Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PARADISE

Originally a “walled enclosure” or a “wooded park-like garden” (O. Pers. pairi-daēza). In ancient Iran it referred primarily to a royal enclosed “park” with streams, trees, and hunting grounds. Many ancient sources indicate that royal paradises were located throughout the Persian Empire, perhaps one for each satrapy. During travel the royal caravan would use such oases as a base for royal activity. Persian and Greek sources mention Cyrus’ tomb and burial in the “paradise” at Pasargadae, the first capital of the empire.

In the OT, Asaph was “keeper of the royal paradise” (Heb. pardēs), responsible for obtaining timber for Nehemiah’s rebuilding project (Neh. 2:8). The bride in the Song of Solomon is described as a paradise or orchard of “pomegranates with all choicest fruits,” spices, and life-giving water (Cant. 4:13-15). Eccl. 2:5 mentions gardens and “parks” with a variety of fruit trees.

In Hellenistic times the word refers increasingly to the garden of Eden and the place of reward for the faithful. In the LXX the Greek loanword parádeisos is used for the garden of Eden which God planted for Adam and Eve. In writings of the intertestamental period (e.g., 1–2 Enoch), Paradise is a future lush garden of Eden (2 En. 8). By the 2nd century b.c.e. resurrection became a hope for certain Jewish groups, longing for a future home free from earthly troubles, and belief in a paradise which would become their abode — whether temporary or permanent — gained popularity. A future “Eden” for the righteous after death took on the characteristics of the ideal “paradise.” By the end of the 1st century c.e. the term is used for both the garden of Eden of Genesis and the final dwelling place of the righteous dead (2 Esdras).

In the NT paradise could refer to a temporary dwelling place for the righteous dead prior to their resurrection, a possible meaning of Jesus’ response to the repentant thief from the cross that that day he would be with him in Paradise (Luke 23:43). Paul’s reference to a “third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2-4) may also indicate that he was taken up into Paradise. In Revelation those who “conquer” will be granted “permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).

Paradise in the Qurʾan appears as a future garden for the righteous who drink, usually in the company of beautiful women, a beverage (probably wine) which produces neither intoxication nor madness (Sura 18:32).

William R. Goodwin, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PARADISE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)