Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1–3 (NAS)

Genesis 2:4 (NAS): 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

Earthly Eden – The Holy Mountain of God and the Garden of God

God builds the upper chambers of His temple in the heavens (Amos 9:6) and surrounds the chambers of His temple with gardens, a “paradise” as He does in the Garden of Eden on earth.

At the beginning of Genesis chapter 2, we see God finishing his creation and resting on the seven day. For an ancient person, gods rested in temples, the same would be true here. Last session we saw that God stretched out the heavens and that he dwells at the heights of the heavens ruling over all. His dwelling place at the heights of the heavens would be in a heavenly temple and his throne would be between the cherubim in this heavenly temple. After God finished his creation on the sixth day, he at last took his seat and rested on his throne as king over the creation he had made on the seventh day. Thus the seventh day is holy because God rested on it. [Psa 11:4 NASB] 4 The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; [Psa 103:19 NASB] 19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.

Genesis 1 created the picture of a cosmic temple in which Yahweh constructed the heavens and the earth in a similar pattern to how he later instructed Moses to construct the tabernacle. As God spoke and ordered creation with seven words and steps, so the tabernacle was later constructed with seven specific areas of structure. Creation is God‘s temple in which he dwells on a cosmic level, as we move forward we will see that his temple at the heights of the heavens is modeled in this way on a smaller scale and that the garden of Eden is modeled in this way on a smaller scale.

The ancient would have assumed that a god dwelled in a temple surrounded by a garden paradise. The Bible seems to point towards this fact as well for the true God when Paul speaks of being taken to the paradise of God in first Corinthians chapter 12. This word paradise could be translated as paradise, heaven, or garden. We also know that the tree of life is in heaven currently and will come down from the presence of God. God used this same pattern when creating the Garden of Eden; as he established his heavenly throne/dwelling/temple, so he established his earthly.

As we piece together accounts from Ezekiel and Genesis, we learn that Eden is actually a whole region. According to Ezekiel 28:13-18 we see the holy mountain of God and the garden of God together in the region of Eden. So Eden is a whole area with a mountain, rivers flowing (presumably from the mountain), and a garden with various trees.

Genesis 2:8 (NAS): The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden;

The mountain of God would potentially be the central location where God would come down, the region of Eden would be the holy place where humans were places to rule, and the outer regions would be commonplace in need of subduing and ordering. This pattern also is strikingly similar to the construction of the tabernacle later in Exodus. This tabernacle in Exodus is patterned after Yahweh’s heavenly tabernacle shown to Moses on the mountain.

One additional fact about the tabernacle and later temple is needed to understand the implications of them. The tabernacle/temple were to have decorative designs of various trees and garden like adornments. The implication is that, post genesis three, Yahweh’s desire to dwell among his people is still in place, and that the tabernacle/temple itself points backwards to the the garden reality when God said things were good, and forward to the restoration of the garden reality.

The creation of Human

To rule over this creation within the garden, God created Adam. He did so by forming Adam from the dust of the earth as a potter forms clay. God then animates this clay creation by breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. We can imagine God’s Spirit entering into Adam as the means of creating him.

Genesis 2:7 (NAS): 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

In Genesis 1:26-28 we see Adam’s kingly rule over the earth and in Genesis 2:15-17 we find his priestly role in relation to the Garden of God. Ezekiel 28:18 seems to allude to the garden “paradise” being an actual temple/sanctuary – a sacred space where God would come down to walk and meet with man, though perhaps the man was meant to go up to God on the holy mountain, better fitting the temple pattern.

Adam’s Priestly Role

[Gen 2:15-17 NASB] 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put (set to rest) him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

This place of rest in eden was a sacred space for man to rest and walk with God with the responsibility to “cultivate” and “keep” the garden through obedience to the command. Adam already had the word of the Lord to rule over the animals (serpent) now his role was to obey God in serving and guarding the garden as the place of His presence as a priest. These two words, “cultivate” and “keep,” (serve and guard) paired together in most contexts in the Old Testament function together to refer to either the Israelites serving God and keeping His commandments or to priests who serve the Lord and guard His sanctuary (Numb 3:7-8, 8:25-26, 18:5-6; I Chron 23:32; Ezek 44:14). Indeed Adam functioned as a priest not just the simple gardener that we attribute to him.

“When Adam failed to guard the temple by sinning and letting in a foul serpent to defile the sanctuary, he lost his priestly role, and the cherubim took over the responsibility of ‘guarding’ the Garden temple…The guarding function of the cherubim probably did not involve gardening but keeping out the sinful and unclean, which suggests that Adam’s original role stated in Genesis 2:15 likely entailed much more than cultivating the soil, but also ‘guarding’ the sacred space”.
G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission, [Downer’s Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004]

Indeed, Adam was both a king and a priest. Adam and Eve were meant to rule together under the authority of God to take God‘s rule out to the rest of creation on earth. As God was king in heaven, his humans were King and Queen on earth meant to spread life and cultivation to the rest of the planet. This was the beautiful purpose given to humanity as they took their place as God’s under-rulers.

Later Jewish tradition also depicts Adam as a priestly minister in the Edenic temple. 37 The combination of Genesis, Revelation, and the prophets all paint a picture that I believe was clear in the minds of the New Testament writers (cf. Luke 24:51; 2 Cor. 12:2; Heb. 8–10; Rev. 15; etc.)—that God ruled over creation from a paradisal-temple in the height of the heavens, and humans were created in his image as kingly priests to rule over the earth from the paradisal-temple of Eden. The heavens and the earth were created to enhance the glory of God as reflected in the creation of humankind, and consequently the two realities organically correspond to one another.

One prohibition was given to the humans in this garden, Genesis 2:16–17 (NAS): “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Rulers in the Heavens

Within this patterned arrangement there is also a divine hierarchy under the governance of God, by which he holds together all things with absolute power, authority, and dominion (cf. Eph. 1:20–21; Col. 1:16–17). There are “powers” (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 6:12), “rulers” (Eph. 3:10; Col. 1:16), and “authorities” (Col. 2:15; 1 Peter 3:22; cf. Isa. 24:21; 34:4) in the “midheaven” (Rev. 8:13; 14:6; 19:17, NRSV ).

Just as God shared authority with humanity by allowing them to rule under his guidance on the earth, so God also placed rulers in the heavens, sharing authority with them. God is sovereign and all powerful, he does not need others to help him rule over creation. However, in his wisdom he has chosen to share his authority with divine beings in the heavens, and human beings on the earth. These beings are called by several names in the NT (as seen above), but are must often called “elohim” through the OT. Other times they are referred to as the “bene ha elohim” or “sons of God.” In the beginning, God established his family in the heavens and on the earth.

The Divine Counsel

Psalm 82:1 (ESV): God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

Perhaps in the second heavens, God has established for himself a council of divine beings that collaborate together over matters related to the heavens and the earth. Yahweh’s ultimate will and desires will be fulfilled, and to do this he has graciously allowed others to be a part of making these decisions.

1 Kings 22:19–22 (NAS): Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 “The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 “The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’

Conclusion

God is at the heights of the heavens and shares his authority with divine beings in the heavens and human beings on the earth. As these beings walk in his ways, his life and love will be spread to all of creation, and creation will be ruled with justice and righteousness. The earthly beings are both kings and priests to God and spread his life and love out to the rest of earthly creation as they are fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. This picture is what God called “very good.”

For all of this to continue properly and beautiful, however, these other rulers must depend solely on Yahweh for their knowledge of good and evil. They dare not rely on themselves…

Supplemental-

Many other comparisons between the Garden of Eden and the Temple

The structures of both are three-fold with an entrance facing east (Gen. 2:8; 3:24; Eze. 8:16; 40:6)
Both are situated on a mountain (Gen. 2:10; 2 Chr. 3:1; Is. 2:2; Eze. 28:13-16) guarded by cherubim (Gen. 3:24; Ex. 25:18-22; 26:31; 1 Ki. 6:23- 35; Eze. 28:14).
Rivers flow out of both Eden (Gen. 2:10) and the eschatological temple in Jerusalem (Ps 46; Eze. 47:1-12; Rev. 22:1-2).
Precious metals and stones are used in and adorn both (Gen. 2:11f; Ex. 25:7- 31; Eze. 28:13).
Trees filled the Garden (Gen. 2:9), and arboreal decorations adorned the Temple (1 Ki. 6:18-35; 7:18ff). Moreover, the Trees of Life and Knowledge (Gen 2:9) seem to be symbolized in the sanctuary Lampstand and Law.

NT Verses on Rulers in the Heavens

For by Him [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col. 1:16–17, NASB )

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers , against the authorities , against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:11–12)

Deeper Discussion on the Elohim in the OT

Interview with Dr. Michael Heiser: “Demons, Giants, and Other Gods in the Bible? Dr. Michael Heiser”