EDEN; THE GARDEN OF GOD.

Ezekiel 28:13 “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created”

Now we come to a very important aspect of this topic. Who was in Eden? What is Eden? How many other people have been in Eden, the garden of God? What does it mean to be in Eden of God? Let us take a look;

First of all, the phrase “in the day that thou wast created”

That is not speaking of the day that Satan was formed or made in heaven. For it is said of us as believers;

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)

“No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing” (Ephesians 2:10_ MSG)

Meaning the day, we were created in Christ is the day we received a new status in Christ as per our salvation.

So, when we read of the “day thou wast created” we are talking of the day king Tyrus was elevated into his position as a king, not when God formed the devil or Lucifer, just like we have The LORD’S DAY. (Revelation 1:10) speaking of when He was crowned king universally. Similar to when we had “Emperor’s Day” which was the day they ascended the throne in the Roman Empire, and such days were thus celebrated, like what we do today as Church Anniversaries of 10 years or 20 years etc.

The king of Egypt was in Eden

In Ezekiel 31, we are told; “¹In mid-May of the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: ^2-3Son of dust, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his people: ‘You are as Assyria was-a great and mighty nation-like a cedar of Lebanon, full of thick branches and forest shade, with its head high up among the clouds. ⁴ Its roots went deep into the moist earth. It grew luxuriantly and gave streamlets of water to all the trees around. ⁵ It towered above all the other trees. It prospered and grew long thick branches because of all the water at its roots. ⁶ The birds nested in its branches and in its shade the flocks and herds gave birth to young. All the great nations of the world lived beneath its shadow. ⁷ It was strong and beautiful, for its roots went deep to water. ⁸ This tree was taller than any other in the garden of God; no cypress had branches equal to it; none had boughs to compare; none equaled it in beauty. ⁹ Because of the magnificence that I gave it, it was the envy of all the OTHER TREES OF EDEN” (TLB)

Here we are told, you are like the haughty king of Assyria; as he was overthrown by the Chaldeans, so you shall be also.

So, we see the illustration of the pride and the consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may better know what she must expect. As we can see in verse 11 of Ezekiel 31,

It is worthy of note, that Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, rendered himself master of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. This happened about twenty years before Ezekiel delivered this prophecy. So, the comparison is the defeat of the Assyrians by Nebuchadnezzar.

“A cedar”, -Like the most goodly cedar speaks of strength and beauty.

Pharaoh is here likened to the Assyrian because of the tallest of the Assyrian cedar, greatness is therefore implied. The Cedars also speaks of his subjects.

But verse 8, is the most interesting aspect of it here,

“The cedars IN THE GARDEN OF GOD could not hide him” speaking of Egypt as one of the most eminent and affluent of all the neighbouring nations. And that is what makes her to be in Eden,

What therefore is Eden or what does it mean to be in Eden?

“O Egypt, you are great and glorious among THE TREES OF EDEN,-the nations of the world. And you will be brought down to the pit of hell with all these other nations. You will be among the nations you despise, killed by the sword. This is the fate of Pharaoh and all his teeming masses,” says the Lord. Ezekiel 31:18 _ TLB.

Eden here is referred to as the Nations of the world, but basically the prosperous ones. It was a comparison of those in great Estate of life.

So, it applied to the ‘The Restoration of Israel’. Look at it;

Ezekiel 36:35 “And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like THE GARDEN OF EDEN; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.” (TLB).

Ezekiel 36:33-36, The Lord God says: “³³When I cleanse you from your sins, I will bring you home again to Israel, and rebuild the ruins. ³⁴Acreage will be cultivated again that through the years of exile lay empty as a barren wilderness; all who passed by were shocked to see the extent of ruin in your land. ³⁵But when I bring you back, they will say, ‘This God-forsaken land has become like EDEN’S GARDEN! The ruined cities are rebuilt and walled and filled with people!’ ³⁶Then the nations all around-all those still left-will know that I, the Lord, rebuilt the ruins and planted lush crops in the wilderness. For I, the Lord, have promised it, and I will do it.” (TLB).

This land that was desolate by sin, is become like the GARDEN OF EDEN by righteousness. Satan’s blast is removed; God’s blessing has taken place. That is what it means to be in the EDEN OF GOD.

“TYRE IN EDEN”.

So summarily, we see here that Just as Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar “in the garden of God, Eden,” (Ezekiel 31:8,9), in her original advantages and glory stands here compared to “Eden, the garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:13), from which she had fallen without recovery. But in Ezekiel 36:35, Israel, that was once desolate, is to be as “the garden of Eden” (Isaiah 51:3), without a reversal to ruin.

Eden therefore is a symbol of delight and prosperity of Nations and people, just as Egypt and Pharaoh were and now Israel.

Look at it again;

“Isaiah 51:3 “For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like EDEN, and her desert like the GARDEN OF THE LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody”

Isaiah 5, “^1-2Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance, who seek the Lord! Consider the quarry from which you were mined, the rock from which you were cut! Yes, think about your ancestors Abraham and Sarah, from whom you came. You worry at being so small and few, but Abraham was only one when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation. ³And the Lord will bless Israel again, and make her deserts blossom; her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as the GARDEN OF EDEN. Joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and lovely songs.” (TLB).

So, when we read of

“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…” as in Ezekiel 28:13, it is simply the portrait of a prosperous man, the king of Tyre Just like talking of the fall of Pharaoh as seen in;

Ezekiel 31:18 “O Egypt, you are great and glorious among the trees of Eden-the nations of the world. And you will be brought down to the pit of hell with all these other nations. You will be among the nations you despise, killed by the sword. This is the fate of Pharaoh and all his teeming masses,” says the Lord. (TLB).

We found this same image painted for us on the invasion of Israel by the Assyrian army as seen in Joel 2:3;

“A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as THE GARDEN OF EDEN before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them”

In other words, there was a prosperous land of Israel before they came, Eden like, but a total emptiness after their invasion.

“Thou hast been in Eden”

This statement therefore is simply a strong irony of the state of king Tyrus. Thou art like Adam, when in his innocence and excellence, he was in the Garden of Eden!

Again, we reiterate that, the whole of this passage is about the king of Tyre, king Tyrus himself.

Being in Eden was symbolic of his affluence as a wealthy king, full of joy and gladness and very much in power and dominion. It has nothing to do with either Adam in the Garden with Eve or supposed Lucifer. That’s not scriptural if we must stay by the revealed word of God. This teaching that Lucifer, Satan is being referred to here is unbiblical and great interpretational error by the Church.

Being blessed by God with wealth, riches and influence is best described as existing in Eden, a paradise like state of life.

Next, is the “Workmanship and the creation of king Tyrus”

To be continued…