Tehillimandpoetry

The LORD exiled Adam and Eve from the garden. It was an act of mercy. Had they remained in the garden, they might have eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Life. God did not create them immortal, yet He left immortality hanging within their grasp. They only needed to reach out and eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, and that fruit was never forbidden them. Should they do so in their fallen state, they would have been consigned to an immortal existence in rebellion against God, not unlike the Devil, unredeemed and unredeemable for all of eternity: an eternal life of endless death.

In His abundant mercy, God exiled them from paradise and banned them from immortality:

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. (Genesis 3:22–23)

God created our souls and our bodies for the Garden of Delight. In some spiritual memory, every human being can still recall the taste of the fruit of the garden. Human beings have a longing wired into their hearts for the place of God, a desire we cannot quite articulate. We thirst for water we have never tasted. We long for fruit we have never eaten. We hunger and thirst for the presence of God. That’s why you are reading these words. That’s why we are always seeking to fill the empty places of our lives, and it is why we are prone to addictions, sensuality, and self-destructive behaviors. We are longing for Eden.

The exile from the garden corresponds to Israel’s exile from the land and this current exile we endure. When the kingdom comes, Israel will return to the land, and the exile will be over. The gates of Eden will open, and we will return to the presence of God. Then all humanity will know the LORD.

So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

There is a way back to Eden, past the flaming sword and between the cherubim. The Torah calls this the “derech etz haChayim” the “way of the tree of life.” The word “way (derech, דרך)” appears first in Genesis 3:24. The cherubim embroidered in the Temple curtains allude to the way of the tree of life. They stand sentry before the holy of holies and the presence of God, just as the cherubim in Genesis guard the way to the tree of life. This may be one of the meanings of the rending of the Temple curtain when the Master died. He has made the way between the cherubim. He Himself is “The Way, the Truth and the Life.” The early sect of Jewish believers who followed Him and believed Him called themselves, “The Way.” He has made the way through the curtain, into the garden, to holy of holies and the tree of life.

We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Yeshua, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. (Hebrews 10:19–20)

Adam and Eve had choices: The tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Choosing is an essential part of being human. We can choose good, which is the way of life, or disobedience, which results in death. We choose between the two trees countless times every day.

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8-9)

Once there was a Chassidic teacher, a great rabbi, who was observing the children playing hide-and-seek. One child covered his eyes and counted while the other children scattered and hid. Then he went and began to find the children, one after another. As he found them the others join the search.

After watching the children play for a while, the rabbi returned to his books. Time passed, and the voices of the children faded away. He was eventually disturbed from his studies by the sound of a lone child’s voice crying in the schoolyard. He went out to see what had happened, thinking perhaps the child might be hurt. He asked the child, “Son, what is it? Why all this weeping?” The boy explained, “We were all playing hide-and-seek. I was hiding, and they didn’t find me. They quit looking for me, and they all went home.” He began to sob. The rabbi realized that this child’s sorrow was like God’s sorrow. God has, in a sense, concealed Himself and bid us to look for Him, but no one is looking for Him.

In the garden of Eden humans experienced God directly. In the paradise of Eden, human beings lived in simplicity and innocence, without sin, guilt, shame or knowledge thereof. God was present; He was immediate; He was revealed. He spoke with them. Walked with them. They knew His presence; they recognized His voice. He was not hidden. There was no seeking after God. God was everywhere; His voice carried through the orchard.

What has happened since then? Why has God removed himself? Why has He hidden Himself away?

Let’s look at the story. Who hid from whom? The Torah says, “The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). In the story, it is God who calls out to man. God did not hide Himself. God searched for man. He called out to the human beings, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). Abraham Joshua Heschel took the title of his famous philosophy of Judaism from this narrative: God in Search of Man.

We are the ones who have hidden ourselves from the presence of God. In our fallen and rebellious state, in our place of sentience, self-awareness and self-determination, we are unable to bear the presence of God.

Where is God? This is the wrong question. The real question is, where are we?

http://torahclub.ffoz.org/portions-library/core/breisheet/where-are...