Was There a World Before Genesis 1:1? Pre-Adamic Age in Ezekiel 28

There is a school of thought that places the Eden of Ezekiel 28 as prehistory.

A pre-Genesis 1:1 epoch of time—in a prehistoric Old World—a time before Adam—an astral Eridu that pre-existed the terrestrial Eridu.

What has been, it is what will be, and what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? It has already existed for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of the earlier things, and of the later things as well, which will occur, there will be no remembrance of them among those who will come later still (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 NASB).

In reference to this Ecclesiastes 1 passage, authors and researchers Steve Quayle and the late Dr. Thomas Horn, wrote: “The original Hebrew in the passage by Solomon reveals more about the pre-Adamic Age. The phrase ‘of old time’ comes from (םָלֹוע) olam, Strong’s 5769. It means an ‘ancient time’ or ‘long time (of past),’ but it can also denote something that is eternal or changeless. This latter reading fits well with the notion that the world was simply reformed in Genesis 1 at the beginning of the Adamic Age, thereby connecting a previous age to our own.”

What I am about to unfold is “out there,” but I am by far not the first person to proffer this speculation; and while it may be difficult for dyed-in-the-wool, church-raised evangelicals to swallow, the entire thesis of this book will make no sense if this viewpoint is not given plausible consideration.

Scholars have been speculating for millennia where the Garden of Eden was located. But perhaps the more important (if not the more interesting) question should be, “What was the Garden of Eden?”

Are we just talking about some utopian, pre-Fall petting zoo full of fruit trees?

Researcher and podcaster Joel Thomas has stated, “People think [Eden] was an actual place that was on earth, and I think that too, to an extent. But I think Eden was interdimensional. I think it was here… could have been Mesopotamia, where it’s talking about the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers that it runs between; but I think it was an interdimensional place. And I think when Lucifer left it, that the dimensional rift, over time, left too. I think maybe people have seen it before. Maybe even saw the cherubim guarding it; but I think at some point, the veil was blocked off from us. I think Eden is interdimensional, and I think the garden has been here for a long time.”

That is a lot to unpack. Especially if it is something you have never considered before. This would almost make Eden, like Tolkien’s one ring, an actual character in the story rather than just a location on the map. If this theory is true, and Eden was at one point a physical plot point on our map, but now has mysteriously disappeared, does this imply a dimensional rift in the spacetime continuum, or has it merely been relocated to a dimensional neighborhood that is not currently accessible to humankind?

The Stones of Fire

There is much debate among academics as to what these mysterious stones of fire are referring. Some say it is a metaphor for the planets; others postulate they are a reference to the tablets of the law (the Torah). While others believe them to be angelic beings or entities.

A.S. Hartom’s Hebrew commentary (published in 1953) of Umberto Cassuto’s Masoretic text translates the literal Hebrew “stones of fire” as “sparkling stones” (in modern Hebrew), that is, cut gemstones, a continuation of the imagery from the previous verse. Yehoshua Brand in Ceramics in Talmudic Literature claims that the “stones of fire” in Ezekiel 28 is one of the Old Testament names for glass and alludes to the immensely lucrative Phoenician glass industry in Tyre.

Ezekiel 28 refers to a king of Tyre, who historically was a real person. But this passage is also believed by most to have a layered interpretation with reference to the King of Tyre in addition to Lucifer. In this sense, the stones of fire also serve a dual interpretation with the King of Tyre, perhaps living among the industry of literal cut gemstones that represent Phoenician glass; and Lucifer living among spiritual stones, which represent the heavenly host. According to the Church of the Eternal God website in their article titled, “What are the fiery stones mentioned in Ezekiel 28:14,16?” it says:

But coals of fire or fiery stones are also used in the Bible as a reference to attributes of angels or, better yet, angels themselves. In Ezekiel 10:2, 6-7, “coals of fire from among the cherubim” are mentioned, and in Ezekiel 1:13, cherubim are themselves described in this way: “…their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning.” Psalm 104:4 describes God’s angels as “a flame of fire” (compare Hebrews 1:7); see also Daniel 10:6 (apparently describing Gabriel in his glory); 2 Kings 2:11 and 2 Kings 6:17 (referring to angels as horses of fire); and Revelation 10:1 (a powerful angel).

Revelation 4:5 describes seven angelic beings16 as lamps of fire burning before God’s throne. Combined with the fact that especially high-ranking angelic beings such as cherubim are associated in the book of Ezekiel with or even described as “coals of fire,” it is most likely that the allusion to Lucifer walking in the midst of fiery stones refers to the cherub Lucifer walking among and having company with other cherubim and powerful angelic beings, but that he was then banished from their holy presence when he sinned and, as satan, fell from heaven.”

These all sound like logical explanations when scrutinizing the Hebrew words in question. But flip the words around a bit and instead of stones of fire, we get the word firestone, which potentially complicates the interpretation quite a bit (especially when juxtaposed with the possibility of a pre-Adamic Age and the potentially dimensional fluidity of Eden’s whereabouts). If there were civilizations that pre-dated Adam, let’s say Atlantis or Lemuria, for example, one must con-sider pre-history mythologies such as that of the alleged Tuaoi stone.

But, to lay a foundation first, if I may, because I want it to be understood that many cultures throughout antiquity had sunken or vanished lands mythologies. In Europe, Plato introduced the idea of Atlantis. A Cornish/British legend spoke of, Lyonesse, a sunken kingdom beneath the sea, west of Cornwall. A Breton/Celtic myth speaks of Ys, a sunken city off Brittany’s coast, devoured by the sea due to the wickedness of its rulers. In South Asia, the Tamil of southern India connected a lost civilization south of India to the Lemurian legends. In Hindu cosmology, the Dvipa islands were sacred lands around Mount Meru, the Kumari Kandam were also linked to Lemuria by the Theosophists. Sunken lands myths also existed in the Pacific and Oceania (Hiva, Mu, and Hawaiian flood myths), the Americas (Aztlán, Maya and Olmec flood myths). African myths such as Lake Tritonis, Dogon (Mali), and the Canary Islands/Berber myth (aka The Fortunate Islands often connected to Atlantis myths).