Bereshis 3:23

23 Therefore Hashem Elohim sent him forth from the Gan Eden, to work haadamah from which place he was taken.

Bereshis 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 3:23

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of
Eden
Gave him orders to depart immediately; sent or put him away as a man does his wife, when he divorces her; or as a prince banishes a rebellious subject: for how long Adam was in the garden (See Gill on Psalms 49:12), however, he did not send him to hell at once, as he did the apostate angels, but

to till the ground, from whence he was taken:
either the earth in general, out of which he was made, and to which he must return, and in the mean while must labour hard, in digging and ploughing, in planting and sowing, that so he might get a livelihood; or that particular spot out of which he was formed, which is supposed from hence to have been without the garden of Eden, though very probably near unto it: some say it was a field near Damascus; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``he went and dwelt in Mount Moriah, to till the ground out of which he was created;''

and so other Jewish writers say ^F16, the gate of paradise was near Mount Moriah, and there Adam dwelt after he was cast out.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Pirke Eliezer, c. 20. fol. 20. 2.

Bereshis 3:23 In-Context

21 Unto Adam also and to his isha did Hashem Elohim make kesonos ohr, and clothed them.

22 And Hashem Elohim said, See, HaAdam is become like one of Us, knowing tov v’rah; and now, lest he put forth his yad, and take also of HaEtz HaChayyim, and eat, and chai l’olam (live forever);

23 Therefore Hashem Elohim sent him forth from the Gan Eden, to work haadamah from which place he was taken.

24 So He drove out HaAdam; and He placed miKedem (at the east) of the Gan Eden HaKeruvim, and a flaming cherev which was ever-turning, to be shomer over the Derech Etz HaChayyim (the Way of the Tree of Life, see Yn 14:6 on Derech).