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28 | Genesis 2:5

5 Now no shrub had yet ap peared on the earth a and no plant had yet sprung up, h for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth i and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams b came up from the earth and wa tered the whole sur face of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man c from the dust j of the ground k and breathed into his nos trils the breath l of life, m and the man be came a liv ing be ing. n

8 Now the Lord God had planted a gar den in the east, in Eden; o and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground— trees that were pleas ing to the eye and good for food. In the mid dle of the gar den were the tree of life p and the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil. q

10 A river wa ter ing the gar den flowed from Eden; from there it was sep a rated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pi shon; it winds through the en tire land of Havi lah, where there is gold. 12( The gold of that land is good; ar o matic resin d and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the sec ond river is the Gi hon; it winds through the en tire land of Cush. e 14 The name of the third river is the Ti gris; r it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Eu phra tes.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Gar den of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God com manded the man,“ You are free to eat from any tree in the gar den; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will cer tainly die.” s

18 The Lord God said,“ It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” t

2:5 h Ge 1:11 i Ps 65:9‐10

2:7 j Ge 3:19 k Ps 103:14 l Job 33:4 m Ac 17:25

n 1Co 15:45 *

2:8 o Ge 3:23, ​24; Isa 51:3

2:9 p Ge 3:22, ​24; Rev 2:7; 22:2, ​14, ​19 q Eze 47:12

2:14 r Da 10:4

2:17 s Dt 30:15, ​19; Ro 5:12; 6:23; Jas 1:15

2:18 t 1Co 11:9

genealogy. The repetitive style of the seven days resembles the repetitive style of the genealogies. Thus, the story begins with the beginning of creation and God’ s word( 1:1 – 4), which connects it with all the family histories through Genesis. The word of God that created the world continues in each generation and remains the same word down to the present. Lord. Translates the Hebrew name Yahweh, the personal and covenant name of God(“ Jehovah” in the ASV). The Greek term for“ Lord” translates this name in the earliest Greek translation of the OT. The meaning of Yahweh is unknown, but it sounds like a form of the verb“ to be, become”( see Exod 3:14 and note). God. ʾĕlōhîm, a title for deity( see note on 1:1) and the name of God used up to this point in Genesis. In ch. 1, ʾĕlōhîm emphasizes God’ s power and majesty as the Creator of the universe. The rest of Genesis retains that title but adds God’ s personal name.“ Lord” reflects the changed tone, which becomes more personal and is concerned with God’ s relationship with the man and woman. the earth and the heavens. This reverses the order of“ the heavens and the earth” as found in the beginning of the verse( see also 1:1; 2:1). It forms a“ mirror” in Hebrew poetry in which the elements between the two references become important. The two phrases repeat the same idea in the fashion of a poetic couplet:“ when they were created, / when the Lord God made.” The first line uses“ created,” the special verb applied only to God and appropriately emphasizing the cosmic creation of ch. 1( where it occurs three times; it does not appear at all in the rest of chs. 2 – 4). The second line focuses on God’ s personal role in his relation to people, which ch. 2 emphasizes. 2:5 no shrub... no plant. Plants, essential for the life of animals and people( 1:29 – 30), are not present because rain and humans are absent. This resembles ch. 1, which also begins with the absence of life and the material to sustain it( 1:2). 2:6 streams. God provides water to create the food.

2:7 man... ground... life... living. Not only does the Hebrew for“ man”( ʾādām) sound like the Hebrew for“ ground”( ʾădāmâ), but the Hebrew for“ life”( ḥayyîm) sounds like the Hebrew for“ living”( ḥayyâ). This identifies the two stages and components that construct the human person: the dirt of creation and the breath of God. The man is between the Lord God and the created world( Ps 8:4 – 8); he is a ruler, yet he is under authority( Gen 1:26 – 28). 2:8 – 9 God creates a home for the man. 2:8 garden. A place for plants and thus food and work( v. 5). the east. The first of many hints in this chapter that the garden, as a sacred place where people meet with God, foreshadows the tabernacle and the Jerusalem temple, which both face eastward. Eden. Often thought to mean paradise, it may mean well-watered, abundant in streams. there he put the man. God takes the initiative with the man and guides him throughout the chapter. 2:9 the tree of life. This appears again in Genesis only in 3:22, just before the couple are banished from Eden, and it recurs in Rev 2:7; 22:2,14,19, where it heals all who come to it. the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This forms the center for the one command that the Lord God gives to the first couple( v. 17).“ Good” and“ evil” represent moral and ethical categories. God designed this tree to teach the man and woman the difference between right and wrong, but first they must learn this by obeying what he has commanded. 2:10 – 14 This section describes how much water was available in Eden and names the connected rivers. The Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers are the best known. The name“ Gihon” was also given to the underground spring beneath Jerusalem. It means“ gusher” and could refer to another stream with this characteristic.“ Cush” in the Bible is often connected with Africa but here may refer to an area in the Zagros Mountains east of the Tigris River, and thus east of Ashur, the name for the kingdom of Assyria. The Pishon River and land of Havilah are not otherwise known but may describe parts of central Saudi Arabia where gold has been located as well as a prehistoric riverbed that can be traced to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates at the head of the Persian Gulf. This may be the site of Eden, but it is not so easy to understand how the water flows from it( rather than into it). These descriptions also look forward to another place where God meets his people: the temple in Jerusalem with its great“ Sea” that holds the water in front of it( 1 Kgs 7:23 – 44), with the Gishon spring beneath it, and with much gold and precious stones, such as onyx, within it( 1 Chr 29:2). 2:15 to work it and take care of it. Similar verbs describe the role of the priests and Levites in the tabernacle and temple( e. g., Num 3:7 – 8; 8:26). These verbs, however, can also be translated“ serve” and“ guard.” The man has a priestly role to protect the garden sanctuary( Gen 1:26). When he fails to do this and is expelled from Eden, the task of guarding the garden is given to cherubim( 3:24). 2:16 – 17 You are free to eat from any tree... but. In the Lord God’ s first words to the man in ch. 2, he graciously supplies abundant food and the freedom to eat it. As is customary in Hebrew speech, this general offer is followed by a specific exception:“ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The single forbidden tree contrasts with the many that are not forbidden. The reason for the prohibition is not explained. you will certainly die. This warning introduces death for the first time. If creation of life was“ very good”( 1:31) because it obeyed God perfectly, then the man’ s disobedience can bring death, the opposite of the life that God has given so freely. 2:18 not good. The opposite of the good creation of ch. 1. helper. The Lord God seeks a“ helper” for the man so that he is not alone. The Hebrew term( but as a verb) is found later in 49:25, where God“ helps”( is a helper for) Israel.