Genesis 2:9

‘And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowing good and evil.'

Here we have ‘made to grow' instead of ‘planted', confirming what we have said above. He not only put them there but made them grow. God is sovereign over every part of His creation. No labour was required from man, they grew of their own accord under God's hand. Indeed we need not doubt that the Garden was ‘made to grow' before man was formed so that his home was already ready for him.

The verse brings out God's concern for man. The trees not only provide sustenance, but they are also pleasant to look at. God is concerned not only for man's palate but for his aesthetic enjoyment. This is one question atheistic evolution has never explained. Why is the world on the whole so beautiful? The writer gives us the answer. It is for man's good pleasure. (The principle still applies even if the beauty is in the eye of the beholder). Again we note that the concern is not with the creation of vegetation, but specifically with God's provision for man. The trees are specially chosen for their usefulness to man.

Note that it is not speaking of all trees but of those suitable for man's dwelling place. This is not general creation, but specific to man's own needs.

The trees of ‘life' and of ‘knowing good and evil' are mentioned at this point to stress that they are two among the trees of the garden. In themselves, apart from their function, they are nothing special. The tree of life is mentioned in many stories elsewhere, but always as inaccessible to man. It is only the Lord God Who wants man to have everlasting life. In those accounts it regularly provides life by its fruit being continually eaten. The fact that man has to be excluded from the tree to prevent him living for ever suggests it had a similar continuing function. Thus it would appear that its fruit is seen as containing some element which prolongs life to a great extent. This is not scientifically impossible, although we may regret that it is no longer obtainable. In other stories it conveys immortality once and for all.

This tree is stated to be ‘central to the garden' because to God and the writer it is the all-important one, although the phraseology includes the tree of knowing good and evil as also being in the midst of the garden. Later the tree of knowing good and evil will be seen by the woman to be the central one because it is the one that possesses her mind.

Note how ‘and the tree of knowing good and evil' is almost tacked on to the sentence. It is added like this as a means of stressing it. This is done deliberately to bring out the sombre note lying behind the reference, for the writer knows what is to come. One can almost hear his voice changing as he pauses and then adds AND THE TREE OF KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL'.

Later it is confirmed that this tree is also ‘in the midst of the garden', but the writer here wants the bare statement to be pregnant with meaning. This tree does not offer men special knowledge. It offers knowledge of a unique kind, indeed of a kind that man does not want, the knowledge by experience of what is good and what is evil. Such knowledge can only be found by committing evil. Then and then alone can the distinction be fully clear. The eating of the fruit would be a specific, open and deliberate act of defiance.

While ‘knowing good and evil' can in some contexts be a way of saying ‘having wide knowledge' (2 Samuel 14:17), it is clear that it means more than that in this passage because of the context which is all about learning about evil. Compare Deuteronomy 1:39; Deuteronomy 30:15 - the latter being especially appropriate as linking good with life and evil with death. (Indeed the wider meaning may suggest the knowledge of this story misinterpreted). As we shall see later the tree was not put there as a temptation. It was there as a reminder to man of God's supremacy. Both trees were intended as a blessing.

Thus in the ‘centre' of the garden is the tree which is the source of everlasting life and the tree which is a reminder of God's sovereignty, a kind of sacred grove where man can commune with God and be reminded of His goodness.

The plain of Eden is now put in a more specific historical setting, to bring out both its fruitfulness and its riches.