Often, the presumptive reading of Scripture defaults to a primary focus on an earthly context. However, the Scriptures from the opening pages of Genesis orient the story of God and his people within a cosmic (or supernatural) setting.
Eden is the Garden temple of God and the residence of Yahweh’s two-family household (supernatural and human).
Old Testament Scholar, Gordan Wenham notes that Eden is not just a piece of farmland in the Mesopotamian region but an “archetypal sanctuary, that is, a place where God dwells and where man should worship him.”[1] Yahweh walks and talks in Eden with His image bearers, Adam and Eve, who serve as vice-regents (royal king and queen) over creation. In other words, they are royal children, who are to serve as stewards of their Father, God. However, humans (Adam and Eve) are not the only created beings on God’s holy Mountain, where he planted the Garden of Eden.
In Eden we also find the presence of supernatural beings. Other passages of Scripture refer to Eden as, “God’s holy mountain” (Ezek 28:14) or the “seat of the gods (Ezek 28:2). The ancient Israelites (and other ancient near eastern peoples) understood mountains as the household/dwelling place of the gods. The place where God held council and where He would enact judgment. Therefore, Eden as a Garden – Temple located on a mountain is of significance. Eden is the household of God and as Isaiah 14:13 says, it is the “mountain assembly” of God and his angelic host.
We first get a hint of the heavenly host in Genesis 1:26, where God says, “let us” make man. Who are the “us”? A once-popular view is that the plurality of God’s speech indicates the Trinity.[2] However, this is incoherent based on the Hebrew grammar and virtually rejected amongst modern scholars.[3] Instead, the “us” refers to God speaking to His first family, the cosmic household.[4] Now, some may raise objections to the “us” references of Genesis 1:26 connected to the angelic host due to the implication that humanity was either made in the image of the angelic host, or that this implies the heavenly host participated in the creation of humanity.
These issues can be answered if we take a closer look at the situational rhetoric of the context. In a sense, Yahweh alone creates; however, he addresses the heavenly host in acknowledgment of their presence. An example of this would be a husband walking into the labor and delivery room with his wife and as he walks in his wife looks at him and says, “Okay, let’s do this!” Clearly, the wife is the one in labor and giving birth, but she acknowledges the husband’s presence. Additionally, Gen 1:27 rules out the idea of co-creation with angels.
These supernatural beings, the heavenly host, are further defined as the “sons of God” elsewhere in Scripture (Psalm 29:1, 89:7; Gen 6:4 [LXX]; Job 1:6 [LXX]). We find out some more very interesting information about Eden and the supernatural beings that made their residence there. Among these beings is the Serpent/nachash which is clearly a supernatural being and more than simply a “snake.”
The Hebrew nachash could mean
(1) - Serpent
(2) - Divine throne guardian
(3) - Shining/Bronze/Fiery appearance.
Ezekiel 28:13 lets us know this Serpent/nachash was in Eden, the Garden of God. Therefore, Eden is the location of a rebellion that included both human and supernatural beings. God’s human family, Adam and Eve, are tempted into disobedience by the Serpent/nachash. The Serpent/nachash tempts humanity in an act of total rebellion against Yahweh. The D32W is framed by this understanding.
God has a two-family household that includes both human and supernatural beings. In Eden, the household dwelling place of God, rebellion took place amongst both His human and supernatural family. The consequence was expulsion from Eden for humanity, and judgement upon the Serpent and his “seed” (Gen 3:15).
However, you may be surprised to find out that this won’t be the last rebellion in the Biblical narrative. There are two more supernatural rebellions to unpack in order to bring the D32W into full frame. Next we will cover Genesis 6 and the Nephilim, and then the rebellion of Babel in Genesis 11.
[1] Gordon J. Wenham, “Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story,” Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies 9 (1986): 19.
[2] Merrill, quoting Nicholas de Lyra, says, “And the Hebrews say that this is the word of God to the angels. But this seems false, because the angels are not co-creators with God of the (human) soul, in which the image of God himself endures. Therefore, it must be said that (Scripture) says: ‘We will make,’ in the plural, to denote the plurality of persons in God. See Eugene H. Merrill, “Rashi, Nicholas de Lyra, and Christian Exegesis,” Westminster Theological Journal 38 (1975): 66–79. However, Wenham affirms that this interpretation presents a “fuller interpretation,” it “is not the word’s primary meaning. See Gordon J. Wenham, “Genesis,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester; Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 61.
[3] For a discussion on the challenges of the “us” language, see D. J. A. Clines, “The Image of God in Man,” Tyndale Bulletin 19 (1968): 53–103. Clines, however, following Barth, does not find a heavenly council scenario convincing. His primary concern is the implication that humanity is made in the likeness of the heavenly host and/or that the heavenly host participated in the creation of mankind, which seems to be contrary to the view that God alone created humanity. These issues can be answered if there were closer consideration of the situational rhetoric of the context.
[4] For more on the heavenly court view see David VanDrunen, Divine Covenants and Moral Order: A Biblical Theology of Natural Law, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 538–40. Wenham says, “should therefore be regarded as a divine announcement to the heavenly court, drawing the angelic host’s attention to the master stroke of creation.” See Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, Word Biblical Commentary 1 (Dallas: Word, 1987), 28.