Whither Goest Adam and Eve?
A patron asked if we can find out in which cardinal direction Adam and Eve went when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. The Bible isn’t very helpful in this matter, in fact, the closest hint of an answer comes from the King James Version, Genesis 3:24: "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." This could mean that Adam and Eve left to the East, and the Cherubim blocked them from coming back. Biblical scholars seem to concur on the idea of an easterly exit even though the only sources that mention directions in connection with the first couple's exodus is the "Book of Adam and Eve," which is considered to be Pseudepigrapha, or possibly fictional accounts of biblical history. For more about the "Book of Adam and Eve" and the Pseudepigrapha, read Earth's Ancient History.

Further down the page just mentioned, read "Book I: Chapter I," which contains a description of the Garden of Eden that places it on the east side of the Earth, and says that God banished the couple to the western border of the garden!? Keep reading this answer, to see why the scholars still think that Adam and Eve went east. But first, here is one translation of the "Book of Adam and Eve" that spells it out in so many words in "Discovery of Expulsion," 1:1.

Finally, the Seven Fold Truth site, which is based upon an ongoing study of the Pseudepigrapha, provides the words from Chapter I of the "Book of Adam and Eve" along with scholarly interpretations of that passage (This geographical explanation assumes that there were two Gardens of Eden, one of which might have been the lost island of Atlantis.)

If, however, you wish to read a version of this story of banishment in book form, check out The Forgotten Books of Eden, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (Bell Publishing, 1981) which, unfortunately, is only available for reference use in LAPL’s Social Sciences Department.

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