NOTES 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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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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