What was Eden like?

Genesis 2:5 says "and there was no Adam to till the ground", which is the verse abused by certain people to refute Communist interpretations of Scripture, Man was always meant to work, it wasn't just punishment for the fall.

The problem is Genesis 2 and 3 was a narrative written for people much later, this line in that verse is just about saying the in current condition of the world wasn't the case yet.  That phraseology isn't repeated till after the Fall in Genesis 3:23, it's not till then Adam starts tilling the ground.

The Hebrew word translated "till" is used in a verse between those two in Genesis 2:15 where it is translated "dress" about Adam dressing and keeping the Garden.  But in this sense it's clearly not about Labor, this is also the same word used in Exodus 34:21 of the work you're not supposed to do on The Sabbath, which is often interpreted as referring to more then Labor for the purpose of producing Capital.

Labor man has to perform in order to survive is clearly a product of The Fall, and therefore is something that on this side of The Cross we should be working to undo.  There are no references to Labor in Revelation 21 or 22.

A common poetic interpretation of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3 is that it's the Innocence of Childhood, this has become common among my allies on teaching Universal Salvation like Peter Hiett.  I am uncomfortable with that view.

I don't oppose it because I'm a Six-Day Young Earth Creationist who believes these events literally happened, in my view literal historical views can be in addition to typological and allegorical interpretations.  Nor do I view it as inherently incompatible with the above Communist Utopia interpretation I just argued for, you can argue childhood was innocent because we weren't thrown into Capitalism yet if you wanted.   No I simply view it as wrong based on my understanding of the text.

First of all like many other wrong views on Genesis 2 and 3 including the Two-Seedline theory I've refuted elsewhere, it's based on pretending Adam and Eve didn't have sex till Genesis 3 or 4, but Genesis 2:24-25 is clearly describing them mating, and Genesis 1 is clear they were told to be fruitful and multiply from the start.

And yes even Ancient cultures generally felt you shouldn't have sex till you're no longer a child.  Their age of maturity may have often been lower then we'd consider appropriate, but the Torah has verses making clear you shouldn't lay with any girl who hasn't menstruated yet.  And even the Pederasty that some ancient Greeks engaged in was with boys who were at least adolescent.  So Genesis 2 having Adam and Eve have sex clearly contradicts it being a symbolic representation of childhood.

But also from a Christian stand point is how Revelation 21 and 22 clearly depicts us as returning to Eden.  The message here is not meant to be about returning to childhood, it's clearly about restoring the world to what it was always meant to be.

For context here are some other posts I've made about Eden.

The Trees of The Garden of Eden.

Ye Hath God Said.  Which I also put on YouTube.

And additionally here is a post talking more about my understanding of the New Heaven and New Earth.  [Update 8/13/2019: I just added a section to that post arguing that "Pain" in Revelation 21:4 should perhaps be translated "Poverty".]