A Work in Progress Bible Commentary
By: Chip Crush

GENESIS
CHAPTER 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [1] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth [2] and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth [3] and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams [4] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground- 7 the LORD God formed the man [5] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin [6] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. [7] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam [8] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [9] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [10] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, [11] '
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

We’ve noted the Gap Theory and the Framework Hypothesis, but we haven’t said much about various old-earth creation (progressive creation, the day-age theory, etc.); and we won’t say much about them, because they require significant hermeneutic gymnastics and are undoubtedly based on presuppositions, not the word of God. And of course, the idea in a study of the Bible is to learn and understand what the Bible actually means when it says what it says, not to try to make it say something it never meant to say just to have it conform to the trend of the day. So let’s take a look at Genesis 2:

As mentioned previously, the first three verses fit better with chapter 1. Nevertheless, they explain the Sabbath, which is a sign of God’s covenant (Exodus 31:13-17) as well as a type of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). God’s perfect will was perfectly executed and completed, and though the “evening and morning” isn’t mentioned, the seventh day also came and went as the previous 6 and next 6. The idea of taking Hebrews 4 to suggest that day seven is ongoing, as the rest of God is ongoing doesn’t really fit the historical narrative perspective on this passage. But we may wonder, why did God take seven days? And at least one answer is to establish a week.

We measure a day by the earth’s rotation. We measure a month by the moon’s revolution of the earth. We measure a year by the earth’s revolution around the sun. But how do we base our measurement of a week? One secular philosopher said, “The day, the month, and the year are natural measures of time, but the week is an arbitrary measure.” That’s not what God says. The Sabbath has been established for man, as a reminder of His seven day creation. And we do everything we can – including reinterpreting Genesis 1 – to escape that conclusion. But all people use the week, just as all people use the universe – the single, spoken sentence – and just as all people use the word “creature” – created beings – to describe our existence. These are clear testimonies to the truth of God’s word.

God’s rest does not equal inactivity. God does not fatigue, so this day of rest is for man to enjoy. Psalm 132 explains that God’s resting place is in the presence of His people. The presence of God is rest (Exodus 33), and that’s why Israel is to be a people and a place of rest (Deuteronomy 6:10-11). God’s provision and protection is real, despite the effects of sin, which brings unrest to creation and to Israel. There’s creation rest and redemption restoration in Christ. Just as God did not stop working on His Holy day of rest, so we will not stop working in an eternity of rest, as we enjoy the peaceful and productive easy work of eternal sinlessness. But there is no rest for those without Christ – ever.

The next 4 verses of Genesis 2 (v4-7) serve as an introduction to the account that follows in v8-25, and really all the way to the end of chapter 4. While there is some clear stylistic difference between this and chapter 1, there is no good reason to conclude that it contradicts chapter 1. The thought is that chapter 1 was a chronological account of creation from God’s perspective, while chapter 2 is a topical account of man and what happens in God’s creation, similar to the difference between Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels. Even liberal scholars who deny a literal Genesis agree and testify that these 2 chapters are not contradictory but rather complementary. Looking at the text, here are some highlights:

  1. V4 – Jehovah Elohim = Lord God = a committed, personal God, who is holy and sovereign (Isaiah 57:15).
  2. V5-6 – parenthetical, in light of v8, a further explanation of day 6, offered from’s man’s perspective. Regarding the plants not growing yet (compare Genesis 1:11-12), the Hebrew here is different, speaking of cultivated crops in the Garden of Eden, not to the uncultivated wild plants outside of the Garden described in chapter 1. God created things in maturity, with the appearance of age, but farming was meant to be man’s work.
  3. Also in v6, from www.icr.org, “The primeval hydrological cycle was subterranean rather than atmospheric, 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.” These irrigation streams, with no rain or seasons perhaps until the flood, explain how the non-cultivated crops across the world were grown and sustained without rain.
  4. V7 – “formed” is not “asah” or “bara” but a verb that signifies the “potter and clay relationship.” God intimately forms Adam from the ground and breathes life (immortality) into him (v7). He is nephesh life. This body is for the earth, which makes Jesus’ incarnation all the more striking. MAN = ADAM; DIRT = ADAMAH

Coming to v8, the word “now” is not in the text… But this is a past tense act by God. He had already planted this garden, presumably on day 3, but this garden hadn’t matured, so that Adam could work it. Eden means pleasure or paradise, but we can’t find it on a map. It was most likely in the east, perhaps from the Promised Land (namely Jerusalem), which would fit with Moses’ audience. That places it in Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, where the Sumerians – secular historians’ first civilization – called home. Eden is now gone, because of the flood.

The word for “east” signifies life, since it from where the sun rises. Elsewhere it’s translated in the Bible as “old,” as in “the good ole days.” Here, Adam had every blessing; we get the image of a banquet table before him. His failure is inexcusable. Additional highlights from the middle of the chapter include these:

  1. V9 – Adam noticed that the plants God brought up were “pleasing to the eye and good for food,” a preview of what’s to come when Eve looks at the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3:6.
  2. V10 – A river originated in Eden (perhaps similar or identical to the river of the water of life that originates at the throne of Christ in Revelation 22), and it separated into 4 rivers.
  3. V11-14 – we have the detail of the 4 rivers, places memorialized by Noah and his sons after the flood. More can be said of these rivers and names, but we’ll leave that for now. But the point is that Eden was a protected place of abundant provision and beauty.
  4. V15 – God gives Adam the garden as His steward. Mankind has a purpose!
  5. V16-17 – The first command: God confronts Adam with His dominion over him. Adam could eat from any tree, but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If/when (on the day) he eats of that tree, he will surely die. Perhaps this tree’s fruit offered the potential for unlimited knowledge, like God. But eating from this tree would have been Adam’s assertion of human autonomy, for there is no knowledge apart from God. The reason for God’s command doesn’t matter. God is good and generous and trustworthy; we should obey Him. Any assessment of Adam’s wisdom should begin at his obedience to the perfectly good and all-wise creator God. We are made to be dependent on God, and sin is the exertion of our own independent wisdom, which proves foolish when it doesn’t align with God’s prescriptive and decretive will.

How would Adam have understood death? Separation from God? No more physical immortality? Notice these highlights from the end of Genesis 2:

  1. V18 – Not Good! (“not good Adam be; make helper”). This reveals man’s inadequacy, not woman’s inferiority. Social companionship (relationship) is intended, for the sake of being a better steward of God’s garden.
  2. V19 – God brings to Adam the animals He had made. Wikipedia lists 647 families of animals, not including fish. This list includes some 30 families of lizards and multiples of other Biblical “kinds.” I think Adam may have only had to name 200 animals. He’s not naming labs and poodles and yorkies and retrievers and foxes and wolves and coyotes; he’s naming canines. Even Henry Morris acknowledges that had Adam named 3000 animals, it would have only taken him 5-6 hours.
  3. V20-21 – No suitable helper was found. God has to help Adam realize his need for a partner, and God here performed the first surgery. The deep sleep mentioned here (used 7 times in Scripture) is a supernatural sleep.
  4. V22 – Adam loses a rib but gains a helper suitable. Woman is given to compliment man. Her title of helper is used of the Holy Spirit, and I wonder if their roles in the life of a man are similar. Female is “eeshah” and Male is “eesh.”
  5. V23 – Adam’s first words are recorded here, and they are poetry, celebrating kinship and companionship. He names her “woman,” which is also the word for wife, claiming her as his own. God made her for him, and she was both wonderfully the same as Adam and at the same time wonderfully different – perfect.
  6. V24-25 – Moses comments, saying, “For this reason,” because God made woman out of man, because God made men and women, the man shall unite with the woman. Evolution requires the opposite. Females come first in the secular / naturalistic model (asexual reproduction / hermaphrodites). See also Malachi 2:13-16 regarding this union.

The nakedness part will be mentioned as we look at chapter 3, but for now, it points to innocence and purity. Male and female humanity is about complimentary relationships.

Footnotes

  1. 2:2 Or ceased ; also in verse
  2. 2:5 Or land ; also in verse
  3. 2:5 Or land ; also in verse
  4. 2:6 Or mist
  5. 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground ( adamah ); it is also the name Adam (see Gen. 2:20).
  6. 2:12 Or good ; pearls
  7. 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia
  8. 2:20 Or the man
  9. 2:21 Or took part of the man's side
  10. 2:22 Or part
  11. 2:23 The Hebrew for woman sounds like the Hebrew for man.

Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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