Genesis 2

1 host. In their vast numbers and diversity; marshalled and moving together like an army.

2 rested. This Divine repose implies neither fatigue nor inactivity (Isa. xl. 28). God ceased to create because He had completed His plan to His own satisfaction; see Exod. xxxi. 17.

3 and sanctified it. God set it apart for special religious use by man (Mark ii. 27). The existence of the Sabbath from the beginning of the world is indicated by the artificial division of time into weeks, which prevailed in the earliest ages (Gen. viii. 10, 12; xxix. 27, 28), and by the peculiar provision of food for the Sabbath, and directions respecting it (Exod. xvi. 23), before the law was given at Sinai. It has, however, since been subjected to various regulations, first in its temporary adaptation to the Mosaic economy (Exod. xx. 8-11; xxxi. 13, 14), and now as a memorial of the great fact of the Saviour’s resurrection, and as set apart for the spiritual worship and services of His disciples (Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; Rev. i. 10). If the “days” of ch. i. are to be understood as creative epochs (see note, verse 5), the Sabbath rest of the Creator may be taken as extending through the whole period of man’s history. This view is confirmed by the fact that no “evening and morning” are specified with regard to the “seventh day.” See also John v. 17.

4. These are the generations. Rather, “This is the history,” or “account.” Such a phrase commonly indicates the commencement of a new narrative (see ch. v. 1; vi. 9; xi. 10; Matt. i. 1); and frequently a family history.

the day. To be taken generally, of an era, including the successive epochs of creation. Cp. Exod. vi. 28; Numb. iii. 1; Isa. xi. 16.

Lord God. Literally, “JEHOVAH God (Elohim).” This name occurs here for the first time. The word LORD, wherever printed in the English Bible in capital letters, stands for the Hebrew JAHVEH or JEHOVAH; see Introduction and Exod. vi. 3. This Name (implying self-existence, and therefore unchangeableness and eternity) is applied to “the Living God,” in His personal covenant-relation to His people. “Lord,” where not printed in capital letters, represents the Hebrew Adonai, “lord” or “master”; and “the Lord God,” a combination frequent in Ezekiel, stands for Adonai Jehovah.

5 and every plant of the field, etc. Or, “and no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up. For the LORD God,” etc. “And there went up a mist,” etc. (R.V.). This is probably another description of the state referred to ch. i. 2, 6, 7.

7 living soul. Or, as the words are rendered in ch. i. 21, “living creature.”

8 garden. The Greek version has “paradise”; a form of the Oriental word used here, as well as in Eccl. ii. 5; Song of Songs iv. 12. Its application to the garden of Eden seems to have led to its use in Luke xxiii. 43 (see note); 2 Cor. xii. 4; Rev. ii. 7.

eastward. i.e., as one comes from the East.

Eden. “Eden” means pleasantness or delight. The cuneiform inscriptions have cleared up its position. The Sumerian name of the plain of Babylonia was Edin. Its Assyrian equivalent was Zeru, the name still applied to the depression between the Tigris and Euphrates (see Sayce, article “Eden” in Peloubet’s Dict. of Bible).

9 good and evil. These two trees were so named from the uses to which God applied them; appointing the one to be the means of preserving man’s life, the other to be the test of his intelligent obedience.

11. Pison, etc. It seems to be most probable that “Pison” is the Arakhtu, or canal on which Babylon was built, and “Gihon” the Kerkha; and that “Havilah” is the desert of North Arabia. “Hiddekel” is the Tigris (see Dan. x. 4). The Euphrates (Heb. Phrat) is the well-known “great river.”

12 bdellium. Probably either pearl or some precious stone. The true “bdellium” is a gum.

13. Ethiopia. Heb., “Cush.”

14 toward the east of Assyria. Or, “in front of Assyria” (R.V.); i.e., between the land of Assyria and the country of the narrator.

15 man. Or, “Adam.” In the A.V. these two renderings are used indifferently. The R.V. distinguishes between the word with the article in the original (“the man”) and the proper name Adam without the article.

to dress it. “To cultivate it.” Paradise was not a place of exemption from work.

17 shalt surely die. This is the proper English rendering of the emphatic Hebrew idiom, “dying thou shalt die.” As Adam lived long after the fall, in what sense are these words to be taken? Possibly as the loss of all the life that Adam had; and as the moral union of his soul with God, resemblance to Him, and the enjoyment of His presence and favour, was his life in its highest sense, the loss of these would be the most awful penalty to which he could be subjected. The terms life and death are frequently used in Scripture with these meanings; see John iii. 36; v. 40; Rom. vi. 23; viii. 6, etc. Or, the transgression implies the ending of man’s first estate and the beginning of that in which death reigned. Cp. Rom. vi. 23; Jas. i. 15.

18 meet for him. Rather, “a help corresponding to him”; his counterpart, brought into the world for him (1 Cor. xi. 9).

23 shall be called, etc. In the Hebrew: “shall be called Isshah, because she was taken out of Ish.”

24 one flesh. This passage forbids both divorce and polygamy. See Matt. xix. 4-6; Mark x. 8; Rom. vii. 2; 1 Cor. vi. 16; Eph. v. 31.