The Garden (Genesis 2)

The first creation account does not actually end in Genesis 1, but continues into the next chapter. Let’s look at Genesis 2.

Did God bless the seventh day from creation? Did God later reinstitute this day during the Exodus? Did Jesus or the Apostles command this day for the church? What spiritual applications can we learn from this rest day under a new covenant?

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce. (Genesis 2:1-3 CJB)

Some make the break between accounts at the beginning of verse 4 and others make it halfway through the verse.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Genesis 2:4-7 ESV)

Hasty thinking has led some to believe that Genesis 1 & 2 are not the earliest creation accounts. If Moses wrote all of Genesis including the two creation stories, then creation accounts from Babylon and Sumeria were earlier than his. However, if Moses was one of several editors or redactors of Genesis and not the sole author, it is possible that he included very early creation documents from the Patriarchs. Thus, nobody can state truthfully how ancient these creation accounts may have been.

Some historians used to teach that writing was unknown before Moses, and that all these stories were merely verbal traditions. However, that has long been disproved. Archeology reveals that writing existed long before the time of Moses. As an adoptee in the Egyptian royal house, Moses was undoubtedly a highly educated man. It is interesting that the books of Moses contain certain Egyptian loan words, lending weight to his authorship.

What about the garden? Was it filled with various fruit trees?

The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and put there the human he had formed. In the fertile land, the Lord God grew every beautiful tree with edible fruit, and also he grew the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9 CEB)

What rivers flowed out of the garden? Can we simply assume that two are the same as modern rivers with the same names, or are those ancient rivers long buried under large sedimentary deposits from a worldwide flood?

From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia. The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River. (Genesis 2:10-14 CEV)

What one, simple commandment is recorded? Why couldn’t Adam and Eve obey such a simple rule?

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.” (Genesis 2:15-18 HCSB)

What amazing choice did God give to the man? I wonder what names Adam could have used?

After the Lord God formed from the ground every wild animal and every bird that flies, he brought each of them to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name. (Genesis 2:19 ISV)

Probably bowing to feminist pressure, some translations avoid the word helper for the first woman, but help or helper is the original intended meaning. Do we have faith in God’s intended gender roles? Do we allow political agendas of a society gone astray, to twist gender roles? Do we see family destruction in today’s world? If the family is a basic building block of society, does that mean eventual destruction of society too? How many genders or sexes were there? Are other so-called genders a delusion, and a path to personal pain and self-destruction?