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and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east
of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
life.
A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divinity
or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil
has no local habitation nor name. Creation
is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway
to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries
itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for
nothingness.
(Inspired interpretation)
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory - this second account in Genesis - is to depict
the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the
Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets
it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear
contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which
blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is
represented as changeable. The literal meaning would
imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, -
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