Hi apalehorse,
I think you may've misinterpreted some of my idea, so I'm going to clarify here.
I'm going to use communists as the adversaries for this theory, though really it could be anybody. Communists just happen to be convenient for the time period.
Firstly, I agree with you that the Sword of Fire represents the word of God. The scripture states that God had placed "a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
In many biblical passages, there are dual meanings recorded. We can interpret this to mean that the way through the Guardians of the Garden (cherubim) can only be made by coming by the Word of God.
However, it can also be interpreted to mean that at the Garden itself is a guardian "which turns every way" and will destroy any who attempt to breach it.
The thing that I keep focusing on is the plaque that was located near Babylon which pointed to the location of the Garden.
You're correct in that the Tower of Babylon and the Confusion of the tongues happened much later....but I'm looking at it this way -
The tower itself was built to try and reach the Heavens themselves...God had given his command to go out to the corners of the globe, and man, in defiance, stayed right where they were at.
The tower was struck down, and the confusion of the tongues ocurred, forcing man to scatter with those whom he could communicate with.
That's the literal translation.
Heres' where I take artistic license.
Imagine that the plaque that I spoke of earlier had been located near the ruins of the tower of Babel. Imagine that the communists were the ones who discovered the plaque that pointed out the location of the Garden. Now imagine that there was another part of the plaque that spoke of Babylonians building a defensive mechanism housed within the tower itself, and how this great machine led to the destruction of the tower and the spreading of the peoples from Babylon.
Taking these two pieces of the plaque together, the Communists could conclude that the device housed in the tower was similar to the Sword of Fire referenced in Genesis...a weapon, in an ancient arms race.
Seeking to capitalize on this to use in their OWN burgeoning arms race, they search for the location of Eden in the hopes that the Sword of Fire is actually another weapon. (Of course, it is not....but that's part of what makes this episode interesting)
This makes the story a bit of a cautionary tale...if you can imagine the Babylonians building a tower up to the Heavens to thumb their nose at God, you can also imagine them building a great weapon within it. They were struck down for their pride, and forced to disperse.
When man (represented by the Russian and American governments in a new arms race) seek the power of a weapon, they are likewise humbled (or destroyed) to discover that the power of God lies not in weapons, but in knowledge.
Those who are too arrogant to come before God by the Sword of Fire would be destroyed by the weapons of God, which no man can wield.
Lorn