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NOTES for Gen 2:4-9

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4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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.
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We are used to seeing ourselves and one another as something more or less unchanging. No, of course, we all understand perfectly well that people change. But we usually perceive these changes as something secondary. There is I - Ivan Ivanych Ivanov. I was once a child, but now I am an adult. The way I am. With my more-or-less unchanging height, weight, facial features, habits, and character. With a soul that also appears to change and yet appears to remain unchanged. In general, a more-or-less stable system, within acceptable deviations. Comparatively static, again within acceptable deviations. With its own unchanging structure. But the Bible describes us human beings quite differently.

From the Bible's point of view, we are not a stable system at all. And not a structure. We are a process. More precisely, the intersection of two processes layered upon one another. One is what the Bible calls the "soul," the "living soul." This is not some stable and unchanging immortal entity within a person. According to the meaning of the corresponding Hebrew word, it is a process, a flow, a movement. A movement in which the whole person participates. A flow that includes both the highest spiritual movements of our heart and simple physiology, such as breathing and blood circulation. Animals also have such a "soul."

But we human beings have something else: the "breath of life," which God "breathes" into us at creation. This is what makes us human. An inner theophany. We are not divine beings, but God is present in each of us. And His presence makes us human. If, of course, it defines our life, its spiritual quality. In the fallen state, it may fail to define it. Then our "soul" is defined by nature, by "blood," as with all animals, whose "soul is in the blood." And in fallen humanity the "soul" can also turn out to be "in the blood."

God intended us differently. He wants Himself, through His presence, to define the quality of our life, of our "soul." And there, where the "breath of life" touches the "soul," at this intersection of two processes - the spiritual and the natural, since breath too is a process and is not limited to one inhalation and one exhalation - we acquire our human life. We become the image of God. And then we either preserve it or lose it. For life is a process. And God has left it to us to determine the measure of His presence in it. As free and responsible beings. Beings whom God loves and therefore does not want to force into anything, even gratitude. He only offers us life - and life in its fullness. The choice is ours.

Other notes

 
For Gen 2:4-19
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 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.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 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.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
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Today we read that the Lord gave the human being the right to give names to every living creature. And about the first prohibition...  Read more

Today we read that the Lord gave the human being the right to give names to every living creature. And about the first prohibition, concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. About how the Lord warned that if one ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, one would die. And how He watched as the human being gave names to the animals and birds.

When the human being was in his Father's house, and He showed him the world, spoke with him, and rejoiced in his achievements. And although today we do not read about the breaking of the first law, not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, we know that this was how the fall took place. And having become proud, the human being began his rule on earth by the sweat of his brow.

And in the words of the prophet Isaiah we know that on the day of the Second Coming God will restore in us the memory of who created everything we manage. He will restore it through our fear. He will take away our strength and abilities, and once again we will become speechless. And our works will condemn us.

In the Proverbs of Solomon we read a remembrance and an indication that fulfilling the Lord's commandments is the fulfillment of the Father's will by His children. When the Lord entrusts something to us, we, as His children, carry out these requests and assignments. We need wisdom and understanding, humility, and the will to be with Him. Now we have to accomplish much labor in order to meet Him again. Almost impossible labor, were it not for His desire to meet us. Not only by His will, but by our love for Him.

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For Gen 2:4-25
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 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.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 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.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
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What is the human being? And what is the Garden of Eden? At first glance it may appear that the issue is a completely real, earthly geography. Yet every people has such a sacred geography. Every people has its own sacred...  Read more

What is the human being? And what is the Garden of Eden? At first glance it may appear that the issue is a completely real, earthly geography. Yet every people has such a sacred geography. Every people has its own sacred land, its own mythological ancestral homeland, usually where that people's historical memory awoke, where its own history began for it. The Jews remember themselves from the time of Abraham, and that means Harran, Northern Mesopotamia, where the Garden of Eden is located. There was something else as well: the memory of the times the Greeks called the "golden age," when the human being lived in full harmony with the world, with other people, with the gods, and with himself as well. The Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis combines features of the mythological ancestral homeland of the Jewish people with a description of the world in the times of the "golden age"; in this way the sacred writer wants to tell us that those times are not merely myth, that at one time the human being really did live in full harmony with God, with the world, with himself, and with other people.

What, then, was the perfect human being like? In the Poem of Creation it is said of him that he, alone of all the living beings created by God in our world, was created in the image and likeness of God. All the animals are created, each according to its "kind," or, as we would say today, according to its prototype. Only the human being has no prototype: every human being is created according to the image of God, and God Himself becomes the human being's "prototype." How is such a thing possible? From the point of view of his nature, the human being does not differ from other living beings; he is created by God from the "dust of the earth," and the whole universe, as people thought in the times when the account of the creation of the human being was written, consists of the tiniest specks of dust. There is nothing unique in human nature as such. The human being's uniqueness lies elsewhere: in that "breath of life" through which he becomes a "living soul." In the Bible, "soul" is not a static structure, but a process, the stream of life in which both the spiritual and the natural component are present: here are lofty spiritual movements, and simple physiology too, such as breathing or blood circulation.

A modern philosopher would probably call this stream existence. Such is the human soul in the biblical sense of the word. And the stream of human life exists in the quality in which it exists thanks to that very "breath of life," God's breath, God's presence at the very center of our own personhood, which makes that personhood's very existence possible. If there were no divine "breath of life," there would be no human being as the image of God; there would simply be another species of primates. That is why there is no human being without continuous communion with God: after all, breathing is not a one-time act, but a process that must continue without interruption. The human being was conceived and created by God for continuous communion with God, outside of which, spiritually speaking, he simply cannot remain himself. And yet God leaves the human being freedom: he can live as God proposes to him, or choose his own version of existence, under his full responsibility for all the consequences of his choice.

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For Gen 2:4-25
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 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.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 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.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
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What stands behind the description of a wondrous garden where unheard-of fruits grow, where great rivers flow, where birds and animals...  Read more

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.

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For Gen 2:4-25
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 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.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 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.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 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.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Hide
On careful reading of the account of the creation of the human being that we find in the second chapter of Genesis, it is not hard...  Read more

On careful reading of the account of the creation of the human being that we find in the second chapter of Genesis, it is not hard to notice that it is a kind of commentary and explanation of the description of the sixth "day of creation" as we see it in the first chapter. Indeed, the very appearance of the Garden of Eden (vv. 8-14) on the site of what had previously been a barren wilderness (vv. 4-6) reminds us that on the same day as the human being God created for him an entire world in which he was to live, including domestic animals (Gen. 1:24-25; in the Hebrew text the matter is not simply "cattle" as animals, but "cattle" precisely as domestic animals, originally intended for the human being). These, obviously, are the very animals to which the human being later gives "names," that is, designations (vv. 19-20). And the story of the creation of woman, or more precisely of man and woman (vv. 21-25), only unfolds the meaning of the short phrase ("male and female He created them") that we find in the account of the creation of the world (Gen. 1:27). Before us is a description of a whole sequence of events that took place simultaneously or almost simultaneously, in biblical language, "in one day." And at the center of these events stands the human being (v. 7). Here, above all, what stands out is that the human being created by God is not distinguished by some special nature. In this respect the human being does not stand out at all; like everything else, he is created from dust. And "dust" in the Bible denotes the primary elements of which the universe consists (Prov. 8:26), so here the human being is not unique. His "soul" is not unique either; animals have the same "soul" (v. 19; compare Gen. 1:20-21; 9:4, 5, 10, 12, 15-16), which is not surprising, because the corresponding Hebrew word simply means "life," in the sense of the life principle or life force present in every living being. If "dust" connects the human being with all nature in general, then "soul" connects him with all living nature. The uniqueness of the human being as a creature made "in the image and likeness of God" (Gen. 1:24-25) lies in the "breath of life" given to him by God (v. 7). But this "breath" does not belong to the human being; it is not part of human nature. It is given to him while remaining at the same time something completely unlike his own nature. Strictly speaking, it is not nature at all, because it is from God, from the One who, having created all nature, is Himself not nature. In a certain sense, the human being was created from the very beginning as a "supernatural" being, that is, one who goes beyond the limits of nature. And only by going beyond its limits can he remain himself, as God intended him to be. The will that makes a person free and gives him the possibility of choosing; reason and the creative principle that raise him above natural instincts; and even simply self-awareness, which allows a person to say of himself, "I exist" - all these are gifts given by God to everyone who comes into the world. And this is the most wonderful gift: God gives the human being his humanity.

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