Genesis 2:8 - Meaning and Application

Human beings consist of body and soul. The body was made from the earth, and the soul is a rational, immortal spirit, the breath from heaven. In these verses, we see God providing for the happiness of both parts of human nature. The One who made man also cared to make him happy, if only he could have stayed in that good state and known his own blessedness. The side of man tied to the world of the senses was made happy, because he was placed in the paradise of God. The side tied to the world of spirits was also well provided for, because he was brought into covenant, that is, into a special relationship, with God. Lord, what is man that he should be so honored, a creature so small and weak?

Here we have a description of the garden of Eden, which was meant to be the home and estate of this great lord, the palace of this prince. The inspired writer tells the story in a way suited to the Jews first, and to the early state of the church. He describes things by what could be seen outwardly, and leaves later light from God to reveal the deeper meaning hidden in them. Spiritual truths were too deep food for them then, so he writes to them as to people still worldly in understanding (1 Corinthians 3:1). For that reason, he focuses more on Adam’s outward condition than on the happiness of his mind. The Mosaic history, like the Mosaic law, gives patterns of heavenly things rather than the heavenly realities themselves (Hebrews 9:23).

Notice, first, the place assigned to Adam was a garden, not an ivory mansion or a palace covered with gold, but a garden shaped and adorned by nature, not art. How little reason people have to boast in grand buildings, when innocent man was happy without any such thing! Clothing came in with sin, and so did houses. The sky was Adam’s roof, and no roof was ever more beautifully carved and painted. The earth was his floor, and no floor was ever more richly laid. The shade of the trees was his private retreat. Under them were his dining room and his bedroom, and no rooms were ever more beautifully hung. Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like them. The more we can be content with simple things, and the less we chase after artificial pleasures made to feed pride and luxury, the closer we come to innocence. Nature is satisfied with little and with what is natural. Grace is content with even less. Lust is never satisfied.

Second, the making and furnishing of this garden were the direct work of God’s wisdom and power. The Lord God planted the garden, that is, he had already planted it on the third day, when the earth brought forth fruit. We may well think it was the most perfect place of pleasure and delight the sun ever saw, since the all-sufficient God designed it for the present happiness of his beloved creature, man, and as a pattern of the joy prepared for the chosen remnant in glory. No delight can truly satisfy a soul unless God himself has provided it and appointed it for that soul. There is no true paradise except the one God plants. The light of our own fires, and the sparks we strike ourselves, soon leave us in darkness (Isaiah 50:11). The whole earth was then a paradise compared with what it became after the fall and the flood. Even the finest gardens now are like a wilderness beside the world before it was cursed for man’s sake. Yet that was not enough. God planted a special garden for Adam. God’s chosen people will always receive special favors.

Third, the setting of this garden was wonderfully pleasant. It was in Eden, a name that means delight and pleasure. The place is marked out here by boundaries and signs that were enough, when Moses wrote, to identify it for those who knew that land. But now, it seems, the curious cannot settle on where it was. Let us care more about making sure of a place in the heavenly paradise than about tracking down the earthly one. Wherever it was, it had every comfort. It was a place without any inconvenience, which no house or garden on earth can claim. Beautiful in its setting, the joy and glory of the whole earth, this garden was surely earth at its highest perfection.

Fourth, consider the trees planted in this garden. It had all the best and choicest trees that other places had. It was beautiful, adorned with every tree pleasant to the eye because of its height, shape, color, leaves, or flowers. It was also full of every tree that gave fruit pleasing to the taste and useful for the body, so it was good for food. God, as a tender Father, considered not only Adam’s usefulness but also his pleasure. There is a pleasure that fits innocence, and even more, there is a true and far greater pleasure in innocence. God delights in the well-being of his servants and wants them to be at peace. If they are restless, the fault is theirs. When Providence places us in an Eden of plenty and delight, we should serve God with joy and gladness of heart, in the abundance of his gifts.

But the garden had two special trees that belonged to it alone, unlike anything else on earth. One was the tree of life in the middle of the garden. This was not mainly a reminder that God was the source and giver of life, nor perhaps a natural means of preserving or extending life. Rather, it was chiefly a sign and seal to Adam, assuring him that life and happiness would continue, even to immortality and everlasting blessedness, through the grace and favor of his Maker, if he remained in innocence and obedience. He might eat of it and live. Christ is now for us the tree of life (Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2), and the bread of life (John 6:48; John 6:53).

The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was called this, not because it had any power to produce useful knowledge, for then it would not have been forbidden. Rather, it was called this for two reasons. First, through it God gave a clear, direct command, so Adam could know moral good and evil in relation to that tree. What was good? It was good not to eat from that tree. What was evil? It was evil to eat from it. The difference between all other moral good and evil had been written by nature on man’s heart, but this difference, which came from a special command, was written on that tree. Second, in the end it gave Adam an experience of good through losing it, and of evil through feeling it.

The covenant of grace includes both, “Believe and be saved” and “Do not believe and be condemned” (Mark 16:16). In the same way, the covenant of innocence included both, “Do this and live,” which the tree of life sealed and confirmed, and “Fail, and die,” which Adam was warned of by this other tree. God was, in effect, saying, “Touch it at your own risk.” In these two trees, God set before Adam good and evil, blessing and curse (Deuteronomy 30:19). These two trees were like two signs or sacraments.

5. The rivers that watered this garden, Genesis 2:10-14. These four rivers, or one river branching into four streams, added much to the beauty and fruitfulness of the garden. Sodom was said to be well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:10). Notice this: whatever God plants, he will also keep watered. The trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers (Psalm 1:3). In the heavenly paradise, there is a river that is far greater than these. It is a river of the water of life, not coming out of Eden like this one, but flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1). It is the river that makes glad the city of our God (Psalm 46:4).

Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon, mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. The captive Jews sat by those rivers and wept when they remembered Zion (Psalm 137:1). But they had much more reason to weep, and so do we, when we remember Eden. Adam’s paradise became their prison, and sin has done terrible work. About the land of Havilah, Genesis 2:12 says that the gold of that land was good, and there was bdellium and onyx stone. This is surely mentioned so that Havilah’s wealth would look small beside the glory of Eden. Havilah had gold, spices, and precious stones, but Eden had what was far better, the tree of life and communion with God. We may say the same about Africans and Indians: they have the gold, but we have the gospel. The gold of their land is good, but the riches of ours are far better.

II. The placing of man in this paradise of delight, Genesis 2:15. Notice, first, how God gave him possession of it: “The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden.” So it is said in Genesis 2:8 and Genesis 2:15. Here we see that man was made outside paradise, and only afterward placed in it. After God formed him, he put him into the garden. He was made from ordinary clay, not from paradise dust. He lived outside Eden before he lived in it, so he would know that all the comforts of his paradise state came from God’s free grace.

He could not claim a tenant’s right to the garden, because he was not born there and owned nothing except what he received. That leaves no room for boasting. The same God who gave him life also gave him happiness. The same hand that made him a living soul planted the tree of life for him and settled him beside it. Only the one who made us can make us happy. The one who formed our bodies and is the Father of our spirits, and only he, can truly provide for the happiness of both.

It adds much comfort to any condition when we can clearly see God going before us and placing us in it. If we have not pushed ahead of providence, but have followed it and taken its hints, then we may hope to find a paradise where we would not have expected one. See Psalm 47:4.

2. Next, how God gave him work to do. He put him there, not like a sea monster in the water, just to play, but to dress the garden and keep it. Paradise itself was not a place without work. We should notice here that none of us were sent into the world to be idle. The one who made us with souls and bodies gave us something to work with, and the one who gave us this earth to live on gave us something to work on.

Neither high birth, nor wealth, nor wide power, nor even perfect innocence, nor a mind suited to pure thought, nor a small family could have made Adam exempt from work. But the one who gave us life has also given us duties, to serve him and our generation, and to work out our salvation. If we do not attend to our work, we are unworthy of our being and our daily provision.

Worldly work fits well with a sinless state and a life of fellowship with God. The sons and heirs of heaven, while they are in this world, still have work to do on this earth, and it must take some of their time and thoughts. If they do it with God in view, they are serving him just as truly as when they are on their knees.

The work of a farmer is an old and honorable calling. It was needed even in paradise. The garden of Eden did not need weeding, since thorns and thistles were not yet a problem, but it still had to be dressed and kept. Even in its first state, nature left room for human skill and effort. Farming was fitting for innocence, because it made provision for life, not for lust. It also gave man a chance to admire the Creator and honor his care, while his hands worked among the trees and his heart stayed with God.

There is real pleasure in the work God gives us and uses us for. Adam’s work did not lessen paradise’s joy, it added to it. He could not have been happy if he had been idle. It is still true that the one who will not work has no right to eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10; Proverbs 27:23).

III. The command God gave to man in innocence, and the covenant he brought him into. So far, we have seen God as man’s powerful Creator and generous Benefactor. Now he appears as his Ruler and Lawgiver. God put Adam into the garden of Eden, not so he could live there however he pleased, but so he would live under rule. As we are not allowed to be idle in this world and do nothing, so we are not allowed to be stubborn and do as we please. When God gave man rule over the creatures, he also made clear that man himself was still under the rule of his Creator.