NOTES for Gen 2:4-25
What stands behind the description of a wondrous garden where unheard-of fruits grow, where great rivers flow, where birds and animals bow their heads before the human being and receive new names from him, acknowledging his authority over the whole earth? Human language can speak about paradise only in symbols, painting a picture of the harmony and joyful stillness of nature, which knows that it was created for the sake of the human being. Perhaps harmony is the key word in this picture: nothing yet darkens the relationship between man and woman, who have not yet forgotten how to love; nothing stands between the human being and the fruits of Eden. God and the human being still live in one garden, open to one another, and this is paradise.