The events associated with the Garden of Eden make it the archetype of our temples, here Adam received the priesthood, here Adam and Eve walked and talked with God; here our first parents were eternally married by God himself; here they learned of the tree of good and evil and of the tree of life; here they were taught the law of sacrifice and clothed in garments of skin; and from here they ventured into the lone and dreary world that they and their posterity might prove themselves worthy to return again to that divine presence.
(Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbolism, p. 258.)