Genesis Part 4

Genesis 2:8-25 Part 4

Before proceeding in our study I want to revisit ch.1:28. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

This verse obliviously is God’s pronouncement of man’s dominion and subsequent earthly duties. Contrary to some, the term replenish is not referring to, as noted before, a catastrophic event which caused the earth to be destroyed and thus rebuilt or replenished.  Rather it simply refers to man’s responsibility to “restock” his food supply as he uses it, to keep from depleting its supply. Even when we examine the account of the flood in Noah’s day there is no record of Noah and his decedents planting the whole earth, to the contrary when the dove returned it held an olive branch, signifying that vegetation was already growing and thriving. Likewise Noah had a supply of animal from every species to replenish the earth in that regard.

Genesis 2:8 “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom He had formed.”

            As I read the text, God not only planted the whole earth with trees and vegetation, but He also planted a special garden in a particular locale, eastward in Eden. Wherever God had formed man He now places his in the special garden called Eden. god’s awesome power even has the ability to create and or make with the appearance of age. For instance trees are aged by their rings, however God created and planted them with “age rings” thus establishing the appearance of longevity. Adam was created and made as a fully grown, Mature man and not as an infant. These, and others, boggle the minds of evolutionists and many scientists.

Vs.9 “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.”

            Everything that grows is growing simply because God causes it to grow. God has made available food of all varieties for consumption by man. At this point there are no foods designated as off limits for man’s consumption. There are also two trees in the midst of the garden, tree of life and tree of knowledge of good and evil. The two trees represent freedom of choice given to man. While we are not told exactly what they looked like nor whether the fruit was apple, orange or some other variety. We simply do not know. What we do know is that there were only one of each tree in the garden, and that  there has never, in the history of mankind, been another tree found of like description; though many claim to have found the so called “fountain of youth”.[ascribing to man’s ability to become “ageless”. It is often asserted that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was an apple, but it is merely human speculation as Scripture is silent as to its exact description. All but a part of God’s awesomeness!

Eden’s location

Vs.10-14 “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 which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: and there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same encompasseth 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 Euphrates.”

            It the back of your Bibles should be a collection of maps. You should be able to locate the approximate location of the Garden of Eden, in what is called the Fertile Crescent, sometimes referred to as the “cradle of humanity or civilization”; the place where man was made from the dust of the earth.

            Depending on your source Eden’s location has been speculated to be in either of four locations;

1.    Southern Turkey or northern Iraq [as possibly described in Genesis 2:10]

2.    Kuwait [so designated by the reference in Daniel 10:4]

3.    Some scholars assert Eden’s location to be in Judea

4.    Lebanon is also a suspect site

            Although the geography has changed some after for flood in Noah’s day, the general location remains the same. Two of the ancient rivers are no longer evident but others remain.

1.    River Pison:  current name and location unknown. {Never mentioned again in Scriptures} a recently discovered dry river bed called “Fossil River” which runs from the eastern mountains of Saudi Arabia towards Kuwait.

2.    River Gihon: current name and location unknown. {Never mentioned again in Scriptures}. Compassed the whole land of Ethiopia which is the African land area west of the Red Sea and southward. This would place the river in the area of the Red Sea, or more accurately the Red Sea itself.

3.    River Hiddekel: modern name of Tigris, borders western Iraq. {Mentioned in Daniel 10:4, also called the great river}

4.    River Euphrates: only river to retain its original name, borders eastern Iraq.

Find the location in your Bible map section that shows the Persian Gulf region and the rivers Tigris on the west and the Euphrates on the east, going northward bordering on either side of Baghdad and Ninevah. Now go back to where the two rivers divide at the gulf and draw an imaginary line eastward to the Red Sea. This is the approximate location of the river Pison, discovered by satellite imagery, and is now an ancient dry river bed. Next draw another imaginary line through the Red Sea from north to south and you should fine the river Gihon. If these calculations are correct Eden should be located somewhere in the mountains of Kuwait. This hypothesis seems to fit the locale and is also the locale of Ethiopia or Africa.

Remember that a single river flowed out of Eden and then divided into four. Most rivers do not split into four, so this is unique. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers encompass modern day Iraq and merge into the Persian Gulf, which gives reason for some scholars to assign Eden to the region surrounding Kuwait, a mountainous area.

The good people at Answers in Genesis assert that the flood of Noah’s day was so cataclysmic that no river bed would have survived. Further that the names of Tigris and Euphrates rivers could be duplicates and the original rivers could have been anywhere in the world.

Author’s view: giving respect unto all views, I hold that the most plausible location, given biblical data, is most likely that area of Turkey or Lebanon. I further hold that since Moses is the “designated” author of Genesis, that God gave him the names and locations of the rivers and the details of their geographic locales, therefore making the approximate location more plausible. Regarding the Kuwait locale I dismiss it for several reasons the most prominent reason being that the natural direction of flow appears to be contrary to the Genesis account, and it appears to flow backward to nature. Eccl.1:7, “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return thither again”.

            Interestingly, the Genesis account does not give us the boundaries or of Eden; however it does give the boundaries and location of the four rivers.

Recalling as well that after man was driven out of the Garden of Eden God placed Cherubims and a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life, which accounts for the absence of exact location of the garden.

      In conclusion we cannot with any definite assurance, be positive, beyond a shadow of doubt, and assert the location of the Garden of Eden. There are too many variables, plus the question arises: What difference does it really make as to its current locale? I recall when Moses used the brazen serpent on the pole to heal the people; for years the pole was lost and when finally found the people worshipped it so that it had to be ground to powder 2Kings 18:4. Could this not also happen if the original location were positively identified? Not so long ago, people began to worship the burial shroud believed to be that of Christ. To be sure Eden’s location is a fascinating and tedious study, one which will never be answered with absolutely certainty.

Vs.15 “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.

            Having planted a garden God now transplants man, from wherever he was, to the Garden of Eden for two primary purposes:

1.    To dress it.

2.    To keep it.

Adam’s responsibility was to care for the garden. Interestingly he was not challenged, at least at this point, to keep the whole world. Just the Garden of Eden was quite a task in itself without the whole world to care for. Now man has the whole world to care for, however there has been a population explosion that the work load is more evenly distributed. His ultimate care for the whole world was related in ch.1:28. For man to be caretaker of the whole world implies that God fully expected for man to multiply 1:28.

Vs.16,17 “And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

            The garden, being man’s habitat, was fitted with all the necessities man need to not only survive but also to thrive. In it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The command that man should not eat was for the good of man, like the Ten Commandments given to Moses later.

            Once again the word day is found with the same meaning as before (yom) or a 24 hour day.  Therefore, although Adam did not physically die for years after he was cast out of the garden, yet he died immediately in three ways.

1.    He died spiritually and lost his communion and fellowship with the Lord God. now he was in need of a savior. Remember that he was cast out of the garden and Cherubims and a flaming sword were dispatched to keep the tree of life.

2.    He died morally and began to sin after being evicted from the garden. Note that his eviction was immediate as opposed to postponed.

3.    He died physically in the sense that sickness and disease now had entered his body. He was a walking dead man, doomed to return to the dust of the earth from whence he came.

Vs.18 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him.” This is the only place in creation whereas God says, It is not good. All of God’s creation was good, save that man was alone. He needed a helpmeet to complete his natural ability to procreate, have intimate fellowship and companionship. The animal kingdom could not possibly fulfill this need as only man was made in God’s image [see previous study].

Vs.19 “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.

 Let [1:3-27] also speaks of God’s wisdom in planning the universe, [Ps.104:24; Pr.3:19; Jer.10:12-13], while ch.2:7 & 19 are the actual physical actions of the creator: For in vs.7 God forms man from the dust of the earth; vs.19 God forms every beast of the field and fowl of the air from the ground. We also see that only the man was given the task of naming every species if animal and fowl, as the woman had not yet been formed.

Vs.20-23 “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 an helpmeet for him. 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 thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, He made a woman, and brought her unto the man. 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 mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

            It was Adam who named all the cattle, and fowl of the air and every beast of the field. The end statement of vs.20 is the first time God declared something not to be good—there was not a mate for Adam. Adam needed a companion, someone to be intimate with, to communicate with, to have children with [ in response to God’s proclamation to be fruitful and multiply ch.1:28]. None of the animal kingdom, aquatic kingdom, of fowl kingdom was suitable for Adam’s most personal needs. Therefore God, in His infinite wisdom made a woman from Adam’s rib.

Four ways God made humans

1.    Gen. 2:7 from the dust of the earth

2.    Gen. 2:22-23 took a rib from man and made a woman

3.    Gen. 4:1-2 Adam and Eve had sexual intimacy and she conceived and gave birth

4.    Matt. 1:20-23 immaculate conception—virgin birth—Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary and she conceived

Vs. 24-25 The sanctity of marriage is instituted. Notice it is Adam who pronounces the decree of marriage vs.23:

·         When a man and woman unite they are to leave their parents to begin life anew becoming one flesh.

·         Both were naked without shame [it was before the fall and before she had given birth. Nakedness between husband and wife is good and brings no shame.

·         The law of first mention, though unwritten, mentions only male and female being recognized in marriage.

·         Marriage is honorable when properly administered. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Heb.13:4. Whoremongers and adulterers are those who unite outside of God’s established boundaries. See 1Cor. 6:15-16

Faith Building Practice and Review

1.    Who named all the cattle and beast and fowl?

2.    Where was Adam’s wife when he named them?

3.    If Adam was made from the dust—where did his wife come from?

4.    Who pronounced the sanctity of marriage?

5.    Briefly describe the sanctity of marriage.

6.    How many ways did God use to make man? List them.

7.    What is the exact locale of the Garden of Eden?

8.    Why don’t we know where Eden is located today? 3 reasons.

9.    What does Let refer to?

10.  In your own personal study give 3 reasons why you believe in a particular location of Eden over another.