4. Divine Hiddenness in Eden: The Enigmatic Beginning
In the Garden of Eden, shortly after creation, we learn that God gave Adam a clear command: he was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Along with the command came a solemn warning about the severe consequences of disobedience.
Genesis 2:16–17 records this moment: “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.’”
It is evident that Adam later passed this command on to his wife, Eve, after she was created. But when Satan appeared in the form of a serpent to deceive her, the first humans were faced with their earliest and most consequential test: the challenge of discerning truth from falsehood, and good from evil. Tragically, they failed—and the repercussions of that failure have echoed through every generation since.
It seems undeniable that God could have done more on that pivotal day to prevent the fall of Adam and Eve. Yet, He remained hidden. His hiddenness in Eden can be characterized by the absence of His revelation, His intervention, and the apparent withholding of His mercy when Adam and Eve sinned. Let’s examine each of these more closely. And when we do, it will become increasingly clear that His hiddenness is indeed striking and difficult to ignore, not only because it contradicts our expectations of how He should have acted in Eden, but more importantly, because it stands in stark contrast to the way He is known in Scripture to have interacted with people in later generations.