|
|
Commentary on Genesis 1-2 |
| Yes! It Could Be Today! |
| HOME :: Bible Studies :: Old Testament :: Genesis :: Chapters :: |
This chapter completes the account of the 7-day creation week.[37] The chapter then goes on to provide additional details regarding the creation of Man on the sixth day as well as certain events that took place during the first six days as they relate to Man’s creation.
These verses mark the completion of the God’s work during the first six days as well as his setting apart of the seventh day. Though God rested from his Creative/Reconstructive work on this day, he did act on this day by blessing the seventh day and making it holy.
1 Thus the sky and the earth were finished [pual waw consecutive imperfect], and all the host of them. 2 Now on the seventh day God had finished [piel waw consecutive imperfect] his work that he had done [qal perfect], and he rested [qal waw consecutive imperfect] on the seventh day from all his work that he had done [qal perfect].
In 1:1 we read that God created “the heavens and the earth.” But in 1:2 we find that the earth is not in a condition that his habitable for mankind. In balance of chapter 1 we see God take actions to ready the earth for Man and then create Man. The question here is whether this first verse of chapter 2 is accounting for everything from 1:1 or only from 1:3. Given that the word “finished” in 2:2 applies only to the creation week activities, it seems better to assume that same for “finished” in verse 1. So, “the sky and the earth were finished,” thus limiting the scope.
But this leaves a question about the meaning of “and all the host of them.” One might assume that “hosts” refers to the objects in space, namely, the planets, the stars, etc. However, that is not necessarily the case. It may be better to understand this host as God’s work in populating the sky and earth. I would agree with the NETB note on this verse. It reads, “Here the ‘host’ refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.”[38] This is similar to the statement in Exodus 20:11. There Moses refers to the making of the sky, the land, and the sea and “and all that is in them.”[39] God made places of habitation and then populated them.
The verb in 2:2, “finish,” is a previous past, “had finished.” Compare this, e.g., to the NIV’s translation of this verb. God did not finish his creative and reconstructive work on this seventh day. He was already done with that work. This verb is parallel with the previous past later in verse 2, “had done” (also in verse 3). Apparently, the only things that God did do on the seventh day were to bless that day and to designate it as holy.
The narrative says that God rested. The idea of rest here is in the sense of cessation of God’s creative and reconstructive activities, not in the sense of resting to recoup from exertion. This is the rest taken by a lawyer after he has presented his case when he says, “I rest my case.” God was done with his work. In saying God was done with his work, this is intended to apply only to his creation and reconstructive work. God is very much active in other ways as he continues to work to accomplish his plans for that creation.
3 So God blessed [piel waw consecutive imperfect] the seventh day and made [piel waw
God did no creative or reconstructive work on the seventh day, but he did pronounce that day as blessed and did make it holy. These actions come about because God was finished with his work of making Man and his abode. He blessed the seventh day and set it aside as holy.
The last clause of this verse, “bārāʾ ʾĕlōhîm laʿăśôt,” is difficult. In it the verbs bārā’ and ʿāśâ are used together.[40] Regarding this phrase the NETB has this note. “The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier–‘which God creatively made,’ or ‘which God made in his creating.’”[41] If the infinitive form of ʿāśâ, which is preceded by a preposition, modifies the verb bārā’, perhaps the translation “God for making had created” is possible, albeit awkward. Conceivably there is an intentionality expressed here. Maybe the idea here is that God’s creative work had a purpose, a “for making” purpose.
There is no end-of-day statement for this seventh day, no “there was evening and there was morning.” Lacking this statement some have suggested that this seventh day is not a solar day but is a day of unending duration. However, there is nothing in the text to suggest that this seventh day is a day of a different sort. Notwithstanding the figurative use of the word day in the next verse, this day is just like the previous six days. Here too, as is the case with the other six days, the word day is accompanied by a numerical modifier.
This verse, parenthetical in nature, marks the end of the initial creation account. It is followed immediately by a second account with further details focusing on events related to Man’s creation.
4 (These are [supplied] the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created [niphal infinitive construct], in the day that the LORD God made [qal infinitive construct] the earth and the heavens.)
I have followed the KJV, as does the ESV, in translating this verse. Phrases like this “these are the generations” phrase recur through the book of Genesis and are used to mark junctures or divisions in the accounts in Genesis as the book unfolds. The next occurrence is at 5:1 and references “the generations of Adam” (ESV). As such, this verse is parenthetical. It was likely added by Moses when account documents were assembled and/or Genesis was written.
How is this phrase “these are the generations” to be understood? The phrase is normally applied to individuals and used in the sense of a line of descendants. That is how it is understood in the other occurrences found in Genesis. But here the sense is “this is the history” (as NKJV) or “this is the account” (as NASB and NIV). This parenthetical verse marks the end of the account of the creation week activities and the start of a new account.
The word day in this verse is used figuratively, not literally as in chapter 1 and in 2:1-3 where it refers to a solar, 24-hour period or to a daytime, 12-hour period. Here day refers to the entire period recorded in 1:1-2:3.[42] This use of the word day is not that of the original story teller. As Moses wrote Genesis this and the other “generations” statements were used to divide various sections.
With this verse, there is a shift in the name used to refer to God. Up to this point the creator has been referred to simply as “God” (ʾĕlōhîm). With this verse there is a change to “LORD God” (yhwh ʾĕlōhîm). This change may further indicate that the preceding account given in 1:1-2:3 was written at a different time perhaps by a different author than the account that follows as recorded in 2:5-25. As such it may indicate further revelation to Man since at this point we see included a name of God associated with his covenant keeping.
These verses provide additional details that help fill out the account of the creation of Man. The earlier account of Man’s creation merely records statements regarding the creation of human beings, both male and female. That account is written as if Man’s creation was just like that of the plants and animals, namely God spoke and it happened. But for human beings there is more to the story. Man’s creation was not that simple. Details are provided in these verses that fill out the account in chapter 1.
The details of the activities that are recorded in these verses largely appear to be ordered chronologically and regard activities taking place on day 6. However, some details also provide background based on God’s work before day 6. Some of what is described here occurred before Adam’s creation, even before the day of his creation. Events are also described regarding what took place with Adam before Eve was created and then what followed her creation. The passage is interrupted with some parenthetical comments regarding the area of pre-Flood Eden and then later with a statement about leaving one’s father and mother at the time of marriage.
As noted, the narrative in these verses focuses on the activities surrounding the creation of Adam followed by that of Eve. In doing so, at times the writer references events that took place prior to Adam’s creation. Therefore, in these instances the verbs should be understood as previous pasts and have been so translated.
These five verses provide additional details regarding Adam’s creation and his placement in the garden in Eden.
5 When no shrub of the field had yet been [qal imperfect] on the land and no plant of the field had yet sprouted up [qal imperfect] (for the LORD God had not caused it to rain [hiphil perfect] on the land, and there had been [supplied] no human being to work [qal infinitive] the ground, 6 and a mist had been going up [qal imperfect] from the land and had been watering [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] the entire surface of the ground), 7 then the LORD God formed [qal waw consecutive imperfect] the man of dust from the ground and breathed [qal waw consecutive imperfect] into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became [qal waw consecutive imperfect] a living creature.
In verses 5 and 6 several specific descriptions are given regarding the environmental conditions on the earth at the time Adam was created on day 6. First, there was “no shrub of the field.” And second, there was “no plant of the field.” These two notes indicate the nature of the landscape. Apparently, it was uninhabitable in that plants and shrubs and probably also trees were still just sprouting from the ground. Food needed to sustain the land animals and human beings was not yet available.
Three corollary facts are then mentioned. First, at this point there had been no rain on the land. We should not postulate, as have some, that it did not rain on the earth until the time of the Flood. While that could be the case, based on what is written here we can only conclude that it simply had not rained during this first week of creation. Second, human beings had not yet been created, so there was no one to work the ground. And third, “a mist had been going up from the land and had been watering” the ground. Again, we cannot know for how long after this account this continued to be the case.
As noted earlier, from the description given here it appears that plant life created earlier in the week before Man was created was as yet undeveloped; it was not mature. What we read here seems to be a description of what we might think of as a recently planted or recently seeded plot of ground.
In that environmental context, God “formed the man.” Here, in verse 7, we are given details not provided in chapter 1. Man was fashioned from “dust from the ground,” referring to Man’s visible, physical substance. Then God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,”[43] referring to Man’s invisible, spiritual substance.[44] As a result “the man became a living creature.” In one sense, Man too, like the animals created earlier, is a “living creature,” a creature having come from the hand of the creator God. However, Man, having been created in the image of his creator, is unique among living creatures.
8 Then the LORD God planted [qal waw consecutive imperfect] a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put [qal waw consecutive imperfect] the man whom he had formed [qal perfect]. 9 Thus out of the ground the LORD God had caused to grow [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] every tree that is pleasing [niphal participle] to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was [supplied] in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Apparently, because of the immature state of vegetation across the land at this point, it was necessary for God to specifically make a place for Adam, and later Eve, to live until the vegetation across the face of the land developed to the point where it could be used for food. This need would be true for the land animals as well.[45]
We are told that “the LORD God planted a garden.” I take this to mean that God took plants created earlier and placed them as he desired in the garden causing them to come to maturity immediately. I do not believe this “planting” is a separate creative/reconstructive act by God. What we have here is a miracle, perhaps like that at the time of Jonah when God caused the plant to grow rapidly as a shade for Jonah. I believe that the creation of Adam and Eve were God’s final, and ultimate, creating and making acts during the 6 days described in Genesis 1.
Here we learn of two important trees that God placed in the middle of the garden. One is designated “the tree of life” and the other “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”[46] Both trees are significant. The latter is mentioned again in this account of Adam’s creation when God gives an explicit command to Adam regarding that tree. Subsequently, both trees are mentioned in the account of Man’s fall.
Interestingly, the garden was “in the east, in Eden.” The reference is likely from an historical perspective, true at the time when the account was written. When God planted the garden on the newly refinished earth, there were no place names. At some point in time the area where the garden had been planted came to be called Eden. In writing this account, the author refers to that name since that is how others would know its location. The following verses provide some details about this location and the areas around it.
These five verses interrupt the account of God’s placing the man into the Garden of Eden before he created Eve. They serve to describe the setting of Eden itself, of the garden and areas around it. Present tenses used here are to reflect the pre-Flood situation. That is, when the account was originally written this was the current state of Eden. No such place existed after the Flood.
Apparently then, the descriptions here are of pre-Flood conditions and do not reflect the situation after the Flood. Some names here are identical to those found post-Flood. However, it would seem best to understand these names as the reuse of pre-Flood names to identify post-Flood rivers and lands. They refer to different rivers. For example, the Tigris and Euphrates are described here as having a common source, a river flowing out of Eden. After the Flood these two rivers do not have a common source.
10 (A river flows out [qal participle] of Eden to water [hiphil infinitive construct] the garden, and there it divides [niphal imperfect] and becomes [qal waw consecutive perfect] four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is [supplied] the Pishon. It is [supplied] the one that flows around [qal participle] the whole land of Havilah, where there is [supplied] gold. 12 And the gold of that land is [supplied] good; bdellium and onyx stone are [supplied] there. 13 The name of the second river is [supplied] the Gihon. It is [supplied] the one that winds through [qal participle] the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is [supplied] the Tigris, which runs along [qal participle] east of Assyria. And the fourth river is [supplied] the Euphrates.)
These verses are parenthetical, interrupting the storyline. The perspective of the descriptions here is some time post-Fall but before the Flood (which was more than 1600 years after Adam’s creation). These descriptions seem to reflect on the spread of Man from the area of the garden as the population on earth increased.
A passage like this may suggest that records written before the Flood were carried by Noah onto the Ark and eventually received by Moses, the author of the book of Genesis, who included the account unchanged, as it had been written. If this passage had been written after the Flood directly by Moses the descriptions would have required clarifications because of the pre-Flood versus post-Flood differences in topology (e.g., the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers).
The tenses of verbs in the various versions are mixed in these verses. I have adopted the present tense as used in the NETB. This is consistent with the idea that the passage was written pre-Flood when all these statements were still true and simply incorporated into the book of Genesis as Moses wrote it.
The fact that one river is the source of four subsequent rivers is not what we would normally expect today. We tend to think the opposite. A river flows from its source and is subsequently joined by other rivers from their sources as they combine and flow together to the sea. Perhaps the situation described here is an indication of pre-Flood topology around Eden.
These verses provide additional details regarding what happened with Adam when God “put” him in the garden. Here is recorded what appears to be the first commands given to Man, in this case to Adam alone. Subsequent commands to be fruitful, etc. were given to both Adam and Eve as recorded in 1:28‑30.
15 Then the LORD God took [qal waw consecutive imperfect] the man and put [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] him in the Garden of Eden to work [qal infinitive construct] it and keep [qal infinitive construct] it. 16 Then the LORD God commanded [piel waw consecutive imperfect] the man, saying [qal infinitive construct], “You may freely [“eat,” qal infinitive absolute] eat [qal imperfect] of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat [qal imperfect], for in the day that you eat [qal infinitive construct] of it you will surely [“die,” qal infinitive absolute] die [qal imperfect].”
Having planted a garden, God placed Adam there. He then gave Adam the task of working and keeping that garden.
God then gave Adam a command regarding what he may and may not eat in that garden. Chronologically, what is recorded here appears to have taken place prior to the gifting of food in chapter 1. There both Adam and Eve were present. These statements are addressed to Adam only. The second person verb forms are singular. With one exception, Adam, and subsequently Eve, could eat freely from every tree in the garden. The one exception was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” If Adam ate from that one tree God would bring judgment on him. Adam was told that that he would die and do so that very day.
Note the repeated verbs in the two phrases “you may freely eat” and “you will surely die.” The repeated verbs serve as emphasis.
This command directed by God to Adam begs the question of Adam’s, and subsequently Eve’s, understanding of concepts like good versus evil and life versus death. Surely Adam and Eve were created with a great deal of “working” knowledge. We must assume that when this command was given to Adam, he had sufficient knowledge to know what it meant even though he may not have fully understood the ramifications of disobeying it.
At this point in the storyline God has created Adam and placed him in the garden. God has also instructed and commanded him. But as a human being Adam is still alone. Eve has not yet been created. It seems that before God created a mate for Adam, he wanted him to see this lack. At this point the account continues with an “object lesson” for Adam and the subsequent creation of Eve.
18 Then the LORD God said [qal waw consecutive imperfect], “It is [supplied] not good for the man to be [qal infinitive construct] alone; I will make [qal imperfect] for him a complementary-to-him helper.”
God said, as if to himself, that Adam’s state of being alone was specifically not good[47] and that Adam needed a “complementary-to-him helper.” But before God took any action to remedy this situation, he evidently wanted Adam to understand this need as well.
Three characteristics are mentioned regarding the one God would make. The one made would be (1) for Adam, (2) complementary to Adam, and (3) a helper. God needed to resolve the “not good” situation for the male Adam. He would create someone “for Adam.” He would do so by creating a complement to Adam, in this case a female. The one God created would correspond in kind to Adam but would have different gender. And the one God would create would be a helper for Adam. This one would serve to assist Adam.[48]
19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed [qal waw consecutive imperfect] every animal of the field and every bird of the sky. And he brought [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] them to the man to see [qal infinitive construct] what he would call [qal imperfect] them. Then whatever the man called [qal imperfect] every living creature, that was [supplied] its name. 20 So the man gave names to [qal was consecutive imperfect] all cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field. But for Adam there was not found [qal perfect] a complement suitable for him.
Before Man’s creation God had created the land and sky animals of various kinds. This, no doubt, included both male and female for each kind. God caused these animal pairs to come to Adam to name. But in the process, surely Adam noticed that each animal kind had male and female complements. Furthermore, he no doubt came to realized that he did not have such a complement. There was no one like him. He was unaccompanied; and only he was unaccompanied.
21 Then the LORD God caused a deep sleep [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] to fall upon the man, and he slept [qal waw consecutive imperfect]. And he took [qal waw consecutive imperfect] one of his ribs and closed up [qal waw consecutive imperfect] its place with flesh. 22 So the rib which the LORD God had taken [qal perfect] from the man he made [qal waw consecutive imperfect] into a woman. And he brought [hiphil waw consecutive imperfect] her to the man.
Having completed the “object lesson” for the man Adam, God put him to sleep, performed surgery on him removing a rib, and from that rib created a woman, Eve. When Adam awoke, God brought to him the newly created woman.
The text does not use the word create here with reference to Eve. However, in 1:27 we read “male and female he created them.” Eve too, like Adam, was created.
23 Then the man said [qal waw consecutive imperfect], “This one at last is [supplied] bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called [niphal imperfect] ‘woman,’ because she was taken [qal passive perfect] out of a man.”
As a result of naming the animals perhaps Adam had come to yearn for a complement. Now he had one. Adam’s response, “at last,” may reflect his joy. He was no longer unaccompanied. Now, like the animals God had brought to him to name, he too had someone like himself. In fact, she is “a complementary-to-him helper” (1:18) who was of his own flesh and bones. Knowing that she had been taken from him, a man, Adam designated her “Woman.”
24 (Therefore, a man shall leave [qal imperfect] his father and his mother and be joined [qal waw consecutive perfect] to his wife; thus, they shall become [qal waw consecutive perfect] one flesh.)
The parenthetical statement recorded in verse 24 regarding “his father and his mother” is consistent with the fact that this account was written sometime after the Fall, when families had formed and had started reproducing. The timeframe for what is true in the next verse is pre-Fall and before Adam and Eve, who had no father or mother, had produced offspring and had become the first father and mother.
Like the parenthesis at 2:10-14 describing the setting of Eden, but unlike that of 2:4 marking a new account, this parenthetical statement may well be part of the original narrative.
25 And the two, the man and woman, were [qal waw consecutive imperfect] naked, but they were not ashamed [hithpael imperfect].
This final verse of chapter 2, which refers to “the man and woman,” provides additional details about the state of Adam and Eve as they lived before the Fall. They were naked. They were not ashamed. If this account (2:5-25) originated at the same time as the account in chapter 3, perhaps this statement was included to help set the context for the situation at the time of the Fall as recorded in that chapter. The lack of shame at being naked that Adam and Eve experienced before the Fall was different from the then present situation. The storyteller’s perspective is from a time when one would expect shame for living unclothed.
[37] From a storyline perspective the first three verses of chapter 2 are really the completion of the narrative of chapter 1. At verse 4 there is a break between the earlier account and the balance of chapter 2.
[38] Cited from NETB note on Genesis 2:1 in BibleWorks Version 10.
[39] The first part of Exodus 20:11 could be rendered, “For in six days the LORD made the sky and the land, the sea and all that is in them.” Here the “all that is in them” refers to those creatures populating the earth.
[40] See also Isaiah 43:7 where three different words refer to God’s creative activity.
[41] NETB, note on Genesis 2:3 (from BibleWorks 10).
[42] I would include 1:1-2 in the scope of this day since those verses are included in the account.
[43] Interestingly, the Hebrew word here translated life is a plural. I have followed the ESV, NIV, NASB, NETB, etc. in using a singular form. Note too that the LXX also translates this word as a singular.
[44] Consider Psalm 102:18 regarding the creation of the immaterial part of Man. See also Hebrews 12:9.
[45] If this was true for Adam and Eve, it may well have been true for the land animals as well. The animals God created earlier on day 6 may have been situated within the confines of the garden along with man. These animals were certainly there when Adam named them. Recall that the gifting of plant life for food for land animals and man occurred after Adam’s and Eve’s creation.
[46] God refers to this tree by name in 2:16.
[47] The “not good” situation here demonstrates that at various junctures in God’s working, namely when the particular state of something was not yet has he designed or intended, that state could not be deemed to be good.
[48] In saying that God would create a helper for Adam we must be careful not to imply more than the text says. The text does not exclude the idea that Adam would be a helper as well. The two complement each other not only in gender but also in their helping each other, albeit in different ways.