"IITE have already seen how the traditions of the most ancient nations tell of a paradise in which man began his existence.1 We shall now see how these traditions go on to tell of man’s expulsion from his , garden home and of a guard which was posted lest he re-enter and par take of the tree of life. The Sumerians knew of a sacred “tree of life” which grew in “a holy place” located in the central “ place of the earth.” But something went wrong in this sacred garden and as a result, “no man enters its midst be tween the mouths of the rivers on both sides.” The Babylonians told of a tree of life, the fruit of which was supposed to contain qualities of granting and maintaining life per petually. The same idea occurs re peatedly in the Egyptian traditions. Professor Sayce, in describing the Accadian record, adds the following statement: “ The tree of life, of which so many illustrations occur on Assyrian monuments, is declared to he ‘the pine-tree of Eridu’, ‘the shrine of the god Imin’; and Irnirt is a name of the Euphrates, when regarded as the ‘snake river,’ which encir cled the world like a rope, and was the stream of Hea, ‘the snake-god of the tree of life.’ Euphrates, we must remember, was one of the rivers of Paradise” (Cf. Genesis 2:8-17; 3:24) 2 . In addition to the Fall traditions themselves, there are the convention alized representations of the tree of life which appear so often in Baby lonian art. Such are seen frequen'tly on the seals of prominent persons, and they appear among the alabaster reliefs of the royal palaces. Ap proach to the sacred tree seems to have been limited to the gods or to persons of distinction. Sometimes the representatives include two - winged creatures, standing as guardians on either side. The archaeologist Sayce, with oth ers, held that “even the word cherub is of Babylonian derivation. It is the name given to one of those winged Page Twenty-two
creatures with the body of a bull and the head of a man, which are some times placed in the Assyrian sculp tures on either side of the tree of life. They stood at the entrance of a Babylonian palace, and were sup posed to prevent the evil spirits from entering within. The word comes from a root which means to ap proach or to be near, and perhaps originally signified one who was near to God.":i Apparently Satan himself originally belonged to this order-of beings (Cf. Ezekiel 28:14).
“Note how the steps of the Fall are retraced in our salvation. First, ‘she saw.’ The essential message of the Gospel is, 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Look and live! 'As Moses lifted up the ser pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life’ (John 3:14, 15). Universal Christian experience testifies that there is life through the look of faith at the Crucified. Second, ‘she took.’ It does not suffice to hear the gospel. Many hear but do not heed. Blessed are they who, when they hear, appropriate, taking what God offers as a free gift of His grace. Third, ‘she did eat’. Jesus said: ‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst’ (John 6:35). Fourth, ‘she gave’. The simple secret of all self-sacrificing missionary en terprise is gratitude to God mani fested in eagerness to share His gifts with others. And hence the Master’s command: 'Freely ye have received, freely give.’ 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’.” *
While such traditions as these con tain ridiculous details, blind indeed is the person who can fail to see in them a distinct relation to the “gar den,” the Euphrates river, the “ serpent,” the “tree of life,” and the “cherubim,” all of which appear in the far more sane and orderly rec ords of the Bible. Knowing the tend ency of mere tradition to become corrupt, who, upon comparison, can escape the conclusion that the Bible, free from impurities and grotesque details, contains the true record of the tragic experience indelibly stamped upon the consciousness of man, both ancient and modern? One more detail deserves our at tention here, and without it, any such discussion certainly would be incomplete. Although the Babylonian tradition speaks of the god Marduk as destroying the wicked serpent, it is only in the Bible that we find any clear revelation of a coming Saviour who shall “bruise the serpent’s head” (Gen. 3:15). Let us thank God for the promise of salvation, which is contained in the most ancient rec ords of the Bible and which is so clearly unfolded on the rest of its sacred pages.
The Great W lnned Bull, likened to the chi-rub of the Old Test anient. From the pa lace gateway o f Sarnon II (cn. 720 H.C.) at Khorsahad. Irak. 10 ft. Iiinh. 40 tons In weijfht. Photograph courtesy of Oriental institute. University of Chicago. 1. Sec April The King'll lllirtnoss. 2. Sayce, h’reeh LIgill from the Ancient Mon umente, p. 2.1. It. Ibid, p . 211. 4. Hart-Uavies, Ibid, pp. 110-117. T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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