Genesis 2

Notes

Ver. 2. [This signifies that God ceased from his work during the seventh day, having completed it in six days. The whole of the seventh day was a rest, as is stated in the second clause of the verse. P.]

Ver. 3. [Blessed. This is the third recorded blessing, see ch. 1. 22, 28; and when applied to the Sabbath-day, endows it with the gift of peculiar fruitfulness and multiplication of good. The honour or dishonour of the Sabbath has ever been the means and the evidence of a fruitful or barren, a growing or a withering, church.—Seventh. Here commences that remarkable reference to the number Seven, that will be found to continue to the end of the Scriptures. Six days of blessed work, closed by a seventh of sanctified rest, is the original week of creation, and well represents every form of perfection exhibited in the subsequent working of God.—Sanctified. This sanctification includes the separation of the day from common uses, and the dedication of it to the service of God. C.]

Ver. 4. [This is the commencement of a new section, and also, as it appears, of a new narrative, to a large extent complete in itself. It is a narrative of creation from a human point of view; whereas the first section of the book contains a narrative of creation from a divine point of view. The first narrative embraces the universe, giving a full account of the origin of the vegetable and animal world. The second is mainly concerned with man, and those things necessary for his support. In the first the divine Being is uniformly called Elohim, a name expressive of infinite power; in the second he is called Jehovah Elohim, expressing power in conjunction with immutability, so as to inspire man with implicit faith. Jehovah is the incommunicable name of God; it is not, and it cannot be, given to another. In our version it is almost universally rendered Lord.—This section terminates with the fourth chapter, and its subject is the history of man from his origin to the end of Cain's posterity. P.]

Ver. 5. God, by his creative power, brought the vegetables at first to perfection through the exercise of his will acting through soil, sun, rain, and other natural causes.—[Plant. The creation and ordering of sun, moon, stars, and earth, are mighty works, not unworthy of omnipotence; but the lowliest plant or herb equally owes its origin and qualities to God: rightly considered, it no less illustrates his wisdom, power, and goodness. There is no difference to God between the formation of a sun and a blade of grass.—Rain. Rivers, springs, rain, and dew, are appropriate emblems of grace. They are formed without man's aid, they are continued without his help, and they produce, by their diffusion, a universal fruitfulness, which no plan of human wisdom and no combination of human agency could ever possibly effect. Springs (Jn. 4. 14), rivers (Jn. 7. 38), rain (Is. 55. 10), dew (Ho. 4. 5), are appropriate. C.——This clause may be translated, 'No plant of the field was yet in the land, and no herb of the field put forth shoots; for,' &c. The meaning is, that while herbs and plants had been originally formed by an immediate exercise of supernatural power, they were left to propagate and spread naturally. Hence moisture and cultivation were requisite. This explanation appears to be given as introductory to the account of the planting of the garden of Eden, and the arrangements made for its irrigation and culture. P.]

Ver. 7. God, with most exquisite art and skill, formed man's body of the dust, and created, in personal union with it, a rational soul; and so made him a human person, capable of exercising the functions of all sorts of life. Is. 64. 8, 'Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we are all the work of thy hand;' Ro. 9. 20; Ps. 100. 3, 'God made us, not we ourselves;' Ps. 139. 14, 15, 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made;' 1 Co. 15. 47, 'The first man is of the earth, earthy;' Job 33. 6, 'I am formed out of the clay;' 4. 19, 'Men dwell in houses (bodies) of clay; their foundation is in the dust;' Job 33. 4, 'The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life;' 27. 3, 'The spirit, or breath, of God is in my nostrils;' Zec. 12. 1, 'The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him;' hence he is called (He. 11. 9) 'the Father of spirits;' Nu. 16. 22; 27. 16, 'The God of the spirits of all flesh.'—[From a divine point of view, man is created in the image of God—his soul immortal, his moral nature pure and perfect, his intellect capable of apprehending truth. From a human point of view, he is composed of a body of dust formed from the kindred dust of the earth, and of a living spirit breathed into it by the Creator. P.]

Ver. 8-16. Man being thus formed, the Lord graciously placed him in a garden which was an emblem of the heavenly state, called the paradise of God, Re. 2. 7; in a garden, which himself had planted on the third day, ch. 1. 11; in a garden, eastward from Canaan, in Eden, a spot of pleasure, which probably lay not far from the ancient Babylon, where the rivers Euphrates on the west, and Hiddekel or Tigris on the east, joined into one, and watered the garden; and after running a little southward were parted into the two streams of Gihon on the east and Pison on the west; in a garden decked and enriched with every choice and fruitful vegetable; the principal of which were, the tree of life, so called, because of the invigorating nature of its fruit, and because it was made a sacramental pledge of man's eternal life in heaven, provided he kept the command which God made to him;—and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so called, because, by the fruit thereof, God tried Adam's obedience, and by the eating thereof man knew the good he had fallen from, and the evil he had fallen into.——[Ver. 8. The topographical notice here, though very brief, is definite. Eden was a large district. The garden was in the eastern part of it. A river flowing through Eden entered the garden; and either in the garden, or after emerging from it, separated into four distinct channels. Two of these bear the names of two well-known rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris; but by no legitimate mode of interpretation can they be identified with those rivers as they now exist. There is no known spot whose physical features accord with the description of the text; it is vain therefore to speculate about the site of Eden. P.——Ver. 9. Tree of life. The tree of life is an emblem of Christ, 'that eternal life that was with the Father, and was manifested to us,' 1 Jn. 1. 2. Knowledge of good, as emanating from obedience; evil, as emanating from disobedience.——Ver. 10. Eden. Nothing with certainty is known of the precise situation of Eden, but two points: that it was situated somewhere on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris. To the Euphrates Moses refers, ver. 14, as to an object of perfect familiarity to the people whom he was leading from Egypt; and Hiddekel is identified (Da. 10. 4) with the Tigris. The Pison has been supposed to be the Phasis, a river running into the Euxine; the Gihon, to be the Araxes, which runs into the Caspian. This account cannot be received, as it appears from ver. 10 that a single river went out of the garden, which was, in its course, parted into four heads.——Ver. 12. Gold. The Bible is essentially a geographical book, and this is the most ancient specimen of geography on record. Moses, who wrote by divine inspiration, for the instruction of a people familiarly acquainted with working in gold and precious gems, describes the lands watered by the rivers of paradise, by means of these natural productions. God has gifted different lands with different forms of riches, yet exposed every country to some inconvenience or want, and by this means he has provided that, where better principles are wanting, the self-interest of nations shall promote social intercourse and prevent want. The possession and right use of riches is good, it is the love of money that the apostle pronounces 'the root of all evil.' C.——Ver. 13. It may be inferred from this passage, and from the geographical notices in Ge. 10. 6-12, that there was a primeval Cush in Central Asia, and a later Cush (called Ethiopia) in Africa. The former was the original home of the Cushites; the latter was the country to which the great body of the nation migrated, and in which they permanently settled.——Ver. 14. The Hebrew word is radically identical with the modern Arabic name of the Tigris. P.]

Ver. 16, 17. Here we have God entering into a covenant of works with Adam, and with all his natural posterity in him. This is the covenant afterwards published from Sinai, and which gendereth to bondage, Ga. 4. 24. This is the covenant which Adam transgressed, Ho. 6. 7. The breach of this covenant was necessarily supposed by the remedial one, published after the fall, Ge. 3. 15; Ro. 5. 12-21. The annexing of death to a positive command of abstinence from fruit, indifferent in itself, by an infinitely good, gracious, and wise God, inferred likewise the annexing of a glorious reward to his obedience: and in this the form of a covenant consists. The adjoining of the tree of life, and of knowledge of good and evil, to this transaction, as confirmatory seals of life or death; the frequent republication of the moral law, in a covenant form, to men, when they could not keep it as such, Le. 18. 5; De. 27. 26; Mat. 19. 17; Ga. 3. 10, 12; Ro. 10. 5; 3. 27, but especially the crediting of Adam's first sin to his natural posterity Ro. 5. 12-19, plainly establish this point. Here we have the parties of a covenant: God, manifesting his supreme authority, his unbounded goodness, and infinite condescension, on the one hand; and Adam, as without sin and righteous, capable of performing whatever God required, Ge. 1. 26, 27; 5. 1; Ec. 7. 29, and as the common head and representative of all his posterity, Ro. 5. 12-19; 1 Co. 15. 22, on the other.—Here we have a condition required—abstinence from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which supposed and implied perfect obedience to the whole law of God written on man's heart, or revealed to him. The end of this covenant being to render mankind happier than the duties of the natural state necessarily entitled them to be, it was proper that some positive institution should be added to the natural laws inscribed on the heart of Adam at his creation, and which might promote obedience to them. This institution, relative to the tree of knowledge, which, being in the midst of the garden, was almost continually in his view, was extremely proper, as it tended, (1) To manifest the high government of God over men, as one who could enact his good will into an exact law. (2) To render Adam's obedience or disobedience, and consequently the justice of God in rewarding or punishing him, more conspicuous, Ro. 3. 4. (3) To mark that, even in paradise, he held all which he enjoyed of God as his great Creator and Father, and ought to do nothing without his allowance. (4) To be a standing monitor to Adam, that he was fallible, and needed to take heed to his ways, and watch against every spiritual enemy; that he was not come to his full happiness and rest, since, even in paradise, he was under remarkable restraint; that his happiness lay in God himself alone; and that nothing was to be desired, but in submission to his will, and for his sake. (5) To be a summary of the law of nature, by obedience to which he might honour God, loving him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving himself, and his posterity as himself. Here is a penalty threatened in case of disobedience—certain, manifold, and dreadful death, viz. (1) Death legal, or a sentence of condemnation fixing upon the covenant-breaker in the very moment he begins to transgress. (2) The execution of this sentence in real death; which is either spiritual, comprehending everything relative to the soul's loss of God's favour and image, and to its defilement and misery in this life, Ro. 1. 28-31; 3. 10-18; 8. 7, 8; Ep. 2. 1, 3, 12; or natural, which comprehends every calamity on the body, and whatever its comfort depends upon in this world, Ge. 3. 16, 19; De. xxviii.; Ec. 12. 7; 2 Pe. 3. 12; or eternal, comprehending all the misery of loss or of pain, to which the lost are for ever subjected in hell, Mat. 25. 41; Re. 14. 10, 11.—In the express annexing of so great a death especially to the breach of the positive part of the law of the covenant, a promise of a life directly opposite as the reward of perfect fulfilment of the condition was implied; comprehending the continuance of the natural and spiritual life, which he had, in all the vigour, comfort, and prosperity of it; and the enjoyment of a more glorious and eternal life in heaven, in consequence of his finishing his course of unfailing obedience. Thus the sum of the covenant was, Mat. 19. 17, 'If thou wilt enter into life eternal, keep the commandments;' Ga. 3. 10, 12, 'The man that doeth these things shall live in them;' 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them;' Eze. 18. 4, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' The fruit of the tree of life, as a seal of the covenant, confirmed the promise of life upon condition of perfect obedience; and the fruit of the tree of knowledge confirmed the threatening of death annexed to disobedience. The representation of all Adam's natural posterity in him was most reasonable and kind; as it was the shortest, and, humanly speaking, the safest means of securing their eternal happiness. The whole tenor of this covenant was so highly equitable and gracious, that man's uncorrupted conscience could not but approve of it; his love to himself and his posterity could not but incline him to it; his perfect conformity to the divine image could not but make him consent to whatever terms God proposed, and to receive his favours in a method so answerable to the divine perfections.—[God speaking to the man implies the man's comprehension of God's words; and here we have the first record of human intelligence and language. C.——Ver. 17. We have here the first indication of law. There is implied also the possession, on the part of man, of a moral faculty capable of comprehending that law, and of a will capable of obeying it. P.]

Ver. 18. [A help suitable to man, intellectually, morally, and physically. P.]

Ver. 19. [Their bodies were formed of dust. So far it was a formation, not a creation; but the life was a creation. P.]

Ver. 20. [Gave, Heb. called. It is amazing how answerable their Hebrew names are to their appearance and nature. C.]

Ver. 21-24. God formed the woman of a rib, with the flesh thereon, out of Adam's side, to note the wife's equality with her husband, and that she is his companion, and to be treated with the utmost kindness and affection. He brought her to Adam, to honour the institution of marriage, and to teach us that children ought to marry by the disposal or consent of their parents, and all only in the Lord, ch. 21. 21; 24. 4; 28. 2; Ju. 4. 2; 1 Co. 7. 38, 39; Adam accepted her as a help meet for him, suitable to his nature, acceptable to his person, and useful on all occasions for their mutual comfort and the propagation of their species. And God, by Adam, declared the general law of marriage, requiring the most affectionate cohabitation, inseparable union, and intimate communion during life, as if the parties were but one person. 1 Pe. 3. 1, 7, 'Wives, be in subjection to your husbands. Husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life;' Ep. 5. 22-28, 'Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord; for the husband is the head of the wife. Let the wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives: as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.' Ge. 3. 16; 1 Co. 14. 34; 7. 16; Tit. 2. 5; Col. 3. 18, 19; 1 Ti. 5. 8; 2. 11, 12; Mal. 2. 14-16; Mat. 19. 3-9; 1 Co. 7. 14, 15.——[Ver. 23. The 'deep sleep' must have been, in its effects on the whole system, somewhat similar to the state produced by chloroform. The man was unconscious of all that occurred. But it would seem that immediately after awaking the Lord revealed to him what had been done, and at the same time presented the woman. Adam, knowing how she had been formed, and perceiving her complete adaptation to his felt want, exclaimed, with joyful and thankful surprise, 'This, at length, is the very thing; bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.' P.]

Ver. 25. They had no cause of shame; as there was neither deformity in their bodies, nor guilt on their consciences, nor any sinful inclination in their hearts.

Reflections.—In the faith of God's institution and blessing of the Sabbath, let me always observe it as in his sight, ceasing from my own works, as he did from his. Let me never prefer the example of a wicked generation to that of God; nor prefer the pleasures of recreation or sloth, or the profits of carnal labour, to fellowship with, and enjoyment of, God and his blessings. Let my care be to receive out of his fulness, and grace for grace; to remember his mighty works of creation and redemption, and to worship him in the beauty of holiness. How easy is it for him to work, with or without means, as he pleaseth! But O how great his kindness to man! In him the animal and the angelical natures were united; the best of this world was allotted him for his residence; and while its choicest fruits were assigned him for his food, the multitudes of its animal inhabitants were subjected to his dominion and service. A woman, everyway perfect, was provided for his comfort, and for the increase of mankind. Nay, God himself entered into familiar fellowship and a gracious covenant with him, in which everlasting happiness was promised to him and his posterity upon the easiest terms. But in this first Adam, as in a figure, do I not behold the second, the Lord from heaven, Jesus the Redeemer? He is indeed the Son of God, the express image of his Father's person; the image of the invisible God; the new thing created in the earth, and the blessed fruit of it, excellent and comely. He, as Mediator, is the great product of Jehovah's counsels, the illustrious ornament and glorious centre of all his works. He is our head and representative in the second and better covenant, established upon better promises. He is our spiritual parent, who communicateth to us his indelible image, and entitles us to all the fulness of God. He is our great Prophet, Priest, and Governor, to whom all things in heaven and earth are subjected for our sake. Having by his blood purchased and by his Spirit planted a gospel-church, he dwells there, and cultivates the same; and having regained the celestial paradise, there we shall be for ever with the Lord. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and having all life and fruitfulness in his own person, he giveth to us power to eat of himself, the Tree of life. Being by the infinite love of God cast into the deep sleep of suffering and death in this world, his church was formed out of his broken body and pierced side. She is divinely brought and espoused to him; and to her he cleaves, at the expense of once leaving his Father in heaven, and of now leaving his mother, the people of Israel.