Genesis 2:17

Gen. 2:17. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die." This expression denotes not only the certainty of death, but the extremity of it. Thou shalt die, in the superlative and to the utmost degree; and so it properly extends to the second death, the death of the soul; for damnation is nothing but extreme death, and I am ready to think that God, by mentioning dying twice over, had respect to two deaths, the first and the second, and that it is to those words the apostle John refers in Revelation 20:14, when he says, "This is the second death." It is much such a reference as he made in the verse 2 of that chapter. There he explains to us who the serpent was that beguiled Eve, viz. the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil and Satan: so here he explains what the second of those deaths, that was threatened to Adam, was. See notes on Revelation 20:14.

Genesis 2:17. "Dying thou shalt die." If we sometimes find such kind of doubled expressions, and also this very expression, dying thou shalt die, as in Solomon's threatening to Shimei, when no more is intended than only the certainty of the event, yet this is no argument that this does not signify more than the certainty, even the extremity as well as certainty of it. Because such a repetition or doubling of a word, according to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue, is as much as our speaking a word once with a very extraordinary emphasis. But such a great emphasis, as we often use, signifies variously; it sometimes signifies certainty, at other times extremity, and sometimes both.

Genesis 2:17. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." This, in addition to notes in blank Bible, - And besides Adam died that day, for he was ruined and undone that day, his nature was ruined - the nature of his soul - which ruin is called death in Scripture, Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13; Matthew 8:22; John 5:25. The nature of his body was ruined that day, and became mortal, began to die, his whole man became subject to condemnation, to death; he was guilty of death; and yet that all was not executed; that day was a token of his deliverance; and his not dying that day a natural death, is no more difficult to reconcile with truth, than his never suffering at all that death that was principally intended, viz. eternal damnation; and probably there were beasts slain the same day by God's appointment in their stead, of which God made them coats of skins, for it is probable God's thus clothing them was not long delayed after that they saw that they were naked.

Genesis 2:17. "In the day, etc." It does not seem to me necessary that we should understand this, that death should be executed upon him in that day when he ate. But that it may be understood in the same manner as Solomon's words to Shimei (1 Kings 2:37). Death was executed upon Shimei many days after he had done that thing. The thing that God would signify to Adam by this expression seems to me to be, that if he but once presumed to taste that fruit, he should die. You shall not be waited upon to see whether you will do it again, but as soon as ever you have eaten, that very day shall death be made sure to you, you shall be bound to die, given over to death without any more waiting upon you; as that was what Solomon would signify to Shimei; that if he but once went over the brook Kedron, he should die; (see note on 1 Kings 2:37), and so these words signify that perfect obedience was the condition of God's covenant that was made with Adam, as they signify that for one act of disobedience he should die. See Ezekiel 33:12 - ["Thou shalt die."] (See Pool, Synop. in loc., The well-known "Synopsis Criticorum," filling five large folios. Best edition is, Utrecht, 1684. - G.)

Gen. 2:21