The Original Home of Man.
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Gen. 2: 8. Another translation reads: “The Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein He placed man whom He had formed.”—Douay Version. “This is called Eden, which signifies a place of pleasure. In the Septuagint it is rendered ‘paradise,’ denoting a park, or a place of trees.”—“Pulpit Encyclopedia,” p. 54. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says: “God planted a paradise in the East, flourishing with all sorts of trees; and . . . when He had brought Adam and his wife into this garden, He commanded them to take care of the plants.”—“Antiquities,” book 1, chap. 1, par. 3. Doctor Smith, LL.D., says: “EDEN. 1. The first residence of man, called in the Septuagint paradise. The latter is a word of Persian origin, and describes an extensive tract of pleasure-land, somewhat like an English park, and the use of it suggests a wider view of man’s first abode than a garden.”—“Smith’s Bible Dictionary,” art. “Eden.” Doctor Fausset, M.A., writes: “Eden was but a temporary nursery for the human family: thence men, had they remained innocent, would have spread out in every direction till the whole earth became the garden of the Lord. God’s purpose, tho deferred, will in His own time be realized by the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven.”—“Bible Encyclopedia,” art. “Eden.”