The First "Sanctuary" After the Fall

placed . . . cherubim — The passage should be rendered thus: "And he dwelt between the cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a fierce fire or Shechinah unfolding itself to preserve the way of the tree of life." This was the mode of worship now established to show God's anger at sin and teach the mediation of a promised Saviour as the way of life as well as of access to God. They were the same figures as were afterward in the tabernacle and temple; and now, as then, God said, "I will commune with thee from between the cherubim" (Exodus 25. 22).

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's commentary on Genesis 3:24, "placed...cherubim"

(Jamieson, Robert, Fausset, A. R., & Brown, David, A Commentary, 4 Vols, Toledo, Ohio: Jerome B. Names, 1883-1884, Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 9.)