I think your premise faulty because man and woman were to till and keep the garden, and their expulsion prevented that. As the garden was intended to be tilled and kept, it thus must be in a state of languishment, not suspended animation. The expulsion is meant to prevent man in a fallen state to take and eat of the tree of life, not to destroy or annul the garden or the fulfillment of it's purpose. Only after mans redemption is the tree of life made accessible. I think it's rather like the Secret Garden, which I take as an metaphor or allusion to the Garden of Eden, hence it's universal appeal.
I think your premise faulty because man and woman were to till and keep the garden, and their expulsion prevented that. As the garden was intended to be tilled and kept, it thus must be in a state of languishment, not suspended animation. The expulsion is meant to prevent man in a fallen state to take and eat of the tree of life, not to destroy or annul the garden or the fulfillment of it's purpose. Only after mans redemption is the tree of life made accessible. I think it's rather like the Secret Garden, which I take as an metaphor or allusion to the Garden of Eden, hence it's universal appeal.