CHAPTER II _The seventh day is consecrated for a sabbath,_ _and the reasons assigned_, 1-3. _A recapitulation of the six days' work of creation_, 4-7. _the garden of Eden planted_, 8. _Its trees_, 9. _Its rivers, and the countries watered by them_, 10-14. _Adam placed in the garden, and the c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:2. _ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD ENDED, C._] It is the general voice of Scripture that God finished the whole of the creation in six days, and rested the _seventh_! giving us an example that we might labour _six_ days, and rest the seventh from all manual exercises. It is worthy of notice... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:3. _AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY_] The original word ברך _barach_, which is generally rendered _to bless_, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of _speaking good of_ or _to_ a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septua... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:4. _IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD GOD MADE, C_.] The word יהוה _Yehovah_ is for the first time mentioned here. What it signifies see on Exodus 34:5-2. Wherever this word occurs in the sacred writings we translate it LORD, which word is, through respect and reverence, always printed in ca... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:5. _EVERY PLANT OF THE FIELD BEFORE IT WAS IN THE EARTH_] It appears that God created every thing, not only perfect as it respects its nature, but also in a state of _maturity_, so that every vegetable production appeared at once in full growth; and this was necessary that man, when... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:6. _THERE WENT UP A MIST_] This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators. The plain meaning seems to be this, that the aqueous vapours, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:7. _GOD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST_] In the most distinct manner God shows us that man is a _compound_ being, having a body and soul distinctly, and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. Does not this strongly mark that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:8. _A GARDEN EASTWARD IN EDEN_] Though the word עדן _Eden_ signifies _pleasure_ or _delight_, it is certainly the name of a place. See Genesis 4:16; 2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12; Ezekiel 27:23; Amos 1:5. And such places probably received their name from their _fertility, pleasant sit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:9. _EVERY TREE THAT IS PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT, C._] If we take up these expressions literally, they may bear the following interpretation: the tree pleasant to the sight may mean every beautiful tree or plant which for _shape_, _colour_, or _fragrance_, delights the senses, such as fl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:10. _A RIVER WENT OUT OF EDEN, C_.] It would astonish an ordinary reader, who should be obliged to consult different commentators and critics on the _situation of the terrestrial_ _Paradise_, to see the vast variety of opinions by which they are divided. Some place it in the third h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:12. _THERE IS BDELLIUM_ (בדלח bedolach) AND _THE ONYX_ _STONE_, אבן השהם eben hashshoham.] Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the _pearl-oyster_; and _shoham_ is generally understood to mean the _onyx_, or species of _agate_, a precious stone which has its name from ο... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:15. _PUT HIM INTO THE GARDEN - TO DRESS IT, AND TO KEEP IT._] Horticulture, or gardening, is the first kind of employment on record, and that in which man was engaged while in a state of perfection and innocence. Though the garden may be supposed to produce all things _spontaneously_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:17. _OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE - THOU SHALT NOT EAT_] This is the _first positive precept_ God gave to man; and it was given as a test of obedience, and a proof of his being in a _dependent_, _probationary_ state. It was necessary that, while constituted lord of this lower world,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:18. _IT IS NOT GOOD THAT THE MAN SHOULD BE ALONE_] לבדו lebaddo; only himself. _I will make him a help meet for him_; עזר כנגדו ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literall... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:19. _OUT OF THE GROUND, C._] Concerning the formation of the different kinds of animals, see the preceding chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:20. _AND ADAM GAVE NAMES TO ALL CATTLE_] Two things God appears to have had in view by causing man to name all the cattle, c. 1. To show him with what comprehensive powers of mind his Maker had endued him and 2. To show him that no creature yet formed could make him a suitable compan... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:21. _THE LORD GOD CAUSED A DEEP SLEEP TO FALL UPON ADAM,_ _c._] This was neither swoon nor ecstasy, but what our translation very properly terms a _deep sleep_. _AND HE TOOK ONE OF HIS RIBS_] It is immaterial whether we render צלע _tsela_ a rib, or a part of his _side_, for it may... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:23. _ADAM SAID, THIS IS NOW BONE OF MY BONES, C._] There is a very delicate and expressive meaning in the original which does not appear in our version. When the different _genera_ of creatures were brought to Adam, that he might assign them their proper names, it is probable that t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:24. _THEREFORE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER_] There shall be, by the order of God, a more intimate connection formed between the man and woman, than can subsist even between parents and children. _AND THEY SHALL BE ONE FLESH._] These words may be understood in a twof... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 2:25. _THEY WERE BOTH NAKED, C._] The weather was perfectly temperate, and therefore they had no need of clothing, the circumambient air being of the same temperature with their bodies. And as sin had not yet entered into the world, and no part of the human body had been put to any imp... [ Continue Reading ]