A Flaming Sword?

[Skeptical]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

[Miles]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

How? Well god could have made one and put it there. But why a sword, when no such weapon had ever existed before? My guess is that the sword was likely lifted from Norse/German mythology.

"Fire Swords in the Norse Tradition

The flaming sword is a motif of other religious and spiritual traditions such as Norse myth where Surtr, a giant made of fire, is said to wield a flaming sword in the Voluspa. The sword is described as shining with the “sun of slain gods” but it’s also possible that the flaming sword is more a poetic way of describing Surtr’s destructive capabilities."
source


"Norse mythology is believed to have originated with the Germanic tribes in Scandinavia and northern Germany, with some elements potentially dating back to the Proto-Indo-European period (approximately 4000-2500 BCE)."
source

But good question.

.

[Skeptical]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

How? Well god could have made one and put it there. But why a sword, when no such weapon had ever existed before? My guess is that the sword was likely lifted from Norse/German mythology.

"Fire Swords in the Norse Tradition

The flaming sword is a motif of other religious and spiritual traditions such as Norse myth where Surtr, a giant made of fire, is said to wield a flaming sword in the Voluspa. The sword is described as shining with the “sun of slain gods” but it’s also possible that the flaming sword is more a poetic way of describing Surtr’s destructive capabilities."
source


"Norse mythology is believed to have originated with the Germanic tribes in Scandinavia and northern Germany, with some elements potentially dating back to the Proto-Indo-European period (approximately 4000-2500 BCE)."
source

But good question.

.

Thank you. Also, 4000-2500 BCE goes back farther than the supposed time of the writing of the book of Genesis:

When and Where Written. The book of Genesis was evidently part of the one original writing (the Torah), and it was possibly completed by Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the year 1513 B.C.E.

GENESIS, BOOK OF

[1213]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Have people yet invented a "flaming sword"? Oh yes, it was when the star wars happened.

But the idea of a flaming sword is interesting, what it really is would probably surprise many who have not much imagination.

[Eddie Ramos]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The sword (according to the Bible) is spiritually pointing to the Word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV 1900)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Ephesians 6:17 (KJV 1900)
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The word "flaming" has been given 2 Strong's numbers (H3857 & 3858). When we look up this word to see where and how God uses it elsewhere in the Bible, we learn that this word identifies with God's wrath and judgment for the sin of mankind.

Malachi 4:1 (KJV 1900)

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;
And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:
And the day that cometh shall burn them up(flaming), saith the LORD of hosts,
That it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

The flaming sword is the Word of God in judgment against mankind. God tells us the reason he set up this angel with this type of sword.

Genesis 3:22–24 (KJV 1900)
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 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 keep the way of the tree of life.

Upon their sin, mankind was not allowed to take hold of the tree of life and live forever because doing so would mean that man could have become saved by their own action/works. While it could have certainly been possible for God to have an actual flaming sword back then, since he is the creator of all things, it's the meaning of what's recorded that bears far more weight for us to learn from.

[JehovahsWitness]

Does anyone know how there could have been a flaming turning sword outside the entrance of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the universe since weapons hadn't been invented by humans yet?

Genesis 3:24

English Standard Version
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Whatever stood between the two angels was clearly of divine origin since the text says "He" [as in GOD/YHWH] put it there. The description was, no doubt, from the writer [traditionally held to be the Prophet Moses], who chose terms and expressions familiar to his audience at the time the book was penned. In short by the time it came to writing a description in Genesis , "swords" and weapons of war had been invented.

GENESIS 4:22

Also, Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, who forged every sort of tool of copper and iron

GENESIS 10:8, 9

Cush became father to Nimʹrod. He was the first to become a mighty one on the earth. 9 He became a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah. That is why there is a saying: “Just like Nimʹrod, a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.”