Man in God’s Garden

Part 1

2:8 And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east. And He put the man there whom He had formed.

The whole world had been placed under man’s dominion, and it all was good in every way. However, a particular region was planted (nawta –prepared) by Yahweh God as a special garden where the first man (Adam), whom He had formed (yatzar – had molded or shaped out of the dust of the earth), was to make his home.

The term “garden” comes from the Hebrew root “ganan” meaning “to hedge about, to protect.” This not only shows God’s blessing toward man but His protection and care as well. Rather than wandering around man was to settle in this particular home prepared by God for his care and wellbeing.

In the eastern part of the region called Eden is where Yahweh God planted the garden for man’s home. “Eden” comes from the Hebrew root “adan” meaning “delightful or pleasant”.

In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) the word used for Eden is “paradeison”, from which we get the word “paradise”. It was heaven on earth.

2:9 And Yahweh God caused to sprout from the ground every tree pleasing to sight and good for food. And the tree of life [was] in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Clearly, the statement referring to God’s causing trees to grow must be restricted to the garden. It is not a general pronouncement of the creation of trees on the earth, because that had been carried out prior to the creation of mankind.

This planting of trees in the garden was done directly by Yahweh God, just as He had formed man’s body and breathed into his nostrils directly, not merely by an impersonal command as had been the case when plants and trees were made the third day.

The tree of life stands “in the midst of the garden”, a clause that indicates its location in the heart, or middle of the garden. According to Genesis 3:22, the continued eating of the fruit of this tree would have resulted in immortality for humanity.

The clause, “the knowledge of good and evil” in the Hebrew is a merism (a compound of opposites like heaven and earth). It is a figure for potentially unlimited knowledge which means that mankind, if they ate of the tree, would become aware of all things, things that are good and things that are evil.

2 Samuel 14:17 And now your servant says, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil.

Prior to their partaking of the tree, Adam and Eve were mutably holy and had no knowledge of evil. They only had experience and knowledge of good things.

2:10 And a river was going forth from Eden to water the garden. And from there it divided and it became four headstreams.

A river from the district of Eden flows into the garden. A participial form of the Hebrew root “yatsa” is used (going forth) because it describes a continuous action, an ongoing state of affairs. Thus the river is a continuous, uninterrupted stream.

After feeding the garden, the river leaves it and then divides into four “headstreams”. That term in Hebrew “ro’sh”, is related to the first word in the Bible, “re’shiyth” (beginning); thus, when the river separates it breaks up into four “beginning streams”, or “rivers”.

2:11-14 The name of the first (headstream) is Pishon; it is the one that flows around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around all the land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one going east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Perath.

The water flow in the river of Eden must have been very large for, after passing through the garden, it separated into four rivers, each of which was a large and long river. The rivers must have eventually made their way to the pre-flood seas, thus completing the cycle.

There is no question that the land of Havilah, the land of Cush, and the four rivers only existed in the pre-flood world. In general, it is evident that the geography in these verses does not exist in the present world, nor has it ever existed since the Great Flood.

The rivers and countries described were pre-flood geographical features, familiar to Adam, most likely the original author of this part of the narrative. They were all destroyed, and the topography and geography completely changed as Peter points out by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 2 Peter 3:6 - the world that was, being overflowed with water, perished.

This means that the names of these rivers and geographical locations were originally pre-flood names and remembered by Noah and his family, then passed down to people and places of the post-flood world in their memory.

The fact that verse 10, referring to the garden was written in the past tense and verses 11-14, describing the rivers and regions were written in the present tense, there is at least a hint that, when the writer (most likely Adam) wrote this account, the fall had already taken place and the garden had somehow already been removed by God.

1 Corinthians 15:22, 45 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ (the last Adam) will be given new life... So it is written: The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

John 6:37-40 Jesus said: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

1 Corinthians 2:9 that Eye has not seen, nor hear heard, nor the mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Revelation 21:1-4  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done."

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.