There is a severity about this scene, for man did not merely walk out of the Garden - he was driven out. It was a judgement, and the Judge himself carried out the verdict. There is a solemnity about the presence of the cherubim, who are always guardians of the holiness of God, and about the flashing sword. The way to the tree of life must be guarded; nothing which defiles may enter into it.
There is infinite sadness here, for this is “paradise lost.” It introduces a tragic note into every life, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The shadow of death is present even on the brightest day.
Yet to face the fact of man’s fall is ultimately to be filled with hope, as to deny it is to despair. “No view of human nature,” says Bishop Lightfoot, “is so inexpressibly sad as that which leaves out the Fall. The existence of evil in its many forms . . . cannot be gainsaid; and, if this evil belongs to the essence of man as created, then there can be no prospect of relief here or hereafter.” “The way to the tree of life” is guarded, not that man might never return, but rather that he may.
“So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:24 NASB1995
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