1The first sabbath. 4The manner of the creation. 8The planting of the garden of Eden. 10The river, and its four heads. 15Man is placed in Eden, and the tree of knowledge only forbidden. 18The naming of the creatures. 21The making of woman, and institution of marriage.
1THUS the 1heavens and the earth were finished, and 2all the host of them.
1 That is the air, heaven, sun, moon and stars, together with the third heaven, and the inhabitants thereof, the holy angels, as also they are termed the host of heaven, 1 Kings 22:19. Compare Gen. 1:1.
2 The creatures, comprehended in heaven and earth, are called an host, not only by reason of their great multitude and diversity, their exact order, and singular luster; but also for that they are all supported, and governed by God as their Commander General, and must always stand ready at His service. Also Psalm 103:21; Isa. 45:12.
2Anda on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 3rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
a Exod. 20:11; 31:17; Deut. 5:14; Heb. 4:4.
3 Spoken of God after the manner of men; for He is said here to have rested, not as being wearied with working, but only for having ceased to create any new kinds of things; seeing that He works still hitherto in the maintaining and governing of what He created, Isa. 40:28; John 5:17.
3And God 4blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and 5made.
4 That is, God has exalted it above the other days, and made the same more excellent. Compare the word blessed with Gen. 24:31. The excellence consists in the use, which is intimated by the word following, sanctify, which implies the separation of something from a common to an holy use. Also Exod. 13:2; Lev. 8:10; Num. 7:1; 1 Kings 8:64, etc.
5 That is, to agree unto such uses and purposes suitable to God’s wisdom to arrange in the most graceful and skillful manner according to everyone’s kind as they now are. Other, which God had made creating.
4¶These are 6the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that 7the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
6 That is, the original sources or beginnings. Compare Psalm 90:2 with the annotation.
7 After the completion of the work of creation, the Name of JEHOVAH is here first of all attributed to God, signifying One Self-existing, Self-subsisting, Self-being, being from eternity to eternity, and the primordial or original Cause of the essence of all things; wherefore also this Name is attributed to none but to the true God alone. Observe here once for all: wherever you find hence forward the word LORD written in capital letters, that there in the Hebrew text stands the word JEHOVAH, or the shorter form JAH.
5And every plant of the field 8before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field 9before it grew: 10for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to tillb the ground.
8 Namely, before their creation, when they had no being yet.
9Namely, before their creation, when they had no being yet.
10 The meaning is, that God had made the plants, as herbs, bushes, trees to come forth out of the earth on the third day in the creation, merely by His almighty word, without any means, of either the rain of the air, or the labor of man, that were not existent yet.
b cultivate*
611But there went up 12a mist from the earth, and watered 13the whole face of the ground.
11 Namely, now, or after that; for Moses now relates the ordinary means appointed by God in nature, for the bringing forth of herbs, bushes and trees out of the earth, namely, the mist, which causes the rain and moistens the earth.
12 Which, being drawn up out of the water and the earth through the heat of the sun, ascends into the middle region of the air, where by means of the coldness thereof it is turned into clouds, and thence afterwards unlocks again and becomes rain, whereby the earth then comes to be moistened.
13 Hebr. the whole face of the earth.
7And the LORD God 14formed man 15of thec dust of the ground, 16and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a 17livingd soul.
14 Or, shaped, or fashioned, namely, as a potter forms some vessel out of clay; as Isa. 45:9; Rom. 9:20, 21. Understand this in regard of the body of man.
15 Hebr. dust out of the earth.
c 1 Cor. 15:47.
16 This is said of God after the manner of men, and shows us that the soul of man is not created out of any precedent matter, like the souls of beasts, Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, but put into him from without, out of nothing, through the Spirit of God.
17 That is, unto a creature, endued with life, consisting of a body, and a rational immortal soul, together making up man.
d 1 Cor. 15:45.
8¶And the LORD God 18planted 19a garden 20eastward in 21Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
18 Namely, on the third day of creation, before man was created.
19 Namely, the paradise, or garden of pleasures, which God had appointed for man’s habitation.
20 Hebr. from the East, or out of the East, that is to say, in the eastern part of Eden, or eastward from the place where Moses was in writing this.
21Eden is the name of a region in Thelasar the upper part of Chaldee, as may be seen 2 Kings 19:12, and it is distinguished from another Eden, situated by Damascus in Syria, whereof see Amos 1:5. The Hebrew word eden signifies a pleasure, delight, recreation. Thus this land is called, by reason of the beauty, pleasantness, and excellency of it, as the same appears by the next verse of this chapter, as also from Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 28:13; 31:16, 18.
9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and 22good for food; thee tree 23of life also in the midst of the garden, and the 24tree of knowledge of good and evil.
22 Understand this of the fruit of the trees.
e Rev. 2:7.
23 That is, a sign of life, signifying that man had received life from God, and would preserve, if he would continue in his obedience, until it would please God to take him up into His celestial immortality.
24 Thus called, for that man by eating thereof would find (or has found) experientially, what good he was to forfeit, and into what evil he was to fall thereby.
10And 25a river went 26out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became 27into four heads.
25 Some are of the opinion that this is to be understood of the river Euphrates, which springs forth out of the mountains of Great Armenia, mixing itself afterwards with the river Hiddekel or Tigris, from which thereafter the two other rivers (Pison and Gihon) do divide themselves, etc. But the proper and exact position of these rivers is somewhat uncertain now, and much diversity of opinions is felt among the learned about them.
26 See the annotations on verse 8. It ran through Eden, unto, in, and through the garden, that was situated in the land of Eden.
27 That is, main streams, main rivers, main waters. The word heads implies here the sources of these four rivers.
11The name of the first is 28Pison: that is it which 29compasseth the whole land of 30Havilah, where there is gold;
28 Hebr. Pischon. This name occurs nowhere else in the Holy Scriptures but here. It is an arm of the river Euphrates, falling as some perceive into Tigris beneath Apamea, and from there into the Persian Sea, surnamed by the inhabitants thereabouts Pasitigris, or Pisotigris.
29 Hebr. is running about.
30 Hebr. Chavila. This is the name of a country, differently called (according to the conjecture of some learned men) Susiana, from Shushan the metropolis, whereof see Esther 1:2; Dan. 8:2. See likewise of another Havila, Gen. 25:18, 1 Sam. 15:7.
12And the gold of that land is good: there is 31bdellium and the 32onyx stone.
31 This some hold to be the name of a certain tree; others take it to denote a precious stone, Num. 11:7, the color of manna is likened to that of bdellium.
32 Hebr. schoham, the name of a precious stone, whereof there are likewise various opinions. This name is likewise found Exod. 25:7; 28:9, Ezek. 28:13, etc.
13And the name of the second river is 33Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of 34Ethiopia.
33 Hebr. Gichon, called by the inhabitants, as some do write, Nahar-sares.
34 Hebr. Cush. This word comprises rightly Ethiopia, Arabia, and the whole tract of land towards the South in general, but here particularly Arabia deserta, bordering upon Chaldee.
14And the name of the third river is 35Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of 36Assyria. and the fourth river is 37Euphrates.
35 Hebr. Chiddekel. This properly is the river Tigris, Dan. 10:4, having as yet the name of Diglats, or Tiglats, as some do write, but here it is an arm of the Euphrates, running into the river of Tigris, and therefore also called Tigris.
36 Hebr. Aschschur. This is Assyria, called Asshur, named after Asshur, the son of Shem, Gen. 10:22.
37 Understand the principal arm of the river Euphrates, which, for being very great, retains the name of the entire river. Of this river see Gen. 15:18, Deut. 1:7; Jer. 13:4.
15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dressf it and to keep it.
f prepare for use*
16And the LORD God 38commanded 39the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden 40thou mayest freely eat:
38 Hebr. commanded to, or over the man.
39 Namely, both male and female; see Gen. 3:1-3.
40 Hebr. eating shalt thou eat. This manner of speaking, where one verb is doubled thus, is very frequent in Holy Scripture, and serves to sharpen attention, to add special weight and efficacy to the expression,, suitably to the matter treated of: so also in the next verse, as well in Gen 3:4, 16; 17:13; 18:18; Joshua 24:10; Jer. 23:17 etc.
17But 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 41die.
41 Hebr. dying thou shalt die. Understand here a threefold death: 1. the corporal, together with all manner of preceding miseries; 2. the spiritual death of the soul; 3. the everlasting death, of body and soul together.
18¶And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet 42for him.
42 Or, before him; or, over against him, that is, one that may be always like him in his presence, well liking to him, and ready still to serve and succor him; and so below verse 20.
19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and 43brought them 44unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every 45living creature, 46that was the name thereof.
43 Or, made them come.
44 Differently, to the man, and so in the sequel.
45 See Gen. 1:20.
46 Or, that became, or, was its name.
20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but 47for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
47 Namely, for himself.
21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and 48closed up the flesh instead thereof;
48 Namely, for, or instead of the rib He had taken forth from him, He made flesh, wherewith He closed the gap again.
22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken fromg man, 49made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
g 1 Cor. 11:8.
49 A comparison taken from the building of an house by a special master builder, for a worthy use and design.
23And Adam said, 50This is now boneh of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
50 Or, Now is there, etc., that is, now at length I have gotten a companion like myself, which I sought previously, but found not.
h Mal. 2:14; Eph. 5:30, 31.
24Thereforei shall a man 51leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: andj they shall be one flesh.
i Mat. 19:5; Mark 10:7; Eph. 5:31.
51 This does not take away the love and honor we owe unto our parents, but it makes distinction between the manner of cohabitation, and the strictness of the engagement.
j 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:28, 29.
25And they were both naked,k the man and his wife, and 52were not ashamed.
k Gen. 3:7.
52 By reason of their perfection and innocence, whereby they saw nothing dishonorable in their bodies, nor had any unclean motions in their souls.