The Garden of Eden as an Israelite Sacred Place

Abstract

This article attempts to interpret the Garden of Eden as sacred space, comparing its features with those of other sacred places. This article disputes the common view that biblical descriptions of the Solomonic Temple were influenced by the Garden of Eden imagery; instead, it demonstrates that some features of Jerusalem and the Temple were incorporated into the Garden of Eden story. While many biblical scholars have hypothesized that the Garden of Eden story has Mesopotamian roots, this article describes how the author of the Eden narrative tries to present the Garden of Eden as an Israelite sacred place geographically, historically, and religiously.