The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
The human is sent out of the garden lest he reach for the Tree of Life; cherubim and a whirling fiery sword guard the way back.
Before sending them out, God makes them garments of skin—an act of care, not punishment. Only then comes the reason: the human has become knowing good and evil, "and now, lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and live forever". Endless life in a divided state would be a trap, not a gift. He is sent out to work the ground from which he was taken, and cherubim with a whirling sword are stationed east of Eden.
The tradition reads this as the end of humanity's childhood and the start of real history: labour, mortality, freedom and responsibility instead of a ready-made garden. Yet expulsion is not rupture. Children are born, conversation with Heaven continues, repentance works. The midrash stresses that Adam was not destroyed that day, though sentence had been passed—judgement bends before repentance. This sequence, judgement then mercy, becomes the framework of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
How we know
Sources
Tanakh
- Bereishit 3:21–24 — the garments of skin, the reason for the expulsion, the cherubim and the turning sword
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bereishit Rabbah 21:8 — the parable of the expulsion: not a severance but a sending away that keeps the bond
- Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 20 — Adam meets the first Shabbat and says Psalm 92
- Eruvin 18b — Adam’s life after the expulsion: years of estrangement and repentance
Rishonim
- Rashi on Bereishit 3:24 — who the cherubim at the entrance are, and what the turning sword is
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.