Genesis 2:16-17 One Simple Commandment

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But 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 die."

One simple commandment, don’t eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. As you read this, please keep in mind that G-d directly commands Adam, not Eve. Eve has not been created. Is this important? Never know. Just keep it in mind. Also, notice that the tree of life was not included in this commandment. Adam and Eve enjoyed a life free of death. They would have lived forever.

Back to the tree of good and evil. Was it a tree that would automatically give the eater knowledge of good and evil? I don’t believe so. It was simply an object lesson. Pure and simple, once someone was commited to eat of the tree, they would have, with fore thought and contemplation, disobeyed G-d and that is what evil is, disobeying G-d.

Genesis 2:10-2:15: And a river went out of Eden

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”

The river came from Eden, going eastward, and flowed into the garden. After it left the garden, it split into four separate rivers. As a side note, it must be mentioned that the Word of God never says that Eden was a land. It could be a body of water, even though I believe it to be land. But I could be wrong.

“The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth 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.”

Ancient records show the rivers are Tigris, The Nile and Red Sea, Ganges and Indus in India and the Euphrates. Unfortunately, we live in a post flood world. The flood dramatically changed the landscape but we are looking for a river that fed all four. I hate to say the obvious, but we are still looking.

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

It is interesting to note that most everyone would say that they envision Adam being created from the dust of the garden. That’s not what the bible says. G-d took Adam and put him into the garden. If Adam was created from the garden, it would have been phrased differently. Adam was created out of the dust of the primordial earth and place in the garden, in order to take care of it.

At this moment, it was either the end of the second day or part way through the third.

Genesis 2:9-10: Where is the garden?

“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. “

Keep in mind that this was before herbs and the trees…most likely on the third day. At this time, G-d made to grow every tree that is pleasant to look upon and that was good for food. These were only fruit trees, ones that would be able to sustain life. And in the center of the garden was the infamous tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The garden was a paradise in the midst of primordial earth. Outside there was nothing, no trees, no life as we know it.

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”

There is a distinction that needs to be made here. A river from Eden went out of Eden to water the garden. Think about it. The water that fed the garden came from a land called Eden, but the garden was not in Eden. So why do we call it the Garden of Eden.? G-d continues to call it the Garden of Eden through his word. Before we go any further, we must revisit verse 2:8.

“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden…”

If you look at the Hebrew, you’ll find that the word “in” isn’t there. Instead we find the words “min-nee”, which means “out of”. The verse should read,

“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward out of Eden…”

With that said, God planted a garden, a paradise east of Eden, which was watered by one river from the Land of Eden. It may have been attached to Eden, or adjacent to Eden, but G-d wanted us to know it was not part of Eden. The question that I ponder and ask anyone who reads this is, "Why would G-d want us to associate the garden with the land of Eden.?" Nothing is in the Bible that does not have a reason. Our mission is to explore his word to find out and gain a more intimate knowledge of our creator.

As the river leaves this garden just to the east of Eden, it splits into four separate rivers, which we will discuss next time.

Genesis 2:6-8: But there went up a mist from the earth

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Let’s look at what this chapter is saying so far. In verses 1-3, G-d has finished the creation process and he rested on the seventh day. In verses 4 and 5, we see the births of man. As we discussed previously, man was created on the sixth day. They were told to be fruitful and to multiply. That….we will call birth #2. For here in Genesis 2, we have a birth of a man that was before day six. I believe it was day three because it fits the model of the second Adam, Y’shua. This is birth #1.

This is not what most people are taught within the church today. This misquided notion causes many people to falter in their belief that there is no discrepancies within the Word of G-d. A belief that rises out of a simple question, “Where did the people come from that Cain was afraid of?” An honest and close look at the Word of G-d gives that answer and more. Quit perpetuating the traditions you have been taught. Speak G-ds truth.

Now, on this earth, there was no rain. There was a mist that rose up from the earth to water the land. This is amazing, here we have G-d watering the infant plants with the best irrigation delivery system, a mist. How did G-d know? ;-)

In addition, we have G-d planting a “gaw-nan”, a hedged garden, called Eden, in the midst of this barren earth. G-d did create trees, herbs and grass, but this is 1-3 days before that. Here we have an oasis, called Eden.

Interesting, we have a word that still puzzles me slightly, “eastward”. It this direction referenced by G-d from the point of creation or is it being used by Moses to orientate his readers? Or am I looking too deep?