Genesis 2

NOTES ON GENESIS 2

Genesis is the seed-plot of the whole Bible. It is essential to the true understanding of its every part. It is the foundation on which Divine Revelation rests; and on which it is built up. It is not only the foundation of all Truth, but it enters into, and forms part of, all subsequent inspiration; and is at once the warp and woof of Holy Writ.

The Introduction to Genesis (and to the whole Bible) 1:1 – 2:3, ascribes everything to the living God, creating, making, acting, moving and speaking. A total of forty-six times everything is ascribed to direct acts and volitions on the part of God as the Creator. There is no room for evolution without a flat denial of Divine revelation. One must be true, the other false. All God’s works were pronounced “good” seven times, viz. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. They are “great”, Psalms 111:2; Revelation 15:3; “wondrous”, Job 37:14; and “perfect”, Deuteronomy 32:4.

CHAPTER 2

The Seventh Day

1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Thus: a marker showing relationship between chapters 2 and 1, generally coordinating; in the manner before related. the heavens and the earth were finished: 1) The process of “filling” and “forming” was completed and perfected; to arrive at the end of in performance. 2) Perfected and completed in the space of six days, gradually, successively, in the manner before related; by the Word and power of God they were on the first day created out of nothing, but they were not perfected, beautified, and adorned, and filled, until all the creatures in them were made. 3) Brought to completion. No permanent change has ever since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals been formed, no law of nature repealed or added. and all the host of them: 1) Any great number or multitude. Here it refers to all the things God had created. 2) An army, one of all the earth contains, of the heavenly bodies; angels and heavens alike are in divine service and therefore can come under this term. 3) A multitude or numerous array usually connected in Scripture with heaven only, but here with the earth also, meaning all that they contain. 4) The creatures made both in heaven and earth, are the hosts or armies of them, which speaks them numerous, but marshaled, disciplined, and under command. God useth them as His hosts for the defense of His people and the destruction of His enemies. 5) Of the heavens and the earth; the host of the heavens are the sun, moon, planets, and stars, often so called in Scripture, and also the angels and the host of the earth are the plants, herbs and trees, fowls, fishes, animals and man; and these are like hosts or armies, very numerous, and at the command of God, and are marshaled and kept in order by Him; even some of the smallest creatures are His army which are at His beck, and He can make use of to the annoyance of others; as particularly the locusts are called, Joel 2:11, 20.

2. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

on the seventh day God ended: finished, completed or concluded in perfection that which He had done on the sixth day. His work: work as wrought; thing done or made; deputyship, i.e., ministry; generally employment or work (as involving skill and benefits); His creation, His creative work; craftsmanship or workmanship of creation; chiefly of an architect. He rested on the seventh day: 1) To cease or desist from exertion. God rested from achievement; man rests from fatigue. 2) It is from this Hebrew root that the noun for Sabbath originates, a word designating the time to be set aside for rest, i.e. to cease from labor, work or performance. 3) Not to repose from exhaustion with labor (Isaiah 40:28), but ceased from working, an example equivalent to a command that we should cease from labor of every kind. 4) He did not rest as one weary, but as One well-pleased with the instances of His own goodness. For He had now finished His creation, but His providence, still watches over His creatures and governs them. 5) Or, rather ceased, as the Hebrew word is not opposed to weariness, but to action; as the Divine Being can neither know fatigue, nor stand in need of rest. 6) Not as though working, for the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, nor is weary, Isaiah 40:28, but as having done all His work, and brought it to such perfection, that He had no more to do; not that He ceased from making individuals, as the souls of men, and even all creatures that are brought into the world by generation, may be said to be made by Him, but from making any new species of creatures; and much less did He cease from supporting and maintaining the creatures He had made in their beings, and providing everything agreeable for them, and governing them, overruling all things in the world for ends of His own glory; in this sense He worketh hitherto, as Christ says John 5:17.

3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.

God blessed the seventh day: 1) To consecrate and set apart for an holy and sacred use or purpose; to make or pronounce holy. 2) A day in which He took delight and pleasure, having finished all His works, and resting from them, and looking over them as very good; and so He pronounced this day a good and happy day. sanctified it: 1) To separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred, or religious use. That is, He set it apart from the other six days (Exodus 20:11). 2) Appointed it to be kept holy, that man might consider the excellency of His works and God’s goodness towards him. 3) God appointed it in His mind to be a day separated from others, for holy service and worship; as it was with the Jews when they became a body of people, both civil and ecclesiastical. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: a peculiar distinction put upon it above the other six days, and showing it was devoted to sacred purposes. which God created and made: 1) Which God in creating had made, or created to make. 2) Even when “He created to make”, as the word may be here rendered; which He created out of nothing, as He had the first matter, in order to make all things out of it, and put them in that order, and bring them to the perfection He did.

NOTE: The Introduction (1:1-2:3) is the summary: 2:4-25 gives the details of Chapter 1: and Chapter 2:9-14 coming historically between verses 12 and 13 of Chapter 1.

4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created: 1) Record, recital, account; family history; origin or events in reference to the creation of the world. 2) The history or account of their production. None but the Creator Himself could give Moses this information, and therefore it is through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3). 3) The events that followed the establishment of heaven and earth; introduces the detailed account of the creation and fall of man. 4) That is, the above account, delivered in the preceding chapter, is a history of the production of the heavens and earth, and all things in them; the creation of them being a kind of generation, and the day of their creation a sort of birthday. in the day: It is idiomatic or the Figure of Speech Synedoche; by which a part is put for the whole. Here day is put for the whole six days of creation. Put for time; i.e., when, at that time. LORD God: 1) Jehovah-Elohim, denoting that Elohim, the God of relationship, now requires order and obedience. While Elohim is God as the Creator of all things, Jehovah is the same God in covenant relation to those whom He has created (compare 2 Chronicles 18:31). Jehovah means the Eternal, the Immutable One, He Who WAS, and IS and IS TO COME. The Divine definition is given in 21:33, “the everlasting God”. 2) Here another name is added to God, His name Jehovah, expressive of His being and perfections, particularly His eternity and immutability being the everlasting and unchangeable I AM, Which IS, and WAS, and IS TO COME. These two names Jehovah-Elohim with the Jews make the full and perfect name of God, and which they observe is here very pertinently given Him, upon the perfection and completion of His works. 3) A God of power and perfection, a finishing God.

5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth: every shrub or bush of the open country before it was planted in the ground or any seed was sown therein from whence they could proceed, and therefore must be the immediate production of Divine power. and every herb [i.e., green plants, vegetation, plants and trees] of the field before it grew: 1) Green plants/vegetation of the open country before it broke forth out of the ground or sprouted; those at once grew. 2) Those at once sprung up in perfection out of the earth, before there were any that budded forth, and grew up by degrees to perfection as herbs do now. 3) This teaches the fact of mature creation or creation of apparent age. The first plants did not grow from seeds, but were created full grown. 4) The bare soil was clothed with verdure; the trees, plants, and grasses were made to grow, and they grew as they still do out of the ground – not, however, by the slow process of vegetation, but through Divine power, without rain, dew, or any process of labor – sprouting up and flourishing in a single day. NOTE: This is an expansion of 1:11-12, giving the details. for: Because, on account of; by reason of. Three reasons why plants in ground “before they grew”: (1) no rain; (2) no man; (3) no mist (see vs. 6). for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: 1) To send rain (water droplets) down on. The vapors exhaled by the sun, which fall from the clouds to earth in drops. 2) God only opens the heavens and shuts them so that the production of plants and herbs in their first formation could not be owing to that. 3) The absence of rain being a consequence of the water vapor above the firmament and the uniform temperature which it maintained over the earth. Rain today is dependent on the global circulation of the atmosphere, transporting water evaporated from the ocean inland to condense and precipitate on the lands. This circulation is driven by worldwide temperature differences in the atmosphere and would be impossible with the global warmth sustained by the canopy. and there was not a man to till the ground: 1) To labor, do work; to cultivate; to plow and prepare for seed, and dress crops in the earth (from its redness; the surface of the land or upper part of the earth). 2) Man was not created till the sixth day, and therefore could have no concern in the cultivation of the earth, and of the plants and herbs in it; but these were the produce of Almighty power, without the use of any means.

6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

But [= and] there went up a mist from the earth: 1) Water falling in very numerous, but fine and almost imperceptible drops. 2) Vapor, rising from the earth and forming clouds, so called because it surrounds the earth like a veil or covering. 3) Ascended or rose up (in the sense of enveloping), a fog. 4) It refers merely to the local daily cycle of evaporation and condensation brought about by the day/night temperature cycle. After the waters had been drained off from it, and it was warmed by the body of light and heat created on the first day, which caused a reek [i.e., to steam, to emit vapor], which went up as a mist, and descended. and watered the whole face of the ground: to moisten, give drink; to supply water to the ground; to irrigate the whole surface of the earth; so supplied the place [to the earth] of rain until that was given. OR, But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground: 1) = And no mist … to water. The last of two or three negatives not necessary [i.e., not a man to till the ground; therefore no mist]. Must be supplied by Figure of Speech Ellipsis of Repetition [i.e., Simple: where the Ellipsis is to be supplied from a preceding or succeeding cause], as in Deuteronomy 33:6; 1 Samuel 2:3; Psalms 9:18, 38:1, 75:5; Proverbs 24:12, 25:27; Isaiah 38:18, etc. [A. E. Bullinger] 2) Though rather the words may be rendered disjunctively, or there went up, that is, before a mist went up, when as yet there were none; not so much as mist to water the earth, and yet plants and herbs were made to grow; and so Saadiah reads them negatively, nor did a mist go up; there were no vapors exhaled to form clouds, and produce rain, and yet the whole earth on the third day was covered with plants and herbs; and this is approved of by Kimchi and Ben Melech [John Gill] NOTE: The context and sense seems to go along with the latter definition, whereby the mature growth of the plants and herbs was entirely ascribed to the Almighty alone.

7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And the LORD God formed man: 1) To fashion or shape, used of potters making vessels of clay, also of the formation of man, to denote the care and skill of the Almighty in the formation of the human body. 2) To make or cause to exist. To mold into a form; especially as a potter. 3) The verb is used on occasion for the “potter” (compare Jeremiah 18:2). It expresses the relation of a craftsman to his material, connoting skill (Psalms 94:9) and a sovereignty that man forgets at his peril (Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18:4). Here is the “potter” par excellence setting the design and pattern. 4) Of the other creatures it is said that they were created and made; but of man he was formed, which denotes a gradual process in the work with great accuracy and exactness. The workmanship exceeded the materials. man: Hebrew ‘eth-‘Haadham (with article and particle = “this same man Adam”, also 2:8, 15). of the dust of the ground: 1) Dry earth, unorganized earthy matter; dust (as powdered or gray); hence, clay, earth, mud; dry, loose soil or dust that covers the ground. 2) The corporeal part of man was the dust of the ground (which is not a symbol of the animal kingdom from which Adam evolved; note its use in 3:19). 3) The fact that man comes from the dust of the earth is a reminder of the sovereignty of God in His creative acts, and of the insignificance of man, apart from the intervening “breath of life” of His goodness. Man as a fashioned artwork owes praise and obedience to the Potter who fashioned him of clay (see Isaiah 29:16, 45:9, 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-14; compare Romans 9:21). Dust-man became living-man by God’s grace; therein lies his humility and his dignity. 4) God shows what man’s body was created from, to the intent that the man should not glory in the excellency of his own nature. and breathed into his nostrils: 1) To puff, literally to inflate, blow hard; to blow upon, to breathe with force; to inject or infuse by breathing, i.e., to infuse the soul into the body. 2) It is used of projecting one’s breath but in a figurative sense of God blowing the breath of life into Adam. 3) Blowing forcefully, the giving of life – creation of man; which in that way entered into his body, and quickened it, which was before a lifeless lump of clay, though beautifully shapen. 4) Not that the Creator literally performed this act but respiration being the medium and sign of life, this phrase is used to show that man’s life originated in a different way from his body – being implanted directly by God (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Hebrews 12:9). the breath: a puff, i.e., vital breath; blast of breath, life, life force, spirit; the breath by which animal life is supported, but used only of man; the soul or spirit of man. of [i.e., that is] life: alive, living, lively; vigorous, having vital energy; in man, that state of being in which the soul and body are united; a power to move, and to do the actions of life. the breath of life: or, breath that is life. 1) It is in the plural number, the breath of lives, including the vegetative, sensitive and rational life of man. And this was produced not with his body, as the souls of brutes were, and was produced by the breath of God, as theirs were not; not theirs out of the earth, as his body was: and these two different productions show the different nature of the soul and body of man, the one material and mortal, the other immaterial and immortal. 2) Literally, of lives. Though animals also possess the “breath” and the “soul”, man’s breath (same word as “spirit”) and soul were imparted to him by God directly, rather than indirectly, as imparted to animals. and man became: to exist, i.e., be or become; to pass from one state to another, to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state or condition or by receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter or a new character. and man became a living [i.e., having life or the vital functions of life] soul: 1) Hebrew nephesh, properly a breathing creature, i.e., animal or vitality. Used of man as an individual living person. When this word is applied to a person, it does not refer to a specific part of a human being. The Scriptures view a person as composite whole, fully relating to God and not divided in any way (Deuteronomy 6:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Or a living man, not only capable of performing the functions of animal life, of eating, drinking, walking, etc. but of thinking, reasoning, and discoursing as a rational creature. 2) Could be translated “living creature” as the same phrase appears in 1:21-24 applied to animals. Here the reference stands for the entire person, and is not used in the just the metaphysical [i.e., supernatural], theological [i.e., pertaining to Divinity or science of God] sense in which we tend to use the term soul today. Precisely the same Hebrew expression traditionally rendered “living soul” occurs also in 1:20, 21 and 24. In other words, man is here being associated with the other creatures as sharing in the passionate experience of life and is not being defined as distinct from them. It is true, however, that the source of nephesh of animals is the ground, whereas the source of nephesh of Adam is God. 3) The spiritual, rational and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think or reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government. Evolution is again refuted at this point. If man’s body has been derived from an animal’s body by any kind of evolutionary process, he would already have possessed the nephesh (“soul”), rather than “becoming a living soul” when God gave him the breath of life. 4) His lifeless body was endued with a soul, whereby he became a living rational creature. It is taken for that spiritual, reasonable, and immortal substance in man, which is the origin of our thoughts, of our desires, of our reasonings; which distinguishes us from the brute creation, which bears some resemblance to its Divine Maker. This substance must be spiritual because it thinks; it must be immortal, because it is spiritual. This soul is the spirit, the breath, which is the principle of animal life, and which is common to men and brutes. But the Scripture allows to man alone the privileges of understanding, the knowledge of God, wisdom, immortality, the hope of future happiness, and of eternal life.

NOTE: Genesis 2:8-14, Figure of Speech Parecbasis; or Digression, i.e., a turning aside from one subject to another.

The Garden of Eden

8. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.

And the LORD God planted: 1) To establish, found something, to furnish; to set in the ground for growth; to seed or stock; to set with plants or trees. 2) Or had planted, for this was not done after the formation of man, but before; and so the word translated eastward may be rendered, as it is by some, before: for the plain meaning is that God had planted a garden before He made man even on the third day, when all the herbs and plants, and trees were produced out of the earth. The whole world was as a garden, in comparison of what it is now since the fall: what then must this spot of ground, this garden be, which was separated and distinguished from the rest, and the more immediate plantation of God, and therefore it is called the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:10; Ezekiel 28:13). a garden: 1) A fenced piece of ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs or plants, fruits and flowers. 2) An enclosure, i.e., a place of abundant trees, vegetables, fruits, water, etc. where conditions for life are maximized. 3) A plot of ground furnished with plants, trees, flowers, etc. protected by a wall or hedge. 4) Observe the place appointed for Adam’s residence was a garden; not an ivory house. As clothes came in with sin, so did houses. The heaven was the roof of Adam’s house, and never was any roof so curiously ceiled and painted: the earth was his floor, and never was any floor so richly inlaid: the shadow of the trees was his retirement, and never were any rooms so finely hung: Solomon’s in all their glory were not arrayed like them. The contrivance and furniture of this garden was the immediate work of God’s wisdom and power. The Lord God planted this garden, that is, He had planted it, upon the third day when the fruits of the earth were made. We may well suppose it to be the most accomplished place that ever the sun saw, when the All-sufficient God Himself designed it to be the present happiness of His beloved creature. The situation of this garden was extremely sweet; it was in Eden, which signifies delight and pleasure. It had all the best and choicest trees in common with the rest of the ground. It was beautified with every tree that was pleasant to the sight – It was enriched with every tree that yielded fruit grateful to the taste, and useful to the body. 5) Note the three gardens: (1) Eden, death in sin; (2) Gethsemane, death for sin; and (3) Sepulchre, death to sin. NOTE: This garden may have been additional to 1:11-12, 2:4, 5-. That creation concerns the “plants of the field” (1^st occurrence). This garden may have been a special planting, and lost when the garden and Eden were lost. eastward: the front, of place (absolutely the forepart, relatively the east) or time (antiquity); often used adverbially (before, anciently, eastward); eastward in Eden = “in Eden, eastward”. Eden: pleasure, paradise, delight; most pleasant and abundant in all things; possibly flat land, the fertile plain. and there He put the man: in that place He set or placed the man.

9. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow: from the earth (of the garden of Eden) caused to sprout or grow; this was done on the third day, a peculiar spot of earth was fixed on for man, and stocked with trees of all sorts for his use, not only to bear fruit, which would be suitable and agreeable food, but others also, which would yield him pleasure to look at. every tree that is pleasant to the sight: to take delight in, something that is desirable, sightly good trees, such as tall cedars of their loftiness, spreading branches, and green leaves, with many others. and good for food: fruitful, fruit producing, practically beneficial, useful; satisfying the senses of tasting and smelling; suitable to the taste or to health; wholesome, palatable, not disagreeable or noxious for produce or fruit. the tree of life: 1) Genitive of cause = the tree supporting and continuing the life which had been imparted (compare 3:22); hence “the bread of life”, John 6:48, 51, 53. 2) Which was not so much a natural means to preserve or prolong life; but was chiefly intended to be a sign to Adam, assuring him of the continuance of life and happiness, even to immortality, through the grace and favor of his Maker, upon condition of his perseverance in innocency and obedience. 3) So called, because it was a natural means of preserving man’s life, and freeing him from all infirmities, diseases, and decays, during his abode on earth; and also a sacramental pledge of his continuance in that life, upon condition of perfect obedience. But this tree of life was to him a tree of death, because of his infidelity and disobedience. 4) So called from its symbolic character as sign and seal of immortal life. Its prominent position, where it must have been an object of daily observation and interest, was admirally fitted to keep man habitually in mind of God and futurity. 5) Set there in a most excellent place, where it might be most conspicuous, and to be come at; for before Adam sinned, as there was no prohibition of his eating of it, so there was no obstruction to it; and as he had grant to eat of it, with the other trees, it was designed for his use, to support and maintain his natural life, which would have continued, had he persisted in his obedience and state of innocence, and very probably by means of this chiefly. also [i.e., as well as the other trees in] in the midst of the garden: in the middle/center; equally distant from the extremes; i.e., in a most excellent place. knowledge: moral cognition, sense or perception (12:12; Song of Solomon 6:11; Isaiah 59:8); knowing by experience, relationship or encountering; a moral, experiential knowledge; understanding, discernment. good: moral virtue. evil: bad in a moral and ethical sense; depicts evil in an absolute, negative sense; wicked in ethical quality, what is disagreeable to God; employed as negative moral category that stands starkly opposed to goodness or holiness. good and evil: = ethical standards, right living. the tree of knowledge of good and evil: 1) Obedience proving what was “good” (Deuteronomy 6:24), disobedience revealing what was “evil” (Romans 3:20). 2) So called, because by eating of it man came to know experimentally the vast difference between good and evil; and the greatness of that good he formerly enjoyed, by the loss of it; and the greatness of that evil he had brought upon himself, by the feeling of it. And this was another sacramental pledge, which sealed death spiritual, temporal, and eternal, in case of disobedience. 3) So called, not because it had any virtue to beget or increase useful knowledge, but because there was an express positive revelation of the will of God concerning this tree, so that by it he might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? To eat of this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil was written in the heart of man; but this, which resulted from a positive law, was written upon this tree. And in the event it proved to give Adam an experimental knowledge of good by the loss of it, and of evil by the sense of it. 4) So called because it was a test of obedience by which our first parents were to be tried, whether they would be good or bad, obey God or break His commands. That is of miserable experience, which came by disobeying God. 5) So called, either with respect to God, who by it tried man, when He made him, whether he would be good or evil; but this He foreknew: rather therefore with respect to man, not that the eating of the fruit of it could really give him such knowledge, nor did he need it; for by the law of nature inscribed in his heart, he knew the difference between good and evil, and that which God commanded was good, and what He forbad was evil: but either it had its name from the virtue Satan ascribed to it (3:5), or from the sad event following on man’s eating the fruit of it, whereby he became experimentally sensible of the difference between good and evil, between obedience and disobedience to the will of God; he found by sad experience what good he had lost, or might have enjoyed, and what evil he had brought on himself and his posterity, he might have avoided.

TREE. Known by its fruits, Matthew 7:17-19 and Luke 6:43-44. Symbolical, Daniel 4:10-12. Of life, Genesis 2:9, 3:22, 24; and Revelation 22:2, 14. Of knowledge, Genesis 2:9, 17, 3:3-6, 11-12, 17.

10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

And a river went out [i.e., proceeded forth, issued] of Eden to water [i.e., to give drink; to supply or irrigate] the garden: 1) A large stream of fresh water flowing into a channel on land from a source or spring towards the ocean or sea, a lake or another river. 2) A large, flowing body of water, any river in general; here the Persian Gulf, known as such to the Accadians, in which the river became four mouths or heads at spots where they flowed into the source which received and fed them. 3) Before man was created, this river went out of Eden and watered it on every side; but what river is here meant is hard to say; the geography described in the verses obviously corresponds to nothing in the present world, although some of the names sound familiar. and from thence it was parted: and from there or that place (after passing through Eden with the garden in it) spread out, separated, divided, split into 2 or more parts or tributaries. and became into [i.e., formed] four heads: 1) Riverheads, the principal source of a river or branch as its head; four springs or branches; four parts of waters or four chief principal rivers. 2) The rivers described in this section could not have derived their waters from rainfall (2:5), and so must have been fed by artesian springs, or controlled fountains from the great deep. This implies a network of subterranean pressurized reservoirs and channels fed from the primeval seas and energized by the earth’s internal heat.

11. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

The name: an appellation as a mark of individuality, what specifically identifies anything; an external mark to distinguish one thing from another, i.e., that by which anything is called. The name of the first is Pison: 1) Dispersive, great diffusion of waters; changing or doubling, or extension of the mouth, extended, multitude. 2) The river west of the Euphrates, called Pallukat in the reign of Nabonidos, last king of Babylonia, or the Pallakopas Canal. 3) Or the Phasis; Physius or Hyphases, a river in Armenia and which is sometimes called Pasitigris, being a branch of that river, and mixed with, or arising from channels, drawn from Tigris, Euphrates and other waters. that is it which compasseth [i.e., surrounds, meanders; going around; to encircle or flow round about, throughout] the whole land [i.e., entire country] of Havilah: 1) Bringing forth, trembling with pain. 2) The region or stretch of sand (connected with Ophir in 10:29). 3) The Pallukut or Pison encircled the northern borders of the great, sandy desert which stretched westward to the mountain chain of Midian or Sinai. 4) A country adjoining Persia to the east, and including to the west; or a district of Arabia peopled by Semites and Hamites. where there is gold: a valuable or precious metal, gold as a mineral in its raw or natural state, gold ore or nuggets.

12. And the gold of the land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

And the gold of that land is good: pure, does not require refining, of superior quality or relative worth; as soon as dug is said to be pure gold, and that in the bigness of chestnuts, and of such a flaming color, that the most precious stones are set in it by the artificers. there is bdellium: a white transparent oily gum which flows from a tree about the bigness of an olive tree; a fragrant gum (perhaps amber); an aromatic resin or an aromatic, yellowish gum; a yellowish gum resin that may look like gold pearls in its hardened stage; possibly a stone (pearl) or maybe resin; a substance of the same color as manna (Numbers 11:7); a transparent, waxy, fragrant gum or possibly a precious stone, i.e., crystal; or a pearl, white, like grains of manna. and the onyx stone [i.e., gem, precious stone]: 1) Hebrew shosham, identified with Assyrian samtu, from that region. A semi-pellucid gem with variously colored zones or veins, a variety of chalcedony; a species of gem, sardonyx, so called from its resemblance to the human nail; a gem, probably beryl (from its pale green color); onyx marble or emerald; possibly carnelian or lapis lazuli stones. 2) The onyx is a cryptocrystalline variety or subvariety of quartz. It is in layers of different colors, which alternate with each other and bear some resemblance to the white and flesh-colored bands of the fingernail.

13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

And the name of the second river is Gihon: 1) A valley of grace, or breast, or impetuous; to gush or burst forth as a stream or fountain; it has its name from the force it goes with and the noise it makes. 2) The river Nile; or a branch of the river Euphrates or Tigris, on the eastern side, as the Phison was on the west; or the Araxes. 3) The river east of the Tigris. The modern Kerkhah, and the ancient Khoaspes, rising from the mountains of the Kassi. the same is it that compasseth [i.e., surrounds] the whole land of Ethiopia: 1) Cush and of his territory; burning, a black countenance, full of darkness; blackness, sunburnt; territory in the same great basin as the countries drained by the Tigris and Euphrates. 2) There was an Asiatic Ethiopia as well as an African; either Ethiopia above Egypt or else that Cush or Ethiopia, which bordered on Midian, and was part of Arabia, and may be called Arabia Chusea, often meant by Cush in Scripture. Others think the country of the Cossaeans or Cussaeans, a people bordering on Media, the country of Kuhestan. Kas has been confused with the Hebrew Cush. It is not the African Cush or Ethiopia, but the Accadian Kas.

14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: 1) “Arrow”, i.e., sharp and swift as a polished arrow; the rapid swift; a sharp voice or sound. 2) The river Tigris or the Chiddekel which goeth in front of Assyria. Accadian for the Tigris, which was Idiqla or Idiqlat = “the encircling”. 3) The Tigris running on the eastern side of Mesopotamia and a sister of the Euphrates. Its sources begin in the southeast of southern Turkey in the Armenian Mountains. It empties into the Persian Gulf after it joins the Euphrates. The capital cites of Assyri, Assur, and Ninevah were on its banks. that is it which goeth [i.e., runs, flows] toward the east [i.e., to the east, toward the rising sun] of Assyria: 1) Lifted up, exalted; the land named for Asshur. 2) The country or district dominated by the town of Asshur. 3) This is not Assyria but the city of Assur, the primitive capital of Assyria (which lay east and west of the Tigris). And the fourth river is Euphrates: 1) Hebrew pherath; Persian Purat or Puratu = “the river”. That makes fruitful or grows; fruitful, fruitfulness, the fertile river; to break forth rushing. 2) The mighty river of Mesopotamia, a river of the east; “the great river”; “the good and abounding river”. The Euphrates is the largest, the longest and by far the most important of the rivers of eastern Asia.

15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

And the LORD God took the man [= this same man Adam] and put him into the garden of Eden: to exercise authority, ordered and directed; brought and caused to dwell; or God spoke to him or impressed on his mind, and inclined him to go and stay there. to dress it: 1) To serve or work; to put in good order; to till, cultivate and trim. God would not have the man idle, though as yet there was no need to labor. 2) So that it seems man was not to live an idle life, in a state of innocence; but this could not be attended with toil and labor, with fatigue and trouble, with sorrow and sweat, as after the fall; but was rather for his recreation and pleasure; what there was for Adam to do is not easy to say; a Jewish tract said that his work in the garden was nothing else but to study in the words of the law, and to keep or observe the way of the tree of life or positive aspects. and to keep it: To tend or take care of; keep safe, preserve; protect, guard; to tend and keep, attend to; watch over and care for; of serious activity and service.

16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

And the LORD God commanded the man [= the man Adam]: 1) Enjoined, charge, ordered, directed, signifying His authority and power over His creatures. 2) Over whom He had power and authority; and He had a right to command him what He pleased, being His Creator, Benefactor and Preserver; and this is to be understood not of man only, but of the woman also, whose creation, though related afterwards, yet was before this grant to eat of all the trees of the garden but one, and the prohibition of the fruit of that; for that she was in being, and present at this time, seems manifest from 3:2-3. saying [i.e., speaking with authority, as a sovereign Lord], Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 1) Hebrew “in eating thou mayest eat”. Figure of Speech Polyptoton; or Many Inflections, i.e., the repetition of the same part of speech in different inflections for emphasis. Hebrew conveys very emphatically “you may feely eat [strengthened permission construction] to your heart’s content”, emphasizing the freedom and permission of a loving, gracious God. To consume victuals, devour, or partake of without impediment or hindrance. 2) A very generous, large and liberal allowance of this, which was giving full power, and leaving them without any doubt and uncertainty about their food; which they might freely take, and freely eat of wherever they found it, or were inclined to, even of any, and every tree in the garden, excepting one, next forbidden. 3) This was not only an allowance of liberty to him, but it was, withal, an assurance of life to him, immortal (natural) life, upon his obedience. Thus, upon condition of perfect, personal and perpetual obedience, Adam was sure of paradise to himself and his heirs for ever.

17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

But: more, further; noting an addition to supply what is wanting; to elucidate or to exhibit a contrast. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: 1) Consume, partake of, or devour the forbidden fruit. This is in the strongest Hebrew form of prohibition; no reason assigned for the prohibition. 2) Expressly prohibited to eat of this tree in obedience to God under Whose government he was, and Whom it was fit he should obey in all things, and since he had grant of all the trees but this, it was the greater aggravation to his offence that he should not abstain from it. 3) A covenant of works, the terms whereof are, Do and live; sin and die (Genesis 2:17; Isaiah 1:19-20) which covenant was broken by our first parents sinning against God, in eating the forbidden fruit, and the covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in their first transgression (Romans 5:12-20). for [i.e., because that, as a consequence or a result] in the day [i.e., when, at that time] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die: 1) Hebrew “dying thou shalt die!” Figure of Speech Polyptoton; or Many Inflections, i.e., the repetition of the same part of speech in different inflections for emphasis. Here marked by the word “surely”, as in vs. 16 by the word “freely”. The construction emphasizes in the strongest way the certainty of death upon eating. Certainly or undoubtedly cease to live, to expire, decease, perish, or be deprived of respiration. 2). Physically, the cessation of life; spiritually, alienation from God in this life; eternally, complete separation from God and from all that is good forever. 3) That is, thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death and all the miseries that preface and attend it. This was threatened as an immediate consequence of sin. Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual death and the forerunner of temporal death shall immediately seize thee. 4) [i] The separation of the soul from the body (Genesis 25:11). This is temporal death. [ii] A separation of soul and body from God’s favor in this life, which is the state of all unregenerated and unrenewed persons, who are without the light of knowledge, and the quickening power of grace (Luke 1:79). This is spiritual death. [iii] The perpetual separation of the whole man from God’s heavenly presence and glory, to be tormented forever with the devil and his angels (Revelation 2:11). This is the second death, or eternal death. To all these kinds of death, Adam made himself and his posterity liable, by transgressing the commandment of God in eating the forbidden fruit. 5) In the very day that Adam would experimentally come to “know evil”, through disobeying God’s word, he would die spiritually, being separated from God’s direct fellowship. Adam would begin to die physically with the initiation of decay processes in his body which would ultimately cause his physical death. 6) Adam was immediately arraigned, tried and condemned to death, and found guilty of it, and became subject and answerable to it, and death at once began to work in him; sin sowed the seeds of it in his body, and a train of miseries, afflictions, and diseases, began to appear, which at length issued in death. Moreover, a spiritual or moral death immediately ensued; he lost his original righteousness, in which he was created; the image of God in him was deformed; the powers and faculties of his soul were corrupted, and he became dead in sins and trespasses; the consequences of which, had it not been for a Savior, must have been eternal death, or an everlasting separation from God, to him and all his posterity; for the wages of sin is death, even eternal death, Romans 6:23.

18. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him.

And the LORD God said [or, He had said], It is not good: 1) Convenient, useful, profitable, expedient, conducive to happiness. The negative is extremely emphatic. It is not the construction for expressing a mere negative preference. In the context of chapters 1 and 2, it is the only thing “not good”. God’s plan for man was less than ideal and not complete without woman, the emphasis being on alone. 2) It is not convenient either for My purpose of the increase of mankind or for man’s personal comfort. 3) God graciously pitied his solitude. He that made him knew both him and what was good for him, better than he did himself. 4) Not pleasant and comfortable to him, not agreeable to his nature, being a social creature; nor useful to his species, not being able to propagate it, nor so much for the glory of his Creator. that the man should be alone: 1) Apart, only; one solitary or by himself; in his separation or singleness; single; without the presence of another; expresses the Divine rationale for human marriage. 2) Though there was an upper world of angels, and a lower world of brutes, yet there being none of the same rank of beings with himself, he might truly said to be alone. 3) With a soul full of affections, and capable of finding its sweetest enjoyment in the interchange of sentiments and the endearments of friendship, he had as yet no suitable object with which those natural feelings could ally themselves. Though formed with strong desires to love and be loved, he possessed no means of exercising his emotions, no ear to which he could impart those thoughts, no bosom ready to reciprocate his feelings. There is strong reason to believe that, constituted as he was, even the garden of Eden would have been no paradise to him; with all its store of delights, it would have been incapable of filling the aching void of his heart, who, though formed for society, was still living in solitude. I will make [i.e., build, construct] him an help meet for him: 1) Hebrew “as before him”, a part opposite, specially a counterpart; fitting, suitable, right or proper; “according to him”; “as that which corresponds to”; counterpart of man and social equal; a “helper like him”, a suitable helper or wife; man’s unique companion and helper. 2) Literally, “as over against”, “according to his front presence”, i.e., corresponding to, his counterpart – one like himself in form and constitution, disposition, and affections, and altogether suitable to his nature and wants. 3) A help as his counterpart = a help suitable to him; a wife. One who is the same as the other and who surrounds, protects, aids, helps and supports. 4) A help-meet is: (i) one who gives assistance or support and is precisely adapted (made to fit) to a particular situation, need or circumstance; (ii)