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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
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Gardens: Portals to the Underworld?
II Kings 21, Isaiah 65
Introduction
Alright guys, I’ve got an extra-weird one for you this time: does the Bible demonstrate some kind of connection between gardens and the Underworld?
Uh, what? When I first heard that, I thought it was one of the most bizarre ideas I’d ever read. While we might use a garden to grow our carrots and cucumbers, the ancient people of the Old Testament era thought of gardens as gateways to the spiritual realm. A place where one could make contact with the dead.
And as we explore various gardens of the Bible today, this concept will start to become very clear even in Scripture itself. And it goes all the way back to the very first one: the garden mountain of Eden.
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to I Kings 2, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Gardens on Cosmic Mountains
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about gardening tips.
Well, kinda, but not really. I grew up watching- and rewatching- and rewatching- the 1998 Godzilla movie with Matthew Broderick. Because Godzilla was basically a dinosaur. And not only that: a dinosaur in New York City. That was really all I needed to be happy and content in life as a 9-year-old. Which will probably still be true when I’m a 39-year-old. And one thing that always stuck out to me in that movie is that the climax takes place in a location they called Madison Square Garden. It really confused me as a kid because Madison Square Garden was clearly not square, nor was it a garden. Madison Square Garden is not what I thought it was.
Likewise, biblical gardens are probably not what you think they are. Let’s start with the first one. The Garden of Eden was not simply a garden; it was a mountain. That’s what last week’s episode was all about. Scholars often refer to it as a cosmic mountain. The Mountain of Eden was a meeting place for three realms: the Heavenly realm, the Earthly realm, and the Underworld realm.
The peoples of ancient times believed that garden mountains were the luxurious places where the quote-unquote “gods” resided. A garden speaks of sustenance and endless provision; the mountain speaks of status and position. And that’s true in a carnal sense.
Spiritually speaking, the mountain speaks of reaching up into heaven. A cosmic mountain was pictured as reaching up into the clouds, like Mount Olympus in Greek Mythology. The garden speaks of reaching down into the ground. The things in the dirt, and under the earth, are reaching up into our sphere.
And this idea goes all the way back to Eden; so whether ancient peoples followed God or not, this concept was entrenched firmly in their minds. And it was a somewhat mystical idea, as the tallest and most impressive mountains were not the best places for growing vegetation. They’re cold and lifeless. In the natural realm, a garden mountain was difficult to imagine. It was a supernatural concept.
Have you ever heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? One of the seven wonders of the ancient world. If you look at pictures of this, it’s a ziggurat-type of structure with vegetation all over it. A ziggurat, if you’ve ever seen one, is like a pyramid. Nebuchadnezzar was attempting to build his own garden mountain with human architecture. That was the concept behind it.
Timothy Alberino’s excellent book Birthright says, “The motif of the cosmic mountain and garden paradise of the gods was famously modeled with brick and mortar in one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Legend has it that King Nebuchadnezzar built a great ziggurat in the city of Babylon and planted lush gardens on its broad terraces, replete with exotic animals. A ziggurat is a step pyramid constructed with a series of platform levels ascending to the zenith, typically culminating in a temple or shrine. Essentially, it is an artificial mountain designed to invoke the cosmic mountain of Hermon and communion with the gods that hold court on its summit.”
Speaking of Hermon, let’s talk about that. This seems to be either a cosmic mountain, or an attempt to be one. For one thing, it was where the Watchers descended to the earth in the pre-flood world. And at the time of Jesus, it was also believed to have a passageway to the Underworld in a cave at the base of this mountain, in Caesarea Philippi—the place where Jesus spoke about the gates of Hell. Did it actually have a portal to hell there? I don’t know. But that’s what people believed.
Consider this though: this was the location of the Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah appeared there on Mount Hermon with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Now as for Elijah, we know how he got to heaven. Elijah was taken to heaven on a fiery chariot in II Kings 2. But think about this: how did Moses get there? Because before the cross, Old Testament believers didn’t ascend to heaven when they died. They remained in the Underworld in a place called Abraham’s Bosom. In Old Testament times, both the saved and the unsaved descended into the Underworld at that time. Unbelievers went to the hell portion of the Underworld; believers went to the Paradise/Abraham’s Bosom portion.
So at the Transfiguration, Elijah was brought down and Moses was brought up. There’s no mention of a garden, but at least for a brief moment, the Transfiguration was on a cosmic mountain, connecting three realms.
And next week, I want to talk about the Mount of Olives, another garden mountain, and this one has as surprisingly dark history in the Bible.
Kings and Gardens
But this time, I just want to talk about gardens in the Bible. In his book “The Gates of Hell,” Derek Gilbert writes, “The modern word “garden” has a much different connotation today than it did three thousand years ago. Today, it evokes images of flowers or vegetables, carefully tended to yield blossoms or produce, according to their kind. Back in the day, however, gardens were often reserved for royalty, and not only because kings and queens naturally get the best stuff.”
Pagan kings aspired to be buried in a garden. They believed that if their physical body was in a garden, it would provide them a portal to the earthly realm so that their spirit could continue to influence things on earth. Therefore, the pagan people would perform rituals in gardens to access the spirits of their ancestors. So gardens were many times associated with a practice called necromancy; speaking with the dead.
By the way, I’m not claiming that the bodies of kings actually were portals. I can’t prove that, and I’m not even trying to. I’m just saying this is what the people believed, and we’ll look at some places where the Bible speaks against these practices.
The good, godly kings of the Israelites would not follow these pagan practices. Therefore, they were always buried in tombs.
I Kings 2:10
Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
To be buried in the city of David meant to be buried in the tombs in a narrow hill south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Nehemiah later refers to this spot as the “tombs of David” in Nehemiah 3:16.
II Chronicles 16:13-14
13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier [that’s b-i-e-r, and it means something like a coffin] that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.
I Kings 22:50
And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father…
II Kings 23:30
And his servants carried him [which is Josiah] dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb.
And one more:
II Chronicles 32:33
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper part of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
So ancient kings typically received burial in tombs, as I’m trying to establish. And that was the typical Israelite practice until we get to this guy Manasseh.
II Kings 21:1-3
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
Skipping down to verse 6:
6 And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
This causes God to declare in
Verse 11
“Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols”
Manasseh was worse than the Amorites, which were those pagan people with Nephilim blood who had occupied the Promised Land before the Israelites drove them out. God had said that the Amorites—because of their occultism and necromancy—were so wicked that they had to be wiped out. And now Manasseh has become even worse than they were. And now Manasseh has a different burial practice described than the kings who came before him.
II Kings 21:18
And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
Manasseh was buried in a garden. And then his son Amon was just as bad as Manasseh was, and it says later in
Verse 26
And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
And then Israel spiritually rebounds a bit under King Josiah because he turns out to be a pretty good king, but these two kings who represented Israel at its low point were buried in a garden, which belonged to a previous king, Uzza (also known as Uzziah). They wanted to be buried there because they believed their dead body would create a portal there from the Underworld so that they could continue to influence the world after their death.
There have been plenty of Amorite practices for accessing the Underworld realm recovered up by archaeologists. They include sacrifices of both pigs and humans, and consuming pork, and these rituals often took place in gardens in the high places. These practices are referenced in
Isaiah 65:2-4
2 I spread out my hands all the day
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3 a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and making offerings on bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat pig's flesh,
and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
Actually, let me just keep reading through verse 7
5 who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me:
“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their lap
7 both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
because they made offerings on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
payment for their former deeds.”
Wow. They do these sacrifices in gardens on mountains and hills. Sounds like they’re trying to create a cosmic mountain atmosphere as they access the spiritual realm. And I do believe they were accessing the spiritual realm. Whether they summoned human spirits from the Underworld or whether they summoned demons, I don’t know; but this was definitely something spiritual happening. Don’t forget that King Saul visited a necromancer in I Samuel 28 who brought up the spirit of Samuel. So I don’t know how it all works—and I don’t think we’re supposed to know how it all works—but these practices were not forbidden by the Bible because it was all fake. It’s very real. Like, she really did bring up Samuel’s spirit.
Isaiah 66:17
17 “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.
That’s another place where a garden is linked with these pagan practices.
Now, I am not claiming that every time the word “garden” comes up in the Bible, it means something spiritual. Sometimes a garden is just a garden. And in the Song of Solomon, sometimes a garden is other things. But now you’ll understand the context or significance when the Bible speaks, for example, of a king’s garden or a shameful garden.
The Last Adam and the Last Garden
But I want to speak of two more gardens which come up in Scripture. There are about 65 references to gardens in the Bible; roughly half of those are about the Garden of Eden. And that’s where the Biblical story starts. Man was invited to dwell with God in this garden mountain. We were given the task of cultivating the garden, which means Adam’s job was that he was a gardener.
This is different from the dominion mandate of Genesis 1. The world was to be subdued by Adam. It was good, but it wasn’t ruled. Now Satan has stolen that dominion, and one of our jobs as the church is to take that dominion back.
But Adam was given a different job in the garden of Eden: he was to cultivate it. And that speaks of maintenance. Not taking dominion of it, but acting as a manager within it. Let’s just look at the word for a moment.
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
That’s how the ESV puts it. Work it and Keep it.
"Work It” is the Hebrew word abad. (Aw-bad) It means to serve; to do work for another; to serve as subjects. Adam did not own Eden. He wasn’t to take dominion of Eden. He was to serve as a subject to God.
The other term there is “keep it,” that’s the Hebrew word šāmar (shaw-mar). It means to guard or observe, like when Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
So Adam was to serve and protect in the garden. Now, does that mean he was clipping shrubs and picking potatoes? I don’t think so. The Mountain Garden of Eden was a meeting place of the Divine Council. Adam served in that capacity. Not sure if he was a member, but Adam would have served some kind of role in that setup.
Adam, of course, failed. He should have kicked the serpent out of the garden. Instead, Adam and Eve sinned and got themselves kicked out.
But thousands of years later, someone known as the second Adam, or the last Adam, is once again seen visiting a garden.
JOhn 18:1-2
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
How fascinating. Jesus liked to meet with his disciples where? In a garden. Just like God wanted to meet with His subjects in a garden in the very first chapters of the Bible.
Adam was tested in a garden, and Adam failed. He followed his own will instead of God’s will. Jesus was tested in a garden, and He said “not my will but yours be done.” Jesus passed every test. And God’s will was to have Jesus sacrificed for our sins on the cross.
Now, here’s what’s really interesting. The Old Testament pagans had this practice of sacrifices in gardens as a way to access the Underworld, right? Jesus was a sacrifice for us on Calvary. And here’s what it says right after he died.
John 19:40-42
40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Jesus was sacrificed in a garden. The same environment where sin had entered this world was the type of environment where Jesus paid for sin.
Now I wonder if the forces of the devil were laughing about this. I wonder if they really thought they had pulled off a funny trick with that. Because you know that they thought they were winning by killing Jesus. And not just killing Jesus in some random place, but in a garden—a place pagans used for sacrifices.
In fact, in these practices of the Amorites, they had a festival every year when the gardens came into bloom. They would perform a garden ritual to invite the gatekeeper of the Underworld, a god called Reseph, in late march or early April.
How interesting that this is the same time of year when the crucifixion of Jesus would have taken place in a garden. And where did Jesus go when He died? He descended into the Underworld.
A lot of Christians don’t think about what Jesus was doing during those three days in the grave. Or perhaps they assume that Jesus went to heaven, since He told the thief on the cross that today they would be together in paradise. But paradise was in the Underworld.
Let me correct what I said: modern Christians don’t often think about what Jesus was up to during this time. The early church knew exactly where Jesus was.
The Apostle’s Creed states: [Jesus] suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
So the early church knew what they were talking about. And I’m not saying Jesus suffered in the fires of hell like a sinner would. Jesus took the keys of death, hell and the grave.
So I don’t know if there was any truth or not to this idea that gardens created portals to the Underworld. But it’s interesting that it’s exactly where Jesus went after He was a sacrifice in a garden.
And of course, just like those ancient kings aspired to do when they were buried in gardens, Jesus ended up returning to His body.
I’m Going In
So as we wrap up today, I want us to just reflect on the courage of Jesus.
There was this movie from the late 1900s known as The Matrix. And toward the end of the movie, the character Neo announces that he’s going to re-enter The Matrix to save his friend Morpheus. The character Trinity asks him about his plan, and he replies “I’m going in.”
And whether it’s a solider in combat, a fireman facing down a burning building, a Rebel pilot approaching the Death Star, that’s kind of the quintessential action movie phrase when the hero is going up against impossible odds to save the day. He says: “I’m going in.” When you hear those words, it’s the trigger phrase to grab a handful of popcorn and put down the phone because you know it’s about to get good.
Jesus took his disciples to a place where no good Jew dared to tread. He took them to the base of Mount Hermon—at the base of which was Caesarea Philppi—a place of spiritual darkness—human sacrifice—the pagan sanctuary of Pan which was said to contain a portal into the abyss—and a place that most Christians would probably be afraid to go. Jesus looked at that and said, “I’m going in.”
Jesus was not afraid of Caesarea Philippi.
Jesus was not afraid of gardens in the springtime.
Jesus was not afraid of the Underworld.
And after three days, just as the fish spat Jonah back out of the sea onto dry land, Jesus was spat out of the sea of the Underworld and back into our realm, in a garden.
John 20 says
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener
Wait- the what? She supposed Him to be the gardener. Adam was the first gardener. And Jesus was the last Adam.
The first Adam was a gardener whose sin brought death into the garden. The last Adam paid for sin and rose from the dead in a garden. He went in…and He came back out.
The Bible is not weird. WE are weird, because we don’t know about gardens and their connection to the Underworld. But now we do. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.