In our last lesson on “Crimes and Punishments,” we concluded our study of the first crime in the human family, that of Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel, and its punishment. We spent some six weeks in that study from Genesis 4:1-16, and in conclusion I mentioned several “seeming difficulties” in which several scriptures in Genesis 4 seem to be at variance with other scriptures. For instance: Gen. 4:16 states that “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.” Yet, other scriptures unequivocally affirm that God is omnipresent, “the quality of being everywhere present at the same time,” as in Jer. 23:23-24 and Psa. 139:7-12. So, if God is omnipresent, then how is it possible to go “out from the presence of the LORD”?
As we ask ourselves that question, and search for an answer, let us keep in mind that “all scripture is God breathed,” II Tim. 3:15, the N.I.V. He “cannot lie,” Tit. 1:2. His “word is true from the beginning,” Psa. 119:160. And the One who can declare “the end from the beginning,” Isa. 46:10, does not contradict Himself. “Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matt. 4:4, is “forever…settled in heaven,” 119:89, and “shall stand forever,” Isa. 40:8, and “shall not pass away,” Matt. 24:35.
We, however, as students of God’s word, are finite human beings, and finite beings, not only have limitations, but also make mistakes. And that is precisely why there is “white out,” pencils with erasers, and a “delete” key on computers. “Seeming difficulties” are not really contradictions. And as we continue to study and research the matter, often what appeared for a time to be without an explanation becomes explainable. We should never charge God foolishly, but prayerfully “study…rightly dividing the word of truth,” II Tim. 2:15.
God is omnipresent. But, in scripture there were times when God’s presence was visibly manifested in a special way, as with the burning bush incident of Exo. 3:2, or the fiery furnace incident of Dan.3:25, or the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night incident of Exo. 13:21-22. See also Neh. 9:12 and Psa. 105:39. I personally believe, as I understand the scriptures that “Cain went out from” the very place where God’s visible presence was on display.
God “put the man whom he had formed” in “a garden eastward in Eden,” a garden of God’s own planting, Gen. 2:7-8. “Eden” means “delight,” and Young’s Analytical Concordance speaks of it as being “the place of man’s creation and first abode.” In the garden itself, God caused all kinds of trees to grow “out of the ground (‘adamah’), two of which were “the tree of life…and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and that because of their peculiar significance in relation to man, 2:9.
God would then enter into a covenant with Adam, 2:15-17, and before the creation of Eve, vs. 21-25. She was not present when God spoke to Adam, but her answer to the serpent in 3:2-3 indicates that Adam had informed her of the covenant. The serpent’s question, “Is it really true that God said…?” vs. 1, the N.E.T., was designed to cast doubt on what God actually said. “The serpent” then flatly denies what God had said, v. 4, and then promises her some benefit for disobedience, v.5. “Adam was not deceived,” I Tim.2:14, because he knew firsthand exactly what God had said to him. “The woman being deceived” then took of the forbidden fruit “and did eat, and gave also unto her husband…and he did eat,” Gen. 3:6. There was no deception, but a willful sin.
Gen.3:24 states, “So he drove out the man (as though God’s will was being resisted); and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of tree of life.” I said, “as though God’s will was being resisted” because v. 23 says, “the LORD God sent him forth,” whereas v. 24 says, “he drove out the man.” Maybe he didn’t want to go out and had to be driven out.
The reason why he was banished is stated in Gen. 3:22. To eat of “the tree of life,” and live forever, with a fallen sin nature, and under a curse, would be endless care, sorrow, and miseries. It was an act of mercy, as well as justice on God’s part to remove the man from all access to “the tree of life.”
“Eden” was the place where God’s visible presence was manifested as He walked “in the garden,” and communed with Adam, Gen. 2:15-20, and Eve, 3:8-13. When “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord,” that is from “Eden” where God’s visible presence had been manifested, “he lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden,” 4:16, the N.I.V. “Nod” means “wandering,” and I for one believe this to be symbolic of Cain’s retreat beyond “Eden.” You might remember that Cain said, “from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth,” 4:14. Expelled from his homeland, he was to be banished as a solitary wanderer in hostile, uninhabited regions.
Now, let’s consider Gen. 3:24 in conformation that “Eden” was the place where God’s visible presence was manifested. The text reads in. the N.E.T.:
“When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the
orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling
sword to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Just a note: The word “sentries” speaks of “a soldier placed on guard.” And the “angelic sentries” are generally identified as “cherubims.” Their function “to keep the way of the tree of life,” the K.J.V., is “to guard,” the N.E.T.
An “Hebraist” is “one proficient in or a student of the Hebrew language.” The late B. H. Carroll, past President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas, wrote in his 17 volume work, “An Interpretation of the English Bible,” Volume I, Genesis, copyright 1913, the following on Gen. 3:24:
“Now, I am no Hebraist…but I will cite three distinguished Hebraist
who give a somewhat different rendering to this passage. Jamison,
Fausset, and Brown, in their commentary on Genesis, make that read
this way: ‘And he [i.e., God] dwelt at the east of the garden of Eden
between the cherubim, and a Shekinah [a fire-tongue, or fire-sword)
to keep open the way to the tree of life.’ The same thought is presented
more clearly in the Jerusalem Targum…Dr. Gill, the great Baptist
Hebraist of England, presents the same thought,” pg.111.
One of my secular dictionaries speaks of “Targum” as, “One of various ancient paraphrases of portions of the Hebrew scriptures in Aramaic.”
Now, I am going to quote at length from B.H. Carroll’s article, pgs. 111-112 as follows:
“Whatever may be the grammatical construction of this passage in the
Hebrew, it means this: that having expelled man from the garden, God
established a throne of grace and furnished the means to recover from
the death which had been pronounced. There was the mercy seat and
there were the cherubim, and there was the symbol of divine presence
in that fire tongue or sword, and whoever worshipped God after man
sinned must come to the mercy seat to worship and he must approach
God through a sacrifice. In no other way than through an atonement
could one attain to the tree of life. All passages that refer to the cherubin
connect them with grace and the mercy seat, not as ministers of divine
vengeance, but as symbols of divine mercy. Moses, in Exodus 25,
constructs the ark of the tabernacle exactly like the one here used in the
garden of Eden. He has a covering or mercy seat, with two cherubim
with a flame between the cherubim. That was the throne of grace, or
mercy seat, and sinners came to that through the blood of a sacrifice…It is
true that the object was to bar out man except through the intervention of
the mercy seat, and it is true that the purpose of the mercy seat was to
keep open the way to the tree of life…Let us understand that immediately
after the fall grace intervened. First, with a promise of a Redeemer who
would destroy the works of the devil. Second, with clothing symbolizing
the righteousness of Christ. Third with a mercy seat indicating the method
by which God could be savingly approached. From this time on until the
flood that mercy seat is at the east of the garden and whoever would
partake of the tree of life and live forever must come to God where he
dwells between the cherubim, where the Shekinah is the symbol of his
presence, and that we can only come to him in the blood of atonement.”
(end quote).
I close this article with three scriptures:
“…To him that overcometh (see I John 5:4-5) will I give to eat of the
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God,” Rev. 2:7;
“Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right
to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city,”
Rev. 22:14, the A.S.V.;
“…These…have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb,” Rev. 7:14.
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