Genesis 2

Genesis 2:6

God by his creative power, brought the vegetables at first to perfection without seed, and without concurrence of the soil, sun, rain, or any other natural cause

Genesis 2:7

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. lxiv

Genesis 2:8

“Lord, thou art our Father—we are the clay, and thou our potter; and “we all are the work of thy hand.” Rom. ix

Genesis 2:20

Psal. c. 3. “God made us, “not we ourselves.” Psal. cxxxix. 14, 15. “I am fearfully and wonderfully “made.” 1 Cor. 15. 47. “The first man is of the earth, earthy.” Job xxxiii. 6. “I am formed out of the clay.” And iv. 19. “Men dwell in houses “(bodies) of clay; their foundation is in the dust.” Job xxxiii. 4. “The “Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me “life.” And xxvii. 3. “The Spirit, or breath, of God is in my nostrils.” Zech. xii. 1. “The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him.” Hence he is called, Heb. xii. 9. the Father of spirits: Num. xvi. 22. and xxvii. 16. the God of the Spirits of all flesh. 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, Rev. ii. 7.—In a garden which himself had planted on the third day, ch. i. 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 Gilion 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 covenant which God made with 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. 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. Gal. iv

Genesis 2:24

This is the covenant which Adam transgressed. Hos. vi. 7. The breach of this covenant was necessarily supposed by the REMEDIAL ONE, published after the fall. Gen. iii. 15. Rom. v. 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, Lev. xviii. 5. Deut. xxvii. 26. and iii. 27. but especially the imputation of Adam’s first sin to his natural posterity, Rom. v. 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 perfectly holy and righteous, capable of performing whatever God required, Gen. i. 26, 27. and v. i. Eccl. vii. 29. and as the common head and representative of all his posterity; Rom. v. 12—19. 1 Cor. xv. 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 sovereignty of God over men, as one who could enact his mere will into an awful law: (2) To render Adam’s obedience or disobedience, and consequently the justice of God in rewarding or punishing him, more conspicuous, Rom. iii. 4: (3) To mark that, even in paradise, he held all which he enjoyed of God, as his great proprietor and landlord, 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 every thing relative to the soul’s loss of God’s favour and image, and to its defilement and misery in this life, Rom. i. 28—31. iii. 10—18. and viii. 7, 8. Eph. ii. 1, 3, 12; or natural; which comprehends every calamity on the body, and whatever its comfort depends upon, in this world, Gen. iii. 16, 19. Deut. xxviii. Eccl. xii. 7. 2 Pet. iii. 12; or eternal, comprehending all the misery of loss or of pain, to which the damned are for ever subjected in hell, Mat. xxv. 41. Rev. xiv. 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. xix. 17. “If thou wilt enter into life eternal, keep the commandments.” Gal. iii. 12, 10. “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.” Ezek. xviii. 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 men’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. 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 dispersal or consent of their parents, and all only in the Lord, Ch. xxi. 21. xxiv. 4. and xxviii. 2. Judg. xiv. 2. 1 Cor. vii. 38, 39.—Adam accepted her as an 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 Pet. iii. 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.” Eph. v. 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 every thing.—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."—Gen. iii. 16. 1 Cor. xiv. 34. and vii. 16. and ii. 11, 12, Mal. ii. 14—16. Mat. xix. 3—9. 1 Cor. vii. 14, 15

Genesis 2:25

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 UPON CHAP. II.—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 work, 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 beauties 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, every way 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 JEROTAN’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 communicates 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 he has purchased, and by his Spirit planted, a gospel-church, he devotes there, and cultivates the same; and having regained the celestial paradise, there are 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 gives power to eat of himself, the Tree of life.—Being, by the determination of God, cast into the deep sleep of debasement and death in this world, church was formed out of his broken body and pierced side. She is brought and espoused to him: and to her he cleaves, at the expense of leaving his Father in heaven, and of now leaving his mother, the paternal