Hey, this is John at the Bible Project.

We're continuing our conversation this week on a theme in the Bible called the Exile.

Last week on the podcast, we discussed how the Old Testament was shaped to explore what

it means to be an exile, and if there's any hope to ever find true home again.

This week we're going to go back to the beginning of the story of the Bible and look at what

was depicted as our true home, the Garden of Eden.

Eden is depicted with all of the imagery of an idea that would be very common, ancient

readers called the Cosmic Mountain.

Yeah, a cosmic mountain.

The Greeks had Mount Olympus, Bale had Mount Hermann, but for the Jewish people, God's

mountain was first found as a garden for humanity lived with God in peace and abundance.

There's all these images of true home, there's peace among humans, the naked no shame,

totally vulnerable with each other, and peace with the created order itself depicted with

the image of fruit trees.

Things didn't stay that way.

Adam and Eve disobey God, and so their exile cast out of the garden.

So today, Tim and I will walk through the famous Old Testament stories and see how the

Hebrews originally saw them as humanity's journey into exile and hope for how we can

one day get back home.

The people living after the Babylonian exile see themselves as retracing the steps of Abraham,

our forefather who also adjured from Babylon.

Thanks for joining us, here we go.

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