CHAPTER 1

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning there was darkness. Then came light, then atmosphere,land to produce vegetation, regular seasons, and other forms of life aswe know it then God decided to make a creature in his own image andlikeness. It is amazing how so many magnificent happenings had totranspire in order to make the Earth the way it is seen today. There arewetlands, dry lands, forests, plains, mountains, valleys, blistering coldclimates and sweltering heat areas. What is more amazing is that likeGod's diversity and ability to conform to and take over any condition,human beings have done much the same. With so many different types ofpeople in this world, tracing humanities biological records back can provedaunting. The bible gives its own interpretation in story form. Just likethe bible starts in the beginning so too must this book start its journey atthe genesis of humanity.

Garden of Eden

Before Adam and Eve are discussed it is important to note the kind ofenvironment they lived in. The exact location of the garden is uncertainbut the bible does give clues. It says that it is a garden in the east with fourrivers. The first was Pison, flowing through the land of Havilah or SaudiArabia. The second was called Gihon and flowed throughout the land ofCush or Ethiopia. Interestingly enough, all sciences point to this place inAfrica as being the birthplace of humanity with the first human skeletalremains found there so even the bible supports what science confirms.The third and fourth braches are called the Tigris and the Euphratesrivers, essentially flowing through Mesopotamia4. The bible also accountsfor Lebanon being in Eden in many different places when it accounts forTyre, a city in Lebanon being a part of the Eden5 for example. The biblealso makes references to a beautiful African country named Egypt as beingso beautiful that its splendor is synonymous with that of Eden's. This isnoted when Lot and Abraham left Egypt and Lot was given his pick of theland to raise his cattle peacefully and he chose the more beautiful land6,and it is noted again in Ezekiel when he compares the magnificence ofEgypt with that of the garden.

The point is not necessarily to say where the Garden of Eden exactlywas but is more about to give a general picture of the region. As evidencedby the bible it is shown that the general area for the most part is set in theregion of what is now called the Middle East and northeast Africa. Thismeans that whoever was able to live there had to be naturally inclined tolive there moderately with little to few complications, and one thing thatthe bible mentions repeatedly is how hot the region is.

It is noted in Exodus when Moses leads the Israelites from Elim andthey received their manna from God8, it is also noted in 1 Samuel whenKing Saul is engaged in battle with the Ammonites. The term "heat of theday" is also mentioned heavily in the bible as referring to the hottest timeof the day, and is notably mentioned when Abraham's first son Ishmael isto be announced. What makes this story interesting is that one sees that inan era of such heavy workloads when one has to plant, harvest, feed andslaughter animals, cook, clean, etc., and much of this needs to be donein the day, it would appear that Abraham in his old age is taking a breakfrom such activities because of the scorching heat. There are many moreexamples but the crux of all this is to note that this is a very hot region ofthe Earth.

Another interesting side note is that numerous times throughout thebible God's anger is described in terms of increased heat as it was oftendescribed as being "hot." In the King James Version or KJV what is usedoften is "waxed hot." It is clear that the bible is written by people who areoften exposed to a hot climate. It would be inconsequential for God or thewriters to describe anger as a devastating blizzard or a ravenous hail if forthe most part the people whom the anger was directed at are unfamiliar tothose conditions. The examples that are used are often directly related tothe people in whom the point is aimed.

On that Grind

The bible stresses hard work for everybody, so much so that manyproverbs are dedicated for the sole purpose of combating laziness. Inmuch the same way as one works today for his or her bread, so too didthe ancients in the bible and Adam and Eve were not exempt; "And theLORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dressit and keep it." As a matter of biblical fact,...