2-3 as a diachronic record of the redactional history of the Pentateuch, as J's comment upon the politics of his contemporaries, as a reflection of Hebrew wisdom traditions, of king ideology, land ideology or temple ideology. We have read new religio-historical, social, psychoanalytical and feminist approaches, and several 'structuralist' and semiotic approaches. Despite this host of attempts at answers, the 1. D.R.G. Beattie, 'What is Genesis 2-3 about?', ExpTim 92 (1980-81), pp. 8-10. 2. I offer some recent examples only. Redaction history: J. Vermeylen, 'Le récit du paradis et la question des origines du pentateuque', Bijdragen Tijdschrift voor Downloaded from 4