Glimpses of God in His Gardens

Gardens, a recurring motif running throughout the Bible in several literary genres, allow readers to catch glimpses of various aspects of God.  As gardens can be planted for a variety of reasons: beauty; nourishment; or as a hedge against unwanted “pest” animals, as when a homeowner plants herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, or lavendar to deter deer from eating the roses; so the setting of a garden occurs multiple times to cast light upon certain characteristics of God: namely, justice, love, and mercy.  Gardens, planted and tended with much work, are conversely places of rest; in this way, gardens are emblematic of God’s plan for His people.  From His love, He creates the bounty of beautiful and nourishing plants.  In His mercy, He endows human beings with the strength and knowledge to cultivate what they need.  In His justice, those who sow and keep the garden with care will reap a well-deserved harvest.  Gardens cultivated for one purpose may serve others as well; the food planted for the good of the family will nourish animals, insects and the soil, as the leftover stalks and stems of a harvested crop are plowed under to enrich future crops; just so a “nearby garden” served as witness to death and resurrection. Many key events in the Bible transpire in a garden: in the words of a prophet, in poetry, and in narratives, illuminating God’s justice, love, and mercy.

The prophet Daniel relates a tale of justice in a garden.  A rich, respected man, Joakim, enclosed a lovely garden, to which Jews, wise and foolish alike, came to him for advice.  His wife Susanna decided to bathe once the people had departed and she knew that the garden doors were shut; she felt safe. Two hidden, wicked judges seized upon her, but she resisted their advances – unlike Eve, who fell prey to the temptation of the serpent.  False accusations from the judges swiftly brought a death sentence on Susanna, but a young man, whom the Holy Spirit inspired, objected to her death sentence; despite his youth, he was surprisingly permitted to examine these two old judges. They were caught by their own lies, and justice was served upon them rather than injustice upon Susanna.

The poetic Song of Songs waxes rhapsodic about Love in a garden. Enclosed, it is protected, peaceful, and reserved for the exclusive use of the lovers.  This garden symbolizes a fruitful, committed relationship, the kind of covenantal relationship God’s people enjoy with Him. Within this garden flowed a fountain, a well of living water, as God’s love and mercy well up within the well-ordered soul to refresh it.  The Lover is invited to come to His garden and eat of its abundant fruit, as God rightly expects His bounteous blessings to be shared with all people.  He does not shower blessings upon a soul only to have those gifts hoarded; these gifts are meant to be shared for the benefit of all, as God’s fruitful love knows no bounds, and all God’s people who have entered into a committed, covenantal relationship with Him are enclosed within the garden of His Love.

Gardens figure in many Biblical narratives; in fact, the story of salvation begins and ends in a garden.  Creation unfolded in the Garden of Eden, and here God’s love, mercy, and justice are carried out.  God created this garden with an abundance of goodness and enclosed it, ensuring safety, security, serenity, and reserving Eden for Love alone.  Adam was entrusted with the noble, priestly tasks of “avad” and “shemar” - with the care and keeping of God’s Temple garden, as God’s people must also take responsibility for, tend to, and guard their personal relationship with Him. Adam and Eve experienced true freedom in the garden, wanted for nothing, and were highly favored with God’s Presence, walking with Him in the cool of the evening.  Despite these advantages, they turned their backs on God in disobedience and lack of trust in Him; and even as God in His justice cursed them, He, in His mercy, promised them – and all people – a Redeemer.  In another narrative portion of the Bible, this time in the New Testament, Jesus prayed for the salvation of all in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Love and mercy poured forth as blood, sweat, and tears from His Holy Face.  Although His companions, for whom He prayed, were physically close to Him, they were spiritually absent as they slept.  The salvation God promised in the Garden of Eden began in earnest in the Garden of Gethsemane.  In a third narrative, a garden was the scene of both Jesus’ entombment and resurrection.  A garden, so full of life, served temporarily as the resting place for Christ’s dead body.  That same garden witnessed Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. Thus God’s promise of salvation, made in mercy and love as He meted out justice to Adam and Eve, uttered in the Garden of Eden, found its fulfillment in the nameless garden which was close to Calvary.

God endowed human persons with five senses through which not only the physical world is experienced, but through which Heaven itself may also be touched.  The inspired writers of the Bible, in using the imagery of a garden, are able to communicate some of God’s nature, allowing the readers (or hearers) to partake of Heaven by considering Earthly delights.  In the staggering diversity of life to be found in gardens throughout the world – hydroponic gardens, desert plants, fragile rainforest orchids and ubiquitous pines, not to mention the dizzying number and kinds of insects which live among, against, and for the benefit of these plants – a glimpse is caught of the immensity of God’s love, which He shows in an infinite variety of ways according to the needs and comprehension levels of His people.  God’s justice shone forth for Susanna through the prophet Daniel; God’s poet fittingly described God’s love for His people in the Song of Songs; and God, in His mercy, sent His only Son to atone for Original Sin.  Salvation history completes its full circle as Adam and Eve stumble, ashamed, from the Garden of Eden and Jesus Christ rose, victorious and glorified, from the anonymous garden near the Place of the Skull.