Purpose of this paper: To illustrate that the site of Eden is also the site of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount of Moriah..That the geographic site of the creation of the human race in Eden�s garden was a foreshadowing of the future site of the city of Jerusalem.This treatise further demonstrates how perfectly God wrote and inspired the Bible to explain and interpret itself, precluding the input of men�s perspective of historical events for interpretation of the Bible. This treatise will amply demonstrate why God's explanations regarding Eden's location do not need re-explaining.
Eden�s Garden Foreshadows the Site of Future Jerusalem
The Holy of Holies of Gods� earthly temple has had but one location, except for the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. However even during those forty years the only place in the camp of the wandering Israelites from which sacrifices were acceptable to God was from the altar at the entrance to the holiest location in the camp temple, the Holy of Holies, no other location for the altar on which burnt offerings could be made was acceptable to God, he made this abundantly clear to Moses and the Israelites in the Torah during the 40 year wilderness period.
So, what does the above paragraph have to do with the Garden of Eden, the original abode of Adam and Eve? More than has ever been realized. The Bible was written within a framework, with a specific template of design from beginning to end, in which certain events depict a foreshadowing of things to come, one event builds upon another until the final outcome reaches fruition.
If there is a single point of location on the surface of planet earth from which God has ordained as his earthly altar, many questions can be answered regarding some key events in Biblical history.
One of the great mysteries in Biblical accounts of history, has been the location of the Garden of Eden, but it is right there in the Bible. If only we would willingly clear away the clutter of misconceptions so many in the religious world have created concerning it�s location, it could easily be discovered. The biggest impediment revolves around secular references to the Tigris- Euphrates river confluences, now in present day Iraq, an issue which has created the largest quantity of this clutter. The next biggest impediment is the propensity to look in geographic areas that have striking garden-like appearances in the geologic formation of the landscape.
The Bible has been written within a framework whereby it continually builds on sequences of past events. Past events becoming a foreshadowing framework for events yet future. The first coming of Christ in human form was foreshadowed in many different ways in the types of Christ found in the Old Testament, and most poignantly by the temple sacrifices the ancient Israelites practiced at the temple mount of Moriah on the altar at the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
The first recorded event concerning acceptable or �respect� (KJ) sacrifices was when Cain and Abel presented their sacrifices to God, Gen 4:3-8. Cain�s sacrifice was not accepted (�respected�, KJ) Abel�s was, we are not told exactly why, only that God was displeased because Cain offered his in some displeasing manner, it has been speculated it was because Abel�s was of an animal type and Cain�s of a grain- meal type, however this may only be part of the real reason, because God also required grain-meal type offerings as part of the future temple sacrifices by the Israelites.
One of the really big questions concerns how Cain and Abel came to the knowledge of acceptable (�respect�) sacrificial offerings if Moses and the Books of the Law were still future by thousands of years? The Levitical priesthood at this time in history was thousands of years in the future and only the High Priest could lawfully offer sacrifices to God. Could there be a clue here? Is this event the first in a series of sacrificial events to come, all falling within a proscribed template or framework, or a foreshadowing of events by which God has decreed his willingness to �respect� a sacrifice? Does Abel foreshadow the yet future Levitical Priesthood and their temple duties? Let us explore this further.
Cain�s sacrifice had no �respect� before God probably for combinations of reasons, such as: he performed it somewhere other than the acceptable site, or the substance of the offering (a meal-offerring) was presented at the wrong time of the year. An additional possibility is that Abel was a foreshadow of the High Priest of the Levitical priesthood, thus requiring Cain to submit his offering to Abel for the sacrifice to be acceptable to God. Remember when a future king of Israel thought he could act in the place of the chief priest and offer a sacrifice to the Lord and the subsequent repercussions that followed? Cain certainly acted jealous that he seemed not to have had the same access to God via the sacrifices that Abel appears to have had, as evident by some manner of conversation the two carried on as discussed in Gen 4:8. Cain probably murdered Abel very shortly after Abel made an acceptable sacrifice, because Cain was jealous that his had been turned down. No details are given of the conversation the two had in the �field� as �Cain talked with Abel�. The site of that conversation is the focus of this paper, undoubtedy in very close proximity to the altar Abel used to present his acceptable sacrifice, and location of his ensuing murder. (.....continued on next page, P.2)
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