Luke 23:43 (meaning of PARADEISOS)

Jonathan Burke jburke at sprint.net.au
Sat Oct 5 06:49:26 EDT 2002




Hi Iver,

>
Can you give any references? I have looked at all occurrences of PARADEISOS
(garden) in the LXX and all the occurrences of the Hebrew "gan" in the OT,
but still could not find anything to substantiate your statement. Are you
basing this on Rabbinic writings, targum, Apocrypha or Jewish commentators?
>

Isaiah 35:
1*The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose*.
2*It shall blossom abundantly*, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the
glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:
*for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert*.
7And *the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs
of water*: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, *shall be grass
with reeds and rushes*.

Isaiah 51:
3For the LORD shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and
*He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of
the LORD*; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the
voice of melody.

Ezekiel 36:
33Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from
all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the
wastes shall be builded.
34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the
sight of all that passed by.
35And they shall say, *This land that was desolate is become like the garden
of Eden*; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced,
and are inhabited.

>
Actually, the bone of contention in the presuppositions for the
interpretation of this verse is not primarily the Garden of God/Eden in the
world to come, but what happens to a person's spirit immediately after
death. But this easily moves beyond our list boundaries.
>

I would say that since no mention is made by either the theif or Christ of
where any 'spirit' goes, then this should be left out of the discussion.
The thief is wanting to be remembered when Messiah *comes into his
Kingdom* - and that is a very standard Jewish eschatological thought, which
endures to this day (and is abundantly evident throughout the Old and New
Testaments).

Christ does not tell him that he is going to heaven, or anything of the
sort.  He says that he will be in the PARADEISOS.  Either he answered his
question, or he didn't.  :)

Jonathan Burke.





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