Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden / The Fall Painting by Jan Breughel the Elder/Peter Paul Rubens Public Domain
Perfect Communion with God in The Garden of Eden
The Bible begins with the description of the creation of the universe by God, who declared when he had finished on the sixth day that he looked and saw that everything was very good - in fact perfect! (Genesis 1:31)
The painting by Jan Brueghel or Peter Paul Rubens is a wonderful depiction of an incredibly beautiful scene showing Adam and Eve in their naked innocence surrounded by a rich variety of animals and birds of exquisite colours. It is a scene of beauty and innocence reflecting their intimate communion with the Creator.
In Genesis 1:26-27 we read
"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
So how did it all go so terribly wrong?
A Snake & An Apple
Lurking in the top of the picture is a snake coiled round the branch of an apple tree, while down below Eve is holding out an apple she has picked to give to her husband Adam.
The problem was God had given Adam strict instructions about what they could and could not do in the garden.
In Genesis 2:15-16 we read:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man,
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."