РАЙ

“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east” (Gen. 2:8). What is Edem? Let's go means: sweetness (luxury). One could say: he planted paradise in luxury, that is, in a luxurious, beautiful place. That’s why at the end it says: “And he drove out Adam and placed him in the east by the Garden of Eden” (Gen. 3:24). Why is heaven not in another country, but in the east? Where the flow of luminaries began, from where the life of people began. God foretells the future. He settles man in the east in paradise in order to show that just as the rising luminaries flow to the west and set, so man must, in the image of the luminaries, go from life to death, plunge into death and again reach another east in the resurrection of the dead. Adam rushed to the west, plunged into the coffin; the works of the earth followed him and were buried with the dead. Christ came and gave rise to the dead. That is why the prophet says about Him: “Behold the Man, His name is BRANCH, He will grow from His root” (Zech. 6:12), that is, from the dead. In Adam man died, in Christ he rose. “As in Adam all die,” Paul testifies, “so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). “And the Lord God took the man [whom he had created] and settled him in the Garden of Eden” (Gen. 2:15). He led him into the finished house. Just as someone who invites someone to a feast first prepares the house and then brings in the invited one, so it is the same here: God prepared for man a magnificent church—paradise—and then brought in the invited one. Where was man created? On earth, outside of heaven. Just as the luminaries were created in another place and placed in heaven, so Adam was created outside of paradise, on another earth, and then was introduced into paradise. Where can you see this? Scripture, at the end [of the creation narrative], when Adam was expelled from paradise, says: “And the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken” (Gen. 3:23). “He settled it in the paradise of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). "Cultivate". What was missing in paradise? But even if a worker was needed, then where did the plow come from? Where do other farming tools come from? The work of God was to do and keep the commandment of God, to remain faithful to the commandment. “This is the work of God,” says the Savior, “that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29). Consequently, just as believing in Christ is the work of God, so it was the work of believing the commandment that if he touches [the forbidden tree], he will die, and if he does not touch it, he will live. The point was keeping spiritual words. What was Paul's business? Was Paul a farmer? Did he have any other occupation? Wasn't his whole business in the word, in the preaching? “Isn’t it my business,” he says to the disciples, “are you in the Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1). “Cultivate it,” they say, “and store it.” From whom to store? There was no robber, there was no passer-by, there was no intruder. From whom to store? Keep it for yourself; do not lose it by breaking the commandment; keep heaven for yourself by keeping the commandment. Along with my voice, my mind gets tired, but let’s explain the idea. And he settled him in the Garden of Eden. By the events that preceded it, Scripture secretly points to the future. “A river came out of Eden to water the garden” (Gen. 2:10). From here you will know that paradise was not a small garden with insignificant space. It is watered by such a river that from its fullness four rivers emerge. A river came out of Eden to water Paradise. Having irrigated paradise, it then divides into four rivers: the Tigris, the Nile, the Euphrates and the river called Pison in Scripture, which is now called the Danube (Danube). Notice the size of the river if it divides into four rivers. And this river alone irrigates paradise. What is this river for? There was only one Adam. What was the need for such a big river? It was not for him alone, but was intended for the entire universe. It was prepared for patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, saints, faithful Orthodox, piously living, and all righteous people. The Savior promised paradise to the thief, who confessed Him in one hour, saying: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43); Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who labored from their youth, and the patriarchs who descended from him [followed him]. First of all, the robber is made heir to paradise. So, God does His works not for the sake of the present, but for the sake of what is expected. Why did He create such an expanse of earth? For the sake of Adam or for the sake of those who now dwell on it? “Then it was divided into four rivers” (Gen. 2:10). It does not say: “into four streams,” but: the beginning, that is, the source. The name of one is Pison, about whom we have already spoken. Next is Gion, this is the Nile; Gion is its ancient name. Jeremiah testifies to this, saying: “And now why do you go down to Egypt to drink water from the Nile?” (Jer. 2:18). Listen carefully here. Imagine that this is heaven. This can be explained better visually than in words. A great river flows through, abundant with water, and waters paradise. From here it rushes into the underground abyss and passes under the earth an endless path, which only the Lord who laid it knows, for a long time the stream hides, diverges to different places, and finally, one part appears in Ethiopia, another in the west, and a third in the east. This is how God directs the stream under the earth and creates sources that are alien to the first river. What is this for? So that, following the footsteps of the rivers, people do not find paradise, so that the latter remains inaccessible to them. If it were possible to reach heaven, no one would find it before the rich; now God has concluded it for both the rich and the poor, so that everyone can find their way to it only through virtue alone. How many labors did the patriarchs, prophets, saints, looking for paradise, and did not find it? The thief, who did not follow this path, truly found the way through faith - the One who says: “I am the way” (John 14:6). He found paradise, which was concluded by disobedience for the first man. But why, we ask, the writer of everyday life, mentioning the first river, said: “the one where the gold is; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and an onyx stone” (Gen. 2:11, 12). If he were to describe the countries of the universe, he would have to indicate the wealth found in each country - indicate where emeralds, hyacinths are, where topaz is, where other various jewels are. He mentioned gold and two stones as the firstfruits of the priesthood, since the high priest wore a golden robe on which was written the name of God. Twelve stones were on the chest of the high priest: sardium, topaz, emerald, anfrax, sapphire, jaspis, ligirium, agate, amethyst, peridot, beryl, onyx (see Ex. 28:17–20). Of these twelve stones, green (smaragd) was appropriated to the priestly tribe, and anfrax to the royal tribe. Why? Because just as it is natural for fire to burn and shine, so it is natural for a king to do good and to punish. Reuben, the first tribe, receives the sardium, Simeon the topaz, Levi the green stone, Judas, from whom Christ is the fiery anfrax. After a long time, Isaiah said to Jerusalem: Behold, I have engraved you on My hands; Your walls are always before Me. “I will set your stones on rubies and make your foundation of sapphires” (Is. 49:16, 54:11), undoubtedly meaning the Savior. “Behold, I lay a stone for the foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he who believes in it will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 28:16). So, anfrax was adopted by the royal tribe, green (smaragd) by the sacred. Four river sources are separated from the named river. Why is their water not the same? If they come from the same river, the curious ask, if they come from the same source, then why don’t they all have the same quality? What is the reason for this? They change from the earth, from the properties of the places through which they pass. The same water, having the same nature and quality, if saturated with wormwood, receives one quality, if with anise - another, if with rue - a third; nature is one, but it is changed by other substances. So are the rivers. Since they pass through new places, one through land that has one property, the other through another soil, they receive new properties from the localities. So, God imparted qualities to the rivers according to the position of the localities. Finally, He creates in paradise “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen. 2:9). He deprived the criminal of the opportunity to justify himself in advance. When the writer of everyday life said about the wife: “And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes and desirable” (Gen. 3:6), so that no one would think that it alone was beautiful in comparison with other trees, he said that all the trees were distinguished by this property, that they were all beautiful to look at and beautiful, so that you would know that man did not transgress the commandment because of lack, but fell in complete abundance. “And the tree,” they say, “is in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9). There were three kinds of trees. Some were given to man so that he could live; others - to live well; third - so that he always lives. He could live from the trees from which he was allowed to eat; could live well without touching forbidden trees; could live well, touching what was not forbidden to him, and not touching what was forbidden. Living well meant obeying God. The tree of life was in the middle of paradise - as a reward; the tree of knowledge - as a subject of competition, feat. By keeping the commandment regarding this tree, you will receive a reward. And look at the wonderful thing. Everywhere in paradise all kinds of trees bloom, fruits abound everywhere; only in the middle are two trees as a subject of struggle and exercise (5). Paradise itself would not be anything surprising if there were no observance of God’s commandments; on the contrary, the lowest places would not be at all low if the law of God reigned in them. What is better, what is higher - heaven or a dung heap? And yet, for Adam, paradise turned out to be useless due to his fall, and Job was not harmed by the dunghill thanks to his patience. Adam in paradise is put to shame for his disobedience, and Job is crowned on the heap for his patience. The dignity of a place has no meaning if good disposition does not correspond to it. Heaven and paradise are higher, but the devil falls from there. The earth is below, and the sky above it rises (Prov. 25:3), but those who fall into sin fall from the sky, as can be seen from the words: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18), and the poor rise from the earth, according to the saying: “from the dust he raises the poor, from clay he lifts up the needy” (Ps. 113:7) (9). You might be interested in: