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The garden of Eden (that is 'delights'), in which dwelt Adam and Eve for the short time before they sinned. In it God made to grow every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food: in it also was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Gen. 2: 8-15. A fruitful place is described as being like the garden of Eden. Isa. 51: 3; Ezek. 36: 35; Joel 2: 3. The fall of Pharaoh, under the figure of an exalted tree, is said to comfort the trees of Eden, which is called the 'garden of God,' etc. Isa. 51: 3; Ezek. 28: 13; Ezek. 31: 9, 16, 18. The trees of Eden having been planted by God, they are in this last passage used as a symbol for the various nations placed by God in the earth, Israel being the centre. Deut. 32: 8. Adam was put in the garden to dress and to keep it; but on his fall he was driven out and cherubim were placed to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen. 3: 23, 24.
A river ran out of Eden to water it, and then divided into four. Only two of these can be identified, the Euphrates, and the Hiddekel denoting the Tigris. There are no others to be found to make up the four, and all efforts to find out where the garden of Eden was situated have utterly failed. It belonged to the time of innocence, and as that has gone, the earthly paradise has long ceased to exist. See PARADISE.