Genesis 2:4 b Genesis 3:24 (J). The Story of Paradise: I. The Creation of Man (Genesis 2:4-25). II. The Fall of Man (Genesis 3:1-24) I. The Creation of Man (Genesis 2:4-25). 4B 7. The Creation of Man. 8 9. The Garden in Eden. 10 14. Its geographical situation. 15 17. The Trees of Life and o... [ Continue Reading ]
Genesis 2:1-4 a. The Seventh Day: (_a_) The Cessation from Work; (_b_) The Hallowing of the Day 1. _were finished_ In these verses the repetition of the words "finish," "work," "seventh day," "made," is probably intended to heighten the solemnity connected with the seventh day; see also note on Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTE ON THE SABBATH In connexion with the Institution of the Sabbath recorded in Genesis 2:1-3 the following points deserve to be noticed. 1. The writer gives the reason for the sanctity among the Hebrews of the Seventh Day, or Sabbath. As, in chap. 17, he supplies an answer to the question: What... [ Continue Reading ]
_on the seventh day_ Some misunderstanding arose in very early times in consequence of these words. Jealous for the sanctity of the Sabbath, men said, "No, not on the seventh day, but on the sixth day, God finished the work of creation." So we find "on the sixth day" is the reading of the Samaritan,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And God blessed the seventh day_) It was the belief of the devout Israelite that in some mysterious way God at the beginning conferred His special favour upon the seventh day. The writer does not in this passage mention the name "Sabbath," but the reference to the Israelite Sabbath is indisputable.... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the generations … created_ These words, as they stand here, seem to form a summary of the _preceding_account of the Creation. Elsewhere, however, the phrase "These are the generations, &c." is the formula employed in P as a heading, title, or superscription, to introduce the passage that... [ Continue Reading ]
The Creation of Man 4. _in the day that_ There is no allusion here to the Days of Creation. It is simply the vivid Hebrew idiom for "at the time when." _the Lord God_ The Hebrew words "Jahveh Elohim" are used in this section for the Almighty. On the Sacred Names, see Introduction. The use of JHVH,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And no plant_, &c. If, as is possible, Genesis 2:5 are a parenthesis then Genesis 2:7 carries on the sentence of Genesis 2:4 b. The whole sentence would then run, "At the time when Jehovah Elohim made earth and heaven (there was as yet no plant of the field … face of the ground), Jehovah Elohim for... [ Continue Reading ]
_there went up_ or "there used to go up," i.e. periodically. The frequentative idea of the verb is given in the LXX ἀνέβαινεν, Lat. _ascendebat_. _a mist_ Heb. _"êd_, a word found elsewhere in the O.T. only in Job 36:27, where it is rendered "vapour." Here the meaning is not certain: the versions ... [ Continue Reading ]
_formed_ A different word from that used in Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:27, "created," or in Genesis 1:26, "made." The metaphor is that of the potter shaping and moulding the clay, LXX ἔπλασεν, Lat. _formavit_. As applied to the Creator, the metaphor is a favourite one; cf. Isaiah 45:9; Jeremiah 18:1-5,... [ Continue Reading ]
The Garden in Eden 8. _a garden_ More strictly "an enclosure." LXX παράδεισον, Lat. _paradisum_, a word borrowed from the Persian, and meaning "a park-like enclosure." Its use here has given rise to the Christian metaphorical use of the word "Paradise." "The word is of Iranian origin. In Avesta it... [ Continue Reading ]
_And out of the ground_, &c. The characteristic feature of the "garden," or "enclosure," is not its flowers, but its trees. This evident, also, from the traditional belief as to the Garden, which is reproduced in Ezekiel 31:8-9. To the Oriental, the large well-grown tree was an especial object of re... [ Continue Reading ]
_And a river went out_ The description of the river in this verse is as follows: (1) it took its rise in the land of Eden; (2) it flowed through the garden, and irrigated it; (3) after passing through the garden, it separated into four branches, or, as they are here called, "heads." _to water_ The... [ Continue Reading ]
A Geographical Description of the Garden This is very probably a later insertion. It interrupts the sequence of thought.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTE ON THE RIVERS OF PARADISE Genesis 2:11-14 The mention of the four rivers of Paradise has given rise to many endeavours to localize the site. A famous pamphlet by Prof. F. Delitzsch, entitled _Wo lag das Paradise?_(_What was the site of Paradise?_), 1881, gave an immense impulse to the enquiry... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pishon_ The name of this river does not occur elsewhere in the Bible except in Sir 24:25. What river was intended, we can only conjecture, (_a_) from the description of its course, and (_b_) from the names of the rivers with which it is classed, two being the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is describ... [ Continue Reading ]
_bdellium_ LXX ἄνθραξ : Lat. _bdellium_. In Numbers 11:7, "manna" is compared with "_bdellium_"; where the LXX gives κρύσταλλος. Possibly it may be identified with an aromatic transparent resin, obtained from balsam (_balsamodendron mukul_), and found in Arabia as well as in India, Bactria and Afric... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gihon_ This river is not mentioned again by the same name in the Bible, except in Sir 24:27. The student will be careful not to confound it with the Gihon of 1 Kings 1:33, a spring in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. It is here described as encircling "the whole land of Cush." "Cush" in the Bible ge... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hiddekel Tigris_. The Assyrian name is "Idiklat," or "Diklat," the old Persian "Tigra," whence the Greek "Tigris" (modern _Digle_). It is mentioned in the Bible elsewhere only in Daniel 10:4 and Sir 24:25. This famous river rises not far from the source of the Euphrates, and flows at first east fro... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse resumes the subject matter of Genesis 2:9, which has been interrupted by the description of the rivers. _to dress it and to keep it_ The Lord God puts man into the garden for a life, not of indolence, but of labour. "To dress it," that is to cultivate the soil, tend and prune the trees:... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, as in Genesis 1:29, man receives a command to eat the fruit of the trees: but this command is to receive one special limitation. "man," LXX Ἀδάμ = "Adam," as a proper name, wrongly: see on Genesis 2:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil_ See above, on Genesis 2:9. Here only one tree is mentioned, as in Genesis 3:3; and it seems not unlikely that the mention of "the tree of life" did not belong to the main original version of the story, but was derived from a separate source. _thou shal... [ Continue Reading ]
The Creation of Animals and of Woman 18. _It is not good_, &c. Man is created a social animal. His full powers cannot be developed by physical and mental work alone; nor his moral being by self-discipline in solitude. His faculties and his character require to be expanded and beautified by the duti... [ Continue Reading ]
_And out of the ground_ The animals _also_(LXX adds ἔτι; so also Sam.) are "formed," or "moulded," out of the ground, like man: see Genesis 2:7. They are brought into man's presence to see whether they could be the needed help to him. Only the beasts of the field and the birds are mentioned in this... [ Continue Reading ]
_the man gave names_ We have here the exercise of man's powers of discrimination and classification. This is the birth of science. Man's first use of speech is in the naming of animals. The names describe their character or appearance. From the instance given in Genesis 2:23 of a name thus applied,... [ Continue Reading ]
_deep sleep_ The word is used in Genesis 15:12; 1 Samuel 26:12; Isaiah 29:10 indicating a mysterious heavy sleep sent by God. Heb. _tardêmah_, LXX (ἔκστασις, Lat. _sopor_. The mystery of Divine working is thus hidden from man's perceptions. _one of his ribs_ Symbolizing the closeness and intimacy o... [ Continue Reading ]
The Creation of Woman The description in these verses is remarkable for its delicacy and beauty. Nothing could be more clear than that we are dealing with the poetry of symbolism, not with the record of literal fact.... [ Continue Reading ]
_made he_ Heb. "builded He," so LXX ᾠκοδόμησεν, Lat. _aedificavit_: a different word from that in Genesis 2:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is now_, &c. The exclamation of joy and wonder is expressed in the rhythmical language of poetry. It is as if the man, after passing in review the animals, recognizes instantaneously in woman the fulfilment of his hope. "This is now" is equivalent to "here at last"; the German "Diese endlich.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore shall a man_, &c. This verse contains the comment which the narrator makes upon the words of the man in Genesis 2:23. The word "therefore" introduces his inference. As in Genesis 10:9; Genesis 26:33; Genesis 32:32, a sentence beginning with "therefore" supplies the application, or relatio... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse by one simple illustration describes the condition of the man and the woman in the garden. It is not that of moral perfection, but that of the innocence and ignorance of childhood. The untried innocence of the child does not possess the sense of shame: the depravity of vice forfeits it. T... [ Continue Reading ]