Genesis Lesson 3
GOD PLANTED THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Genesis 2:4-25
Key Verse 2:16,17
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from
any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’"
God created everything, including man, in chapter 1. Today’s passage is a detailed examination of God’s creation of man. After God created man, he planted the Garden of Eden for him. The Garden of Eden is a paradise, the Utopia people long for. Throughout human history people have gone to great efforts to try to build Utopia, but no one has been able to. There has never been anything close to paradise in human history. Thus, the word “Utopia” has become a word that refers to something impossible to bring about. The reason people have not been able to build paradise is that men lost paradise. They lost it because of their sin. The Bible, however, begins with paradise and ends with the restoration of paradise. The purpose of Jesus’ coming is also to restore paradise, which is the kingdom of God for men.
Through today’s passage we will examine what the Garden of Eden was. We also want to know who the God was who planted the Garden of Eden for man. The word Eden means “delight” and “joy.” So the Garden of Eden is the garden of delight, happiness and pleasure. When we look at the garden we can know what true happiness is for man. Everyone pursues happiness, but most people do not know what true happiness is. They do not know how to get it. So they keep on trying to find it. Today’s passage teaches us what makes man truly happy and how we can enjoy this happiness.
The Breath of Life from God (4-7)
Verse 4 reads, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” The expression “This is the account of…” appears 10 times in Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2), leading us into the following passage. The God who appears in Genesis 1:1-2:3 is Elohim, the Almighty God. But beginning with Genesis 2:4, God’s name changes to “The Lord God,” which is the same as Jehovah. The word Jehovah means “I am who I am” (Ex 3:14) or “The Perfect One” or “The Redeemer.” The name “Jehovah” appears 6,823 times in the Old Testament. Whenever a man spoke the name “Jehovah,” he would bathe and pray and write it with new ink, out of a reverent fear of God. The Israelites did not pronounce the word “Jehovah,” although they wrote it. They used the word “Lord,” Adonai, when they wanted to refer to God. Genesis 2:4-6 describes the earth before man was created. No shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain onto the earth and there was no man to work the ground. Only streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground (5,6). The world was waiting for man. It was at this point that God created man.
God created man from the dust of the earth. This shows that man does not have any intrinsic physical value, because he was created from the dust of the earth. The chemical elements of earth, such as oxygen, nitrogen and calcium, are the same as those of a man’s body. 1 Corinthians 15:47a reads, “The first man was of the dust of the earth.” Because man was created from dust, he returns to dust when he dies (Ge 3:19). We cannot be proud, because we are like the dust of the earth (Ge 18:27). God has compassion on us because he remembers that we are dust (Ps 103:13,14).
Man is beautiful and marvelous above all animals. Animals crawl on four legs and look at the ground. But man stands on his two feet and can stare at the sky with vision. With his two hands he plays the piano, plays basketball, and types on a computer keyboard. There is nothing that he cannot do with his two hands. Man is superior to all other animals. His head displays a harmonious distribution of eyes, mouth, ears, and nose. His brain can receive 4 billion stimuli in one second and process them. When we look at man’s DNA, his immune system and all of the functions of his body and mind, we are awestruck. Man is a mysterious being. God created man in a marvelous way through his unlimited wisdom. As King David said in Psalm 139:13 and 14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” But no matter how well-made man is, he is nothing but the dust of the earth if he has not received the breath of life from God. Man was only a lump of dust of the ground, but God breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils; it was at this point that man became a living being, a living soul. Here we learn that life comes only from life. And there is no one except the Creator God who exists by himself. Therefore, life comes from God. The breath of life refers to God’s life. Man, who is dust of the earth, needs the breath of life from God. If a man does not have the breath of life from God, he is as good as dead. Ezekiel chapter 37 describes a vast amount of dry bones. When the breath of God enters into them they become a vast army.
Here we learn two important truths. First of all, man has body and soul. Man is created from the dust of the earth and therefore he has a body. Because he has a body he needs to eat and drink and get proper rest and sleep and exercise. But at the same time man has a soul, so he cannot be satisfied with physical satisfaction. His spiritual needs must also be met in order for him to be happy. His spiritual need is to eat spiritual food and have fellowship with God. By having fellowship with God, man can receive life from God and enjoy eternal life.
Secondly, the source of man’s life is God. Life is mysterious. Because man has life, he can think, act, plan, hate, love and rebel. If he does not have life, he cannot do anything. Where, then, does man’s life come from, and where does life go? Many scientists have wondered about the origin of life, but have not been able to find it. They conclude that life came from somewhere mysterious. They end up only talking about the details of everyday life. When man does not know the origin of his life he does not know the meaning of his life, and he wanders around aimlessly. But the Bible reveals that the origin of our life is God. John 1:4a reads, “In him was life.” Our life comes from God and it goes back to God. Our life is not given to us by our parents. God gives us our life through our parents. Therefore, our lives belong to God. God is the owner of our lives; we are only their stewards.
When we know that God is the owner of our lives, our attitude towards our life is changed completely. Since people think that their lives are theirs, they live as they want. But when they know that their lives are not theirs but God’s, and they are only stewards of their lives, they cannot live their lives according to their desires. They become sincere about their lives. That is God’s will when he gives us our lives. Through our lives, God wants us to bear much fruit, the fruit of life, and reveal God’s glory. When we use our lives not for God’s glory but for our selfish, sinful desires, we commit a terrible sin against God. Luke 12:16-21 describes a foolish rich man. After acquiring great wealth, the rich man said to himself, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But what did God say to him? “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Because our lives are God’s, we should use them for God. Then there is meaning and joy in our lives.
When we know that God is the owner of our lives, we can entrust our lives to God. When we believe that our lives are ours, we have to be responsible for our lives. When we try to be responsible for our lives, we become fearful and suffer from all kinds of anxiety. When we try to be responsible not only for our lives but also for the lives of our children and parents, we groan under the huge burden. But because God is the owner of our lives, we can entrust our lives to him and be happy. We can entrust the lives of our children and parents to God as well. Then we can work hard for the mission of God.
A Holy Command (8-17)
First, the external environment of the Garden of Eden (8-14). God created man according to his image and he was very pleased with him. He wanted man to live happily. So, what did God do for man? See verse 8: “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” Existentialists define man as a “thrown being.” Because of this, all kind issues of loneliness, lost identity, and isolation appear to man. But the truth is that God did not throw man and leave him alone. After he created man he planted a garden in Eden for him. God created the world and it was very good in his eyes. Yet God did more: he planted a garden in Eden for man. The garden in Eden has rivers, all kinds of trees and fruits, and beautiful stones. The word Eden means “delight,” “joy” and “happiness.” God loved man so much that he planted a delightful garden, a garden of happiness and a garden of joy, for man. God has a deep concern for man’s happiness.
In the garden, the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Many fruits are good for food but they are not pleasing to the eye. But the fruits in Eden were good for food and pleasing to the eye. They were very nutritious and smelled wonderful, so man did not have to worry about what to eat.
Furthermore, in the middle of the garden there were two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two trees were essential for the Garden of Eden. If man ate from the tree of life, he could live forever. It would prevent him from growing old (Ge 3:22). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil would give the foundation of moral judgment, the ability to distinguish good from evil. Before the Fall, man knew good. But he did not know evil. If a man disobeyed God’s command he would immediately experience evil and go astray. God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden because evil existed. Whenever Adam looked at the tree, he could know that obedience was good and disobedience was evil. God put the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden because he loved man so much.
Verses 10-14 give the names of the four rivers that had their sources in the Garden of Eden. They are the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Rivers are the foundation of human civilization. Rivers sprang from the garden and watered the whole land. Because of the water, the garden was full of life. This shows that the garden was a source of blessings. There were beautiful precious stones in the land. The gold of that land was good and there were aromatic resins and onyx. There were beautiful rivers in the garden, and the water was teeming with all kinds of fish. Many kinds of beautiful flowers were there, and their fragrant smell filled the air. In the garden, the wolf lived with the lamb, the leopard lay down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling lived together, and a little child could lead them. An infant could play near a cobra hole, and a young child could put his hand into a viper's nest. There was no harm or destruction (Isa 11:6-9a). There were no tears, sorrow, pain or death (Rev 21:4). There was no competition or survival of the fittest. There was no air pollution and no global warming. There was no threat of an atomic bomb. The garden was full of abundance, beauty, light and freedom. True love, light, peace and grace were there to the fullest extent. There was only joy and thanks and praise. The garden was full of God’s light, because the earth was full with the knowledge of the Lord, just as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9b). Nothing was lacking in the Garden of Eden.
The Garden of Eden actually existed on earth. When the flood destroyed everything on earth, the garden was destroyed and everything in the garden was changed (2Pe 3:6). But God prepared a new heaven and earth for those who were saved. It is the kingdom of heaven. Revelation chapters 21 and 22 show the holy Jerusalem for all believers who have been redeemed. The city shines with the glory of God and its brilliance is like that of a very precious jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. The walls are made of jasper and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls are decorated with every kind of precious stone. The great street of the city is of pure gold, like transparent glass. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. On each side of the river stands the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. In such a paradise, those who are redeemed by Jesus will rule together with Jesus. The garden has everything external. But in order to become a true paradise, the garden needed an inner environment.
Second, the inner environment of the Garden of Eden (15-17). Read verse 15: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Here, “to work and take care of it” means to manage the garden. It does not mean to protect it from outside enemies, but to take care of it and cultivate it in beauty and harmony. Once we see this, we can understand that the garden was not a place of laziness and feasting but a place where man had to work hard for the Lord. God did not put Adam into the Garden of Eden for him to be lazy. Just to eat and drink and enjoy is not a happy life. It is the happiness of sick men. True happiness comes from working hard for the Lord. The Lord God gives man his mission so that man may work hard.
God not only gave Adam the mission of taking care of the garden, but also gave him a holy command to guide his life. See verses 16 and 17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’" Here God first gives men unlimited freedom. God did not give Adam a menu for his food. Rather, he said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.” The freedom Adam was given included the freedom to eat the tree of life and live forever. Therefore, this freedom was almost unlimited freedom. God could have created man as a sort of robot that could only obey God. But God is a personal being, and he created man as a personal being, allowing man to serve God out of gratitude and joy. Despite the possibility of man’s corruption, God gave man the gift of free will. Man is human because he has free will. Love becomes complete when it is mutual. One-sided love is not complete love. In addition, love should be given voluntarily. A robot cannot love the man who made it. If a man truly loves God he must make a choice to love God, moved by the love of God. If Adam had the freedom to love God by choice, he could also choose not to love God. God gave man free will even though he knew that man could reject his love.
God’s command not to eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a kind of contract to test man’s free will. The command was given not to bind man but to make man’s freedom true freedom; for if a man obeys God by choice, his obedience is true obedience. That is why freedom and restriction should coexist. Prohibition without freedom is submission, and freedom without restriction is self-indulgence. God gave Adam the freedom either to obey him or disobey him. If he obeys God, there will be life. If he disobeys God, however, there will be death. Man had every reason to obey God and he had no reason not to obey him because God loved him so much that he provided him with everything he needed. If man does not doubt the love of God and loves God from his heart, to obey God’s command will be very easy. The expression of love is obedience. Jesus said to his disciples, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (Jn 14:15). If man abuses his freedom and disobeys God, he will experience evil. Evil is to refuse God’s will and rebel against God. To disobey God’s command means to participate in evil and experience evil. If one experiences evil, a barrier will appear between God and oneself, because God is utterly good, all the time. If a man disobeys God, he will depart far from God and the relationship of love with God will be broken. This means death to man. Separation from God means death, and this includes physical death. As soon as man disobeys God, the power of corruption and death begin to work in his body.
God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil established a spiritual order for man’s happiness. God is the Creator and man is a creature. In the blessed environment of the garden, man could easily forget about God and do what he wanted. The reason God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden was to help man to remember the Creator God and love him and obey him with his whole heart and mind and will. Obedience through the tree was the order established by God. Genesis 1:27 is the word that establishes order between man and all other living creatures. Genesis 2:17 is the word that establishes spiritual order between God and man. If a creature breaks the order, it dies. If a man disobeys God, he will also die. Life and freedom were given only within God’s creation order. Therefore the command was the word of life to Adam.
God did not give the command as something relative. It was an absolute command. He said, “You must not eat . . . you will surely die.” God’s command was the command that gave life direction for man. Man is not perfect and therefore he needs absolute direction in his life. If Adam had held on to God’s command, he could have enjoyed all the happiness in Eden. If he had not had the command, he would have been like a drifting ship and would have lost all the blessings of the garden. If there had been no holy command of God in Eden, the garden would not have been paradise. If we want paradise in our hearts, we should have one absolute command of God that establishes spiritual order between God and us. Martin Luther fully dedicated himself to monastic life, the effort to do good works to please God and to serve others through prayer for their souls. Yet peace with God escaped him. He devoted himself to fasts, flagellations, long hours in prayer and pilgrimages, and constant confession. The more he tried to do for God, it seemed, the more aware he became of his sinfulness. Finally, through the study of Romans, he came to believe that salvation is a gift of God's grace, received by faith, not by works. He held on to Romans 1:17: “The righteous will live by faith”, which became the word of life to him. St. Augustine lived a sexually immoral life for a long time. Then he grasped Romans 13:12-14: “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Romans 13:12-14 gave Augustine the light of life and changed him from the lustful Augustine to Saint Augustine. Therefore, we should hold on to the word of God’s holy command in any given situation. Then we can live a powerful life and enjoy paradise in our hearts.
God Established the Family (18-25)
The Garden of Eden did not lack anything, inwardly or outwardly. But there was something that was not good in God’s eyes. It was for Adam to be alone. The expression “not good” does not mean “bad” but rather “incomplete.” Every animal has male and female. But Adam did not have a companion. At the first annual festival of the celebration of the Garden of Eden, every animal came as a pair and danced, but the master Adam did not have a companion. Because of this, God had a sense that something was missing, and decided to create a suitable helper. What God did shows that we should not worry about our marriage. When we give ourselves fully to the mission from God, he takes care of our marriage when his time comes. Verses 19 and 20 show how Adam performs his mission from God with God-given creative intelligence. Adam watched each animal carefully and then gave it a name. Adam must have been happy to see that the animals were happy after receiving their names. However, it was too much for him to take care of all of the animals alone, and it was not good for him to be alone in the sight of God. Animals could not become Adam’s companions because they were not created in the image of God, thus they could not have an inner fellowship with Adam. Adam needed someone who was created in the image of God and who could think, pray, understand, love and become a friend to him. Then God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and made a woman from his rib. Why did God create woman not from the dust of the earth but from the rib of Adam? It was because God wanted man and woman to know that they are “one body and flesh” and that they should serve God with one mind and body. When the Lord God brought the woman to Adam, Adam was happy, and exclaimed, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” In Hebrew, the word “man” is ish and the “woman” who was created from man is called isha. The meaning of the word for man is “strong one” and the meaning of the word for woman is “meek one.” Here we can learn two important truths.
The first truth is the Biblical view regarding woman. God created woman as a suitable helper for man. To help does not mean to cook and clean and do laundry like a maid. It means to help man to serve God’s mission. To help does not mean woman is below man. It means to help man in an equal position. God created woman from the rib of man. He did not make woman from something of Adam’s head or something from Adam’s foot. It means he did not create woman to rule over man or to be abused by him. He created woman to be equal with man by creating her from man’s rib. Furthermore, in order that she be protected by man, he created woman from a rib that is protected by man’s arm. In order that she be loved by man, woman was created from a rib, because a rib is near a man’s heart. In this way, the woman is equal to man but has different functions. In order for there to be order in the family, the wife should submit herself to her husband (Eph 5:22). Woman’s mission is to help man. Men have big mouths but they are incomplete because they lack one rib. Women should make up for the part men lack. God gave woman a sensitive, soft and meek character to discharge the mission of helping man. Therefore, even if a man has many flaws, a woman should help him to take his position as a history maker and create a good environment for him to grow in. If a woman tries to rule over her husband or tries to be loved by him she makes him sick, and she becomes miserable as well. Often, women think that their life is determined by their husbands and try to choose a good husband. But the opposite is true. Depending upon how a woman helps a man, his future is determined. When a wife helps her husband to be a history maker and prays for him to grow, he will be a great man of God. In this way, the mission given to woman is very important and noble.
The second truth is the Biblical concept of marriage. God established marriage based on a mission. So marriage is not given to us in order to fulfill our sexual desires but to fulfill God’s mission. Whatever God joins is holy. That is why people should not divorce. Divorce is rebellion against God’s sovereignty and is the great sin of dividing one body. Divorce is common, and the reason is that people marry in order to satisfy their sinful desires instead of serving their mission from God. We may think that we should at least marry someone whom we like. But we must at least marry someone according to God’s will. Only then can we lay the foundation of happiness. The union between a man and a woman is a mysterious union that produces not only physical children but also spiritual children. That is the reason why the Apostle Paul said, “’For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery” (Eph 5:31,32a).
Consider verse 24: “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Husband and wife complement each other, physically, mentally and spiritually. When a man marries, he leaves his parents and he and his wife become an independent unit. Here, the word “united” does not mean physical union alone. It includes spiritual union and the union of personality. In order to be united in this way, they should have one mind and will. They should have the same faith, the same life direction, the same goal and the same hope. See verse 25: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” This verse shows the ultimate happiness in the garden, where there is no shame or self-consciousness. Marriage is the Garden of Eden within the Garden of Eden.
So far we have learned what the Garden of Eden was and who the God is who planted the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was the place where God ruled. In the Garden of Eden God had absolute sovereign authority, and the absolute creation order ruled. There, God’s love and the grace of God existed to the fullest possible extent. All parts of Eden revealed God’s love and grace. The Garden of Eden was full of God’s life and the knowledge of God, and the word of God was there to the fullest extent. In one word, the entire garden was full of God’s glory. God is the Sovereign Creator. But at the same time he is full of love and grace.
We can learn the secret of man’s happiness and how we can enjoy happiness from the garden. The beautiful environment of Eden did not create paradise. There are many places in the world where there is an environment similar to that in Eden, but we do not call them paradise. Sodom and Gomorrah, which Lot chose, looked beautiful, but they were full of sin and corruption. The fact that Eden was paradise came from the very fact that God ruled it. Eden became Eden when God ruled. If there is no rule of God, all places will be hell, even if we have everything there; but if we are ruled by God, we are in paradise, even if we are in an unfavorable environment and are undergoing trials. All men and families and societies that are ruled by God can experience paradise. There is always thanks and praise to God if any individual or family or gathering accepts God and is ruled by him. They will be full of God’s grace and love. But those who rebel against God are full of trouble and distress. Those who do not put God first in their hearts but live according to the cravings of sinful men, the lust of their eyes and the boasting of what they have and do, will be full of trouble and distress. The typical evidence of God’s absence is sexual immorality, corruption and violence, as in the times of Noah. Therefore, if we want true happiness, we should accept God in the center of our hearts and be ruled by him. If God is at the center of our hearts and rules us, we are happy, and our family life is full of meaning and joy. So let us love our God with all our hearts and mind and strength and will. And eagerly desire the word of God and struggle to obey the word of God. Then we will automatically enjoy true freedom and ultimate happiness. We praise God who planted the Garden of Eden for man’s happiness.