THE CREATION
DETAIL CHRONICLE OF DAY SIX:
Isaiah 51:3 "For the LORD will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody."
[The Lord is offering comfort to the future spiritual Zion in the language of beauty and delight]
Ezekiel 31:9 "I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, So that all the trees of Eden envied it, That were in the garden of God.'"
[The beauty of Assyria before the Lord cut it down like a tree; likened to Eden]
Ezekiel 36:35 "So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'"
[The future restoration of Israel during the reign of the Messiah will resemble the beauty of Eden]
Introduction:
As we are introduced to some of the details of the sixth creative day; in anticipation of man's arrival, it was needful that a suitable abode should be prepared for his reception. Here, we are given a glimpse into the perfect home created for man. A place where we would find every need met, a place where every achievement we were created to fulfill could manifest itself (particularly to fear God and keep His commandments).
Text #1:
Genesis 2:8-14
"The LORD God planted a garden
eastward in Eden , and there He put the man whom He had formed.
9
And out of the ground the LORD God
made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The
tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil.
10
Now a river went out of Eden to
water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
11
The name of the first is
Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah ,
where there is gold.
12
And the gold of that land is
good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13
The name of the second river
is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of
Cush . 14
The name of the third river is
Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria
. The fourth river is the Euphrates."
Lord God: Looking into this window extension of Day Six of the creative work of God; this title (Jehovah Elohim) is used 9 times in the introduction of man's home and the details concerning the creation and work of man.
This title is illustrative of God as the architect, the fullness of His Divine nature, and the multiplicity of His power.
Planted a Garden: The word 'Garden' used here is from the Hebrew, "Gan" which means 'a place protected by a fence' or 'a hedge about it'; it comes from the root word "Ganon" which means 'to cover'.
It was to be the perfect home for man as:
- Luxuriant: It was lavish in beauty by the creative genius of God. Considered paradise on earth. Something that man should have considered worth while and valuable to retain
- Divinely Prepared: Jehovah Elohim caused it to spring up as the perfect home for man, complete, and protected.
- Exceptional: The rest of the earth was prepared as an example of paradise lost and was anterior to the Garden home of man. If all was paradise, what would make this home unique?
- Symbolic: By its very special and separate nature, it was symbolic of all the unique creations of God on man's behalf (the church - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Revelation 22:14, our final victory in Christ - 2 Timothy 4:6-8).
The Scope: Our text describes this perfect home for man as "Eastward" in Eden . This word comes from the Hebrew "Macadam" and is literally translated 'eastward'. If language means anything, the Garden existed in the eastern portion of Eden (Eden is a Hebrew word that means 'delight'). The extent of Eden is not revealed or the exact dimensions of the Garden.
We find an interesting pattern in the scriptures concerning this relationship of eastward.
• The tabernacle and the temple were erected to face eastward.
• Man was ejected from the Garden eastward and his descendants would move farther away from God as they moved eastward.
Genesis 4:16 "Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden ."
Genesis 11:2-4 "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 13:11-13 "Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan , and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD."
Genesis 25:6 "But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east."
- Coming back to God is often illustrated in movement from east to west (like the sun). Abraham came from the east to the west to the land that God would give his descendents (Genesis 12:1); and later he would forbid his family to return to the east (Genesis 24:5-8).
- Years of swindling, deception, and strife would end when Jacob would return from the east (Genesis 33:18-20).
- Ezekiel's vision of the glory of God departing the temple, watched it depart from the east gate (Ezekiel 10:18-19).
- The star that led the Magi, appeared in the east and led them west ward to Immanuel (God with us!) - Matthew 2:1-2.
Trees: The Garden of God was planted with every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food; however, two trees are specified for our notice.
- Tree of Life: In the Hebrew, it would literally be the 'tree of lives' or 'tree of the living'. It seems best described as a tree emanating life (with the removal of man from the presence of this tree, came death - Genesis 3:24; it's power only recaptured by the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus to those who keep His commandments - Revelation 22:14).
- Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: A tree of moral good and moral evil and the knowledge thereof, the ability to reflect upon them. We will have more on these trees in verses 16-17.
A River: With the perfect vegetation introduced, the source of its maintenance is now introduced. This is from the Hebrew, which literally means a flowing water. Its purpose is to water the Garden. As it started from its head water source, it parted into four rivers.
The term "riverheads" is introduced as these waters separated; this is from the Hebrew "Roshim", which is from the root "Rosh" and means 'that which is highest'. These four headwaters find there source at elevation.
The rivers described in this section could not have derived their waters from rainfall (Genesis 2:5), and so must have been fed by artesian springs, or controlled fountains from the great deep. This implies a network of subterranean pressurized reservoirs and channels fed from the primeval seas.
- Pishon: 'The full flowing'; which flows in a circular fashion through the land of Havalah .
- Havalah: From the Hebrew meaning 'sand land'. A land the boasted pure gold, bdellium (a rock crystal that was the same color as Manna - Numbers 11:7; some have suggested that it is a ruby), and onyx (a beautiful type of chalcedony, which we know best for cameo production).
- Gihon: 'The bursting', which encompasses the land of Cush or Ethiopia.
- Hiddekel: 'The darting' or 'Tigris', and refers to the swiftness of its current. This may suggest a swifter rate of descent as it flows towards the east of Assyria (from the Hebrew, "Ashshur").
- Euphrates: 'The sweet' or 'to be sweet', which refers to its sweet and pleasant taste. This may suggest a silt free body of water, much like pure mountain streams and rivers.
Note: Many have suggested that Eden was in Babylon because the names of these places coincide with those found in that location; however, it is important to note that the post-flood world would be dramatically different than the pre-flood world. The similarities of the names come from those who survived the flood and their naming things with the familiar.
The geography described in these verses obviously corresponds to nothing in the present world, although some of the names sound familiar. The Noahic Flood was so cataclysmic in its effects (note II Peter 3:6) that the primeval geography was obliterated, with the post-Flood continents and oceans completely different.
This was the same thing that occurred when Europeans came to the new world; they brought names that were familiar to them and used them here (New England, Philadelphia , New York , etc...).
Text #2:
Genesis 2:15-17 "Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Tend and Keep: This terminology is more often used in scripture associated with sheep. Man is being given a charge in his perfect home to literally cultivate, and protect it against invaders (that which is unchecked, could destroy). Thus, by the very command, we were to be an intricate part of the maintenance of the Garden (again, symbolic of the church - Ephesians 4:16).
The ideal world, both before the entrance of sin and after the removal, is not one of idleness and frolic, but one of serious activity and work. Adam was placed in an ideal environment and circumstances, so he had no excuse for rejecting God's love and authority. A return to this can be seen in - Revelation 22:3.
You Shall Not Eat: Having been given every tree for food, God introduces an edict that represents the first Divine Law. There is every indication that the death mentioned as punishment would not come from the fruit itself, but from the transgression of disobedience. This enhances the very name of the tree, as it represents a fundamental distinction between good (obedience to the commands of God) and evil (disobedience and the resulting death).
With the introduction of this Divine Law also comes the introduction of free moral will. Although there was no reason for man to reject this simple command of God, he was absolutely free to do so!
Surely Die: From the Hebrew, meaning 'dying you shall die'; to indicate the dissolution of the body (Genesis 3:19) and the darkness of separation from access to God (spiritual death - Romans 5:18-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
The introduction of the consequences from disobedience to this Divine Law represent a fundamental change in the nature of man in the Garden, and just because the sentence has not been previously experienced does not diminish the reality; being able to see the results outside the Garden!
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