This Article: (8 Pages)
- 1. 'Paradise' in the Bible
- 2. Ancient Hebrew use of the word... paradise pardes
- 3. Paul's third Heaven and... paradeisos
- 4. The third Heaven
- 5. In the body or out? Whose vision... was it?
- 6. Paradise At Golgotha
- 7. The kingdom and paradeisos.
- 8. The sum of the parts
2) Ancient Hebrew use of the word paradise pardes
The Old Testament uses the older Hebrew version of the word, pardes, which tells us what it meant to them. The word translated 'forest' in the Old Testament is mostly the Hebrew word ya-ar meaning 'to thicken', but Nehemiah uses pardes to describe Artaxerxes' forest.
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest (pardes), that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. (Nehemiah 2:8)
This 'king's forest' was paradise. Nehemiah is speaking of a pragmatic exchange and the word described a walled piece of land belonging to a king. The word also is used twice in Solomon's writings where he speaks of his gardens as pardes.
I made me gardens (Hebrew: gannah) and orchards (pardes), and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:(Ecclesiastes 2:5)
A garden (Hebrew: gan) inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard (pardes) of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, (Song 4:12-13)
Solomon makes a difference between a Hebrew gan and a Persian pardes. All three references speak of trees. Both references by Solomon to pardes again refer to a plantation owned by a king. A Hebrew 'gan' contained plants in a walled area. However, ancient descriptions of Persian pairidaêza feature an enclosing wall, trees for shade, water in ponds and canals, pavilions and animals. The control of such large areas of water in a hot arid climate would explain why these gardens were associated with kings. Also called a pairidaêza, which was a great privilege for kings to own, was a very large enclosed area full of trees, with water, wild animals and birds for hunting by the king. This King's pardes or pairidaêza was the area from which Nehemiah gained trees for building the gates of Jerusalem.
Hebrew translation of gan into Greek paradeisos
The third occurrence of the Greek word paradeisos in the New Testament is part of a promise to the faithful in Revelation,
Unto the angel of the congregation of Ephesus write; These things said he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands; I know your works, and your labour, and your patience, and how you can not bear them which are evil: ...He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the congregations; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:1-7)
The word for paradise in Greek is paradeisos. It is used here to describe the garden of Eden. It was a walled place of trees that could not be entered after Eve and Adam were excluded as the result of sin. There is one point to note. The reward to the faithful is not to be in the garden! Rather, the reward is eating of the tree of life.
The use of this word is in keeping with the Septuagint which translates the Hebrew for garden gan as paradeisos wherever it refers to the Garden of Eden, or the Garden of Yahweh. In Genesis 13:10 the land Lot sees is like the paradeisos of Yahweh- a reference again to Eden. In effect, Revelation uses the same phrase as Genesis 13:10.
paradise of God = garden of the Lord = Eden
We can note some reasons for the acceptance of the term paradeisos by the Jewish Septuagint translators to describe Eden. Firstly, the concept was already accepted into Hebrew as Pardes and Aramaic as pardaysa. The word described Eden as something special rather than the more common Hebrew gan. Secondly, there were less than accidental similarities, between the Persian idea and Eden, as the Persian culture has traces of common Semitic origins. Eden was divided by 4 rivers and later Persian paradeisos feature multiple channels dividing the garden into 4. The entry was cut off to Eden, indicating an area that only had one point of access, just like a Persian walled garden. There were trees for shade and food and animals in both. And one last point in common was that the Persian paradeisos was a place of rest from labour.
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Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
This may be one of the most misunderstood passages of the Bible. Paul is notorious for long sentences of connected thoughts, and this is part of a complex wide ranging thought which lasts 2 chapters, and includes what seems opposite advice:
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Cor. 5:11-13)
As I was thinking to write this article, having just read Psalm 46 as I do each year on that day, on January 25th a Bible was found untouched after a tornado hit Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
We have been given many time periods to prophetic events in the Bible. Many people think it too hard, and do not make an effort to understand them. However, if they were not to be understood, why were they given? And the Bible says the wise shall understand (Daniel 12:10).
In the light of the findings of science, how literally do we take what the scriptures say about the power of the God of the Bible, Yahweh Elohim (literally He who will become Mighty Ones)? Science at its best is a measurement of observable and repeatable phenomenon wrapped up in explanations which abound in analogy. There is no doubt in the benefit of investigating phenomena of the natural world. The surprising thing is that the more we investigate natural phenomena, the more it fits the explanations recorded over 2000 years ago.
The God of Israel is approachable and reasonable. He often speaks directly to his people. The following will seek to understand a passage where he speaks via the prophet Amos which has a few variant translations.
