Sermon Tone Analysis

*Genesis 2:4b-7…* In the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.

5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the lord God had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

7 Then the lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

*Commentary*

            Verse 4 teaches about what /became/ of the heavens and the earth that God created in Genesis 1 (what actually became of it is that sin entered into the picture and devastated the creation).

In the second phrase of verse 4 it says, “in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.”

The word “day” here, since it has no number preceding it like Genesis 1 consistently does, is an idiom for “when” – “when the Lord God made earth and heaven.”

Now Genesis 1:11-12 teaches that on the /third/ day of creation God caused the land to produce vegetation – “plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.”

However, the above passage says that “no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the lord God had not sent rain upon the earth.”

The above passage appears to say that man was created /before/ the plants and vegetation, while Genesis 1 to teaches the converse.

What’s really happening in chapter 2 is that God is keying in on man who is the theme of chapter 2. In Genesis 1 the entire creation is the theme, but since God’s sixth day creation of man was the pinnacle of that creation, He now hones in on that part of the creation.

It’s like building a house.

A builder might tell you that he built a home for himself and tell you how he did it.

Then he says, “Now let me tell you about the game room!”

His subsequent story about his game room is a lot like Genesis 2 when it goes back to man’s creation as the prevailing theme.

In other words, Genesis 1 is an overview of the creation week, and Genesis 2 is thematic concerning man’s creation and his environment.

The growth of the shrubs is said to be dependent upon the rain and man’s efforts, yet man was created /after/ the plants.

However, the creation of the plants is not alluded to here at all, but simply the planting of the garden in Eden – the place where Adam would live and work.

The /growth/ of the shrubs is different from their initial /creation/.

It only refers to their cultivation by man and rain for their natural development.

Moreover, the shrubs and plants in the passage do not include the vegetable productions all over the earth at that time.

The word for “field” here (Hebrew /sadeh/) does not describe the entire earth but a section of land fit for cultivation (Eden).

Verse 6 says that a “mist” rose up from the ground to water the earth.

As noted in Genesis 1, the hydrologic cycle in the beginning was far different than the one we know today (the “waters above” were a vapor canopy).

There was no rain in the beginning, and the mere mention of it looks forward to the Great Flood of Noah’s day.

The “mist” here is best understood as a fountain from the great deep that likely shot water through the air to water the ground.

Since the ground needed cultivation from man, God creates him and breathed life into him.

*Food for Thought*

            Man’s formation from the dust of the earth is different from all other life forms because God breathed life into man, and he became a living being.

God created man to /care/ for His creation and /have fellowship/ with God.

Our creation came about because God made it come about, and God loves His creation.

His gifts are endless, and His love is unconditional.

Our purpose then is to worship our Creator, not slander His name.

Dwell on that thought today.

*Genesis 2:8-9…* And the lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

9 And out of the ground the lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

*Commentary*

            Verse 8 actually explains Genesis 2:5-6 in that it shows that God, /after/ creating the earth and everything in it, planted a garden.

It was this garden in Eden (unknown whereabouts today) where “no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the lord God had not sent rain upon the earth” (Gen 2:5-6).

The word for “earth” there is the same Hebrew word that simply means “land” or “a piece of land.”

In this case it refers to the garden in Eden that God planted.

This garden was where God placed Adam “whom He had formed.”

This is now the sixth time in Genesis where God is said to have “created,” “formed,” or “made” man.

This didn’t come about through long ages.

Man was simply put together in an instant and given the breath of life by God Himself.

That explains man’s origin in simple terms.

Verse 9 uses a Hebrew verb form that shows causation (/hiphil/).

God “caused” every tree to grow up from the ground.

In Genesis 2:5-6, however, it was said that nothing was growing because God had not sent rain on the land nor had man begun to cultivate the land.

In the above passage it is God who causes all trees to grow, but in the previous passage it appears that man and rain are needed to make it grow.

What this shows is a cooperative effort between man and God.

Even though /God/ causes all things to grow, He gives man a part in the fruits of that labor.

The second phrase of verse 9 is intriguing: “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

The tree of life is a mysterious tree that appears again in the eternal state of heaven in Revelation.

These two trees are addressed later in the narrative, and their insertion here in the story anticipates the coming crisis brought on by sin.

*Food for Thought*

The cooperative effort between man and God in the above passages is parallel to God’s divine election and man’s efforts in evangelism.

As Christians we have been commissioned by Jesus Christ to preach the good news of His death and resurrection to the whole world (Matt.

28:19-20).

But given that God has chosen his elect children from the foundation of the world (Eph.

1:3-14), that salvation comes by God’s grace apart from man’s works (Eph.

2:8-10), and that salvation belongs only to God (Jonah 2:9), He has given Christians the highest privilege of sharing in the salvation of others – even though they’re not really /needed/.

The Apostle Paul deals with this very issue in 1 Corinthians 3:6 as he attempts to discredit any power he might have had over the salvation of others.

He says in relation to himself and his fellow worker named Apollos: “What then is Apollos?

And what is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

I planted, Apollos watered, /but God was causing the growth/ (emphasis mine).

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.”

Even though God causes salvation, He rewards us for taking part in it!

Paul calls called to salvation “God’s field.”

Our task is to present Christ to everyone.

Don’t forget that God has given us a great privilege and blessing in allowing us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with other people.

If you’re not doing just that, you’re missing out on a wonderful blessing of great joy, not to mention the very task we were created to perform.

*Genesis 2:10-14…* Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.

11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12 And the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.

14 And the name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria.

And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

*Commentary*

            The parenthetical passages above describe the topography /of that day/.

The Garden of Eden was destroyed after the Flood, and it’s whereabouts are merely speculation.

An educated guess as to the location of Eden, which only adds to the speculation, would probably be in Israel and include all the area from the Nile to the Euphrates River.

After all, this land is called the Land of Promise – a land that “flows with milk and honey” throughout the scriptures.

Speculation aside, there was a river that flowed out of this beautiful garden in the beginning when the first man was placed there.

Dr. Henry Morris says, “Since there was no rainfall, the river would have to be supplied through a pressurized conduit from an underground reservoir of some kind, emerging under pressure as a sort of artesian spring.”

The water would have had to have been heated by some deep lying source of heat in order to gain the pressure it needed to come up out of the reservoir.

At any rate, the water that came up actually watered the garden as the passage teaches.

The one river flows to a certain point then divides and becomes four different rivers.

The first river, the Pishon, is said to flow around the whole land of Havilah “where there is gold.”

The Havilah is an unknown area today that no longer exists, but the land must have been beautiful because it was a name given to Noah’s grandson (Gen.

10:7) after the Flood.

Havilah means “Sandland” attesting to the rich primordial area that obviously made a great impression on the sons of Noah who were the last to see it before it was destroyed by the Flood.

There is no such river today that encircles such a land “where there is gold” and where “the bdellium and onyx stone” reside.

This gold and these precious stones, along with the entire Paradise region of Eden, are all restored when the new heavens and new earth are ushered in (cf.

Rev. 21:15, 18, 21).

The Paradise lost will be Paradise gained for those who follow Christ.

The second river is called the Gihon in verse 13.