Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
back
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History

Carlos Flores wrote:

Hi, guys —

Regarding the First Sunday of Lent readings, specifically Genesis 2:8 . . .

  • What is the significance of planting the garden "in the East"?

First Sunday of Lent Lectionary: 22

First Reading: Genesis 2:7-9; Genesis 3:1-7:

2 7 The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.

8 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground, the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Carlos

  { In Genesis chapters two and three, what is the significance of planting the garden "in the East"? }

Eric replied:

Carlos,

I have a couple references that answer your question.

"The reference "to Eden" being "in the east" (Genesis 2:8) should not be taken (as in later Jewish tradition) to mean that it lay on the E, edge of the world. Rather it indicates a position E, of where the author of Genesis 2:10–14 lived."

Alexander, Philip S., "Geography and the Bible: Early Jewish Geography," ed. by David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 979

However:

"The site of the garden is referred to in Genesis 2:8 as miqqedem, usually translated "in the East." This has been used to support the idea of a Mesopotamian location for the story. The phrase could also be translated "from of old" (cf. Psalms 77:6, 12; 78:12; 143:5; Proverbs 8:22–23, etc.) and possibly in earlier forms of the narrative it had a temporal rather than a geographic reference."

Wallace, Howard N., "Eden, Garden of (Place)," ed. by David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 283


Eric

Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.