Genesis Chapter 2: The Garden, Adam, and Eve
(Deep Dive Chronological & Book-By-Book Bible Journey Through The Bible)
Genesis chapter 1 provided an overview of the history of creation. It shows the nature of God and His plan for us. Chapter 1 also gives us an idea of our purpose. All things begin and end with God (Revelation 22:13).
Creation Overview:
Days 1-4: creating the foundation of the heavens and the earth
Days 5-6: creating living things (plants, animals, man)
Day 7: consecrating a day of rest
Chapter 2 provides a more detailed account of the creation of man. This chapter is just as vital as chapter 1 as it shows us why we have sin in our lives, how the enemy of our soul tempts us to disobey our Lord and the consequences of sin. In addition, we gain greater detail about the creation of man and the blessings of marriage with a clear indication of our purpose.
Because I think it is absolutely beautiful, my favorite verse from this chapter is, “and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Wow!!
Study Tips:
An additional study you could do: make a detailed list of the account of creation from Chapter 1 and another from Chapter 2 and compare them. How are they similar? How are they different? What can you learn from the various accounts?
Evening and morning appear to be significant throughout the Bible. Consider doing a study to see why. Where is evening and morning (time of day) specifically mentioned in Scripture? In what context?
(v1-3)
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
BLESSED: Hebrew #1288; barak/to kneel/ to make holy, consecrated, or highly favored. Being blessed is a favored status with God.
CONSECRATE: To set aside or declare something holy for a divine purpose
SANCTIFIED: Hebrew #6942; to prepare or dedicate. To set apart for a divine purpose
All that God had desired to put into motion was finished!
The seventh day was a gift to man, a time to rest and rejuvenate. God didn’t rest because He was tired (Isaiah 40:28). He rested as our example to show us that work and rest are good. God is our ultimate example, and we need to imitate Him. He didn’t quit halfway through. He didn’t lounge around until He felt like getting busy. He had a job to do and did it. Then God rested. We need to approach our work (and rest) the same way.
This is the first day that doesn’t end as the others ended. The first 6 days ended with, “So the evening and the morning were the ____ day”. Instead, this day ends as Genesis 1:1 began; with God. The beginning and the end.
Cross Reference Verse:
Exodus 20:8-11, Jonah 4:6-7, Amos 4:7
(v4-6)
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
These verses speak strongly to me of God’s precise order. Now we begin to see greater details revealed.
“This is the history”(NKJV), “these are the generations” (KJV)…no man was alive to witness these things. This account was a direct revelation from God.
GENERATIONS: Hebrew #8435; course of history, results, proceedings
THE LORD: Hebrew #3067; Jehovah (yeh-ho-vaw’)/ the existing One
GOD: Hebrew #430; Elohim (el-o-heem)/the true God.
This is another first as we learn another name for our creator; the Lord God.
God created all types of vegetation. Surprisingly, the rain had not been created yet to water the earth. Instead, God sent water up from the ground to provide for the land. It was probably a mist.
The plants and trees did not grow themselves. They don’t have the power to do that anymore than we do. In a way that we cannot fathom, all creation answers and obeys the Lord Almighty, their creator. If God says grow, they grow. If He tells them to be gone, they die and are gone.
All growth is a gift from God, the work of His Holy hands. We tend to get tired and grumble when we have to mow the grass, pull weeds, or get caught in a downpour. But we need to remind ourselves that even those things are a gift from God.
(v7)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Notice that man had not been created yet to take care of the plants and animals.
When God created man, He created him from the dust of the ground. Dust was where the man came from and where his food would come from (Genesis 4:17-19). True to God’s character, He took what we consider nothing (dust) and made something spectacular (man)!
God chose to give us his very breath making man a living person. Throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Breath of God.
Cross Reference Verses:
Job 33:4. Mark 8:23 (in this verse, we always focus on Jesus using spit to heal. But it was more than the moisture from Jesus’ body. He combined it with the dust of the ground to create eyesight for this man). Ezekiel 37:5-9. John 20:22 (the Holy Spirit breathed (G1720) into them).
Life In The Garden
(v8)
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
EDEN: Hebrew #5731; pleasure, delight
It caught my eye that God planted a garden. He didn’t speak one into existence.
Many have spent years searching for evidence of Eden. Frankly, it is a lost cause. God doesn’t want us to know where it was. He isn’t playing guessing games with us nor is He into confusion. Adam and Eve were removed from the garden. God placed Cherubin at the garden’s entrance to guard it. Why would God allow us to find and access Eden after that? Accepting that Eden was exactly as God said it was must be taken on faith. Some things are not for us to know right now.
Questions To Consider:
Twice we are told that God placed Adam in the garden. Do you think this placement was before or after he was created? It appears that the birthplace of Eve was the garden but do you think it was for Adam too?
Do you think Adam and Eve were created as fully grown adults, as infants, or maybe as young teens? What makes you believe that?
Was Eden a real place as some claim, or was it simply symbolism?
(v9)
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
All the trees were pleasing to look at and good for food. (< this is important very soon!)
MIDST: Hebrew #8432; the middle.
Cross Reference Verses:
The Tree of Life: Also mentioned in Genesis 3:22; Proverbs 3:18, 11:30, 13:12, and 15:4; Ezekiel 47:12; John 6:48; Revelation 2:7, 22:2, and 22:14. Because it crops up throughout Scripture, we know that this tree is pretty important.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Also mentioned in Genesis 2:17 and 3:3. This tree is not mentioned again in Scripture. According to the blue letter bible, we will not have a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the future world because there will be no moral tests necessary. Victory over evil would have been won (not by Adam but by Christ). Evil will no longer exist.
Questions To Consider:
Do you think the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life were real trees or symbolic?
What are your thoughts on the tree of life in Genesis and the tree of life in Revelation? Are they the same tree?
(v10-14)
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads.
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
A single river that flowed out of Eden where it split and fed 4 separate rivers. The rivers had specific names that God had given them.
4 Rivers:
From the Hebrew definitions, it appears that the rivers were all different. They increased, circled, burst forth, rushed, and were fast-moving.
1. Pishon: Hebrew #6376; increase
-Pishon skirts the land of Havilah. Hebrew #2341; to circle
-3 precious metals Gold, Bdellium, and onyx are found there.
2. Gihon: Hebrew #1521; bursting forth
-Goes around the whole land of Ethiopia/Cush
3. Hiddekel: Hebrew 2313; rapid
-Goes east towards Assyria
-Better known as the Tigris River
4. Euphrates: Hebrew #6578; to break forth, rushing, fruitfulness
BDELLIUM: Hebrew #916; meaning unclear. Could be amber or pearl. Also mentioned in Numbers 11:7 as a perfume. Maybe bdellium is a precious metal that has a scent?
Just a thought:
One river branching into 4 streams: One River (Jesus is the river of living water)...branching (John 15:5/we are the branches)...into 4 streams in 4 directions (the world-north, south, east, and west)?? One river creates, flows, and feeds 4 additional rivers. The source of all that we are and do is to flow from Jesus through us into others.
Water is vital to all living things. Jesus is vital to all who believe.
As mentioned, it is impossible to find the garden today. Because of the flood (Genesis chapters 6 through 9), the landscape is drastically different. Many nations claim to know the location of the garden but the truth is it is impossible to know.
By the same token, we have no idea if the current rivers of Euphrates and Tigris are the same today as they were back in the time of the garden of Eden. Yes, they have the same name but God would not remove man from the garden and then allow us to track one of those rivers back to the main river head that would in turn lead us to the garden of Eden. That doesn't make any sense.
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Questions To Consider:
In verses 10-14 we read about the rivers. Along with mentioning the rivers, the Bible mentions Cush and Assyria. Does that mean that the garden wasn’t the only “community” God created and named at that time?
Back in verses 4-6 we read there had not been rain, only a mist from the earth to water the ground. Now in verses 10-14, we learn of a mightly river that formed 4 other rivers and flowed out of the garden. Do you think it took a 24-hour period for the groundwater to create the rivers? God planted the garden and made it grow. That speaks to time and a process (although we don’t know how long).
Do you believe this all took place in 7 literal days or is this our human reasoning trying to make sense of it? Remember Jonah (Jonah 4:6-7). God grew a plant big enough to provide shade then while Johah slept God sent a worm to destroy the same plant.
(v15-17)
And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
God put Adam right where He wanted him. God didn’t direct Adam to go to the garden, God put him there.
Adam was given a purpose; to tend and keep the garden. Work was a blessing.
TEND/DRESS: Hebrews #5647; to work
KEEP IT: Hebrews #8104; to observe, watch over, preserve
This is where I’ve read that the biblical retelling switches from God’s perspective to Adam’s.
There were many trees in the garden but there were 2 extraordinary trees. God’s command to Adam was very clear. He could eat from every tree in the garden except one. God also shared with Adam the consequences of disobedience (death). Adam had a choice to obey. Because he was created in God’s image, he was created with an intelligent, sound mind. Adam had the power to reason things out.
Neither the tree nor its fruit was sinful. Choosing to disobey God would be a sin.
According to kjvbible.org, the tree of knowledge of good and evil lives on in the hearts of every man. Just as Adam and Eve had to do, we must choose to follow our own desires or follow God’s commands. It’s a decision we make every day, for every situation. Even when we do not understand.
When looking in the Strong’s Concordance for the tree of life and the tree of good and evil, you will not find them. What you will find is a breakdown of the phrase (tree H6086, life H2146, good H2896, and evil H7451).
God wants us to trust exactly what He says. He doesn’t want us to always question and look to other sources for guidance. It’s faith. He wants us to turn to Him and ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do or say?”. He wants our trust, our faith, and our love of Him to be what prompts us to obey. Not the fear of “what if”.
Cross Reference Verses:
Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:22, Proverbs 3:5-6
Questions To Consider:
Do you think the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would have had to look distinctive in some way? Or do you think Adam and Eve would have just known instinctively which tree God wanted them to stay away from?
It has been said that the tree of knowledge of good and evil appears to be moral: good (obey God and do not eat of it) and evil (disobey God and eat from it). Do you agree?
(v18)
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.”
When God made the earth and all its inhabitants, He declared it all good. But now he is saying something is not good.
He created a suitable helper so that Adam (man) would have a relationship with another human. The Amplified Bible calls her “suitable, adapted, completing”; KJV says, “a help meet for him”. The NIV and NASB say, “a helper suitable”. Regardless of what she was called, God cared enough for Adam that he wanted him to have a companion, a relationship.
Cross Refernece Verse:
1 Corinthians 11:8-9
(v19-20)
And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam, there was not found a help meet for him.
God honored Adam by allowing him to name almost everything. A few things (man, Eden, tree, fruit, good, evil, knowledge, etc) God decided names for.
By allowing Adam the privilege of naming the animals, God was allowing Adam to exercise his authority (his rule) over living things.
Cross Reference Verses:
Psalm 8:3-8
(v21-22)
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman and brought her unto the man.
God conducted the first surgery on man. He could have made the woman from the dust of the ground like He did Adam. But instead, He chose to create her from Adam’s very flesh and bone making them (symbolically) one flesh.
We have no idea how long it was from the time Adam was created until the time that the woman was created. It could have been days, it could have been years. We have no idea.
After taking the chosen body part from Adam, God brought the woman to the man. He didn’t send her or make her suddenly appear. What is the symbolism? She was God’s gift to Adam.
Questions To Consider:
Do you think it was God’s plan all along to create a helpmate for Adam? If not, what do you think prompted God to create Eve?
We know that God speaks a great deal about seeds and growth and progression. Have you considered that Adam and Eve might have been created as children and not grown adults? The common thought is that they were created as fully grown human beings. But the Bible doesn’t say that. In fact, they could have been created as infants with the angels ministering to their needs as they did for Jesus when he was on his 40-day fast. Again, the Bible doesn’t say so we can’t assume.
(v23-24)
And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
This was God’s ideal for marriage; oneness between one man and one woman (the above was singular, not plural). This was not just physical oneness but a partnership, a team. God’s plan for marriage is mental, physical, and spiritual.
A MAN: Hebrews #376; man, male. In this context, the word man seems to indicate men, not men and women.
Men are to leave and cleave (leave their father and mother and their role as a child behind) and cleave (cling) to their wives. And women are to do the same. Once married, the marriage relationship is to take priority over the relationship with your parents and extended family.
Adam recognized the woman as being a part of himself. He accepted her immediately.
The man gave life to the woman through his body. The woman gives life to the rest of the world through her body. Jesus Christ gives all of humanity the ability for eternal life through his body.
This passage was obviously pretty important to God because it was quoted twice in the New Testament. First by Jesus in Matthew 19:5 (Mark 10:6-8) and then by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:16 and again in Ephesians 5:31. God takes marriage very seriously. He gave Adam and the woman as gifts to each other.
Cross Reference Verse:
Genesis 1:27. This shows us that neither men nor women stand alone but are side-by-side (equal) before God.
Questions To Consider:
Did you catch that God mentions father and mother in this verse? This is another first; a prophetic word. At this point, neither Adam nor the woman had parents or children.
(v25)
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
They were naked; exposed. Not hiding behind anything. They didn’t feel unworthy or disgraced but this was more than nudity. Because there was no sin present, they were completely open and exposed before God and each other without shame for who they were or what they had done. They were at peace with their life enjoying each other, their time with the Lord, and God’s handiwork in the garden.
NAKED: Hebrew #6174; bare, exposed
ASHAMED: Hebrew #954; guilt. Feeling humiliated or guilty for behavior that is embarrassing or wrong in some way. Causes feelings of inferiority or unworthiness.
What I’ve Learned About God’s Character
What I have learned about God’s character from chapter two is that God is reliable and trustworthy. He always was and will always be. God is a detailed and thorough creator. He is compassionate. He has ultimate power (He speaks and everything, including nature, obeys). God is our provider. He anticipates what we need and provides it exactly when we need it. The marriage relationship is very important to God.
