Bible
Commentary
Genesis 2
This
chapter is an appendix to the history of the creation, more particularly
explaining and enlarging upon that part of the history which relates
immediately to man, the favourite of this lower world. We have in it, I. The
institution and sanctification of the sabbath, which was made for man, to
further his holiness and comfort (ver. 1-3). II. A more particular account of
man's creation, as the centre and summary of the whole work (ver. 1-7). III. A
description of the garden of Eden, and the placing of man in it under the
obligations of a law and covenant (ver. 8-17). IV. The creation of the woman,
her marriage to the man, and the institution of the ordinance of marriage (ver.
18, &c.).
The
Creation. B. C. 4004.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. 2 And on the seventh day God
ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had made. 3 And God
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made.
We
have here, I. The settlement of the kingdom of nature, in God's resting from
the work of creation, v. 1, 2. Here observe, 1. The creatures made both in
heaven and earth are the hosts or armies of them, which denotes them to be
numerous, but marshalled, disciplined, and under command. How great is the sum
of them! And yet every one knows and keeps his place. God uses them as his
hosts for the defence of his people and the destruction of his enemies; for he
is the Lord of hosts, of all these hosts, Dan. iv. 35. 2. The heavens and the
earth are finished pieces, and so are all the creatures in them. So perfect is
God's work that nothing can be added to it nor taken from it, Eccl. iii. 14.
God that began to build showed himself well able to finish. 3. After the end of
the first six days God ceased from all works of creation. He has so ended his
work as that though, in his providence, he worketh hitherto (John v. 17),
preserving and governing all the creatures, and particularly forming the spirit
of man within him, yet he does not make any new species of creatures. In
miracles, he has controlled and overruled nature, but never changed its settled
course, nor repealed nor added to any of its establishments. 4. The eternal
God, though infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, yet took a
satisfaction in the work of his own hands. He did not rest, as one weary, but
as one well-pleased with the instances of his own goodness and the
manifestations of his own glory.
II.
The commencement of the kingdom of grace, in the sanctification of the sabbath
day, v. 3. He rested on that day, and took a complacency in his creatures, and
then sanctified it, and appointed us, on that day, to rest and take a
complacency in the Creator; and his rest is, in the fourth commandment, made a
reason for ours, after six days' labour. Observe, 1. The solemn observance of
one day in seven, as a day of holy rest and holy work, to God's honour, is the
indispensable duty of all those to whom God has revealed his holy sabbaths. 2.
The way of sabbath-sanctification is the good old way, Jer. vi. 16. Sabbaths
are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the sabbath,
being now instituted in innocency, was religiously observed by the people of
God throughout the patriarchal age. 3. The sabbath of the Lord is truly
honourable, and we have reason to honour it--honour it for the sake of its
antiquity, its great Author, the sanctification of the first sabbath by the
holy God himself, and by our first parents in innocency, in obedience to him.
4. The sabbath day is a blessed day, for God blessed it, and that which he
blesses is blessed indeed. God has put an honour upon it, has appointed us, on
that day, to bless him, and has promised, on that day, to meet us and bless us.
5. The sabbath day is a holy day, for God has sanctified it. He has separated
and distinguished it from the rest of the days of the week, and he has
consecrated it and set it apart to himself and his own service and honour.
Though it is commonly taken for granted that the Christian sabbath we observe,
reckoning from the creation, is not the seventh but the first day of the week,
yet being a seventh day, and we in it, celebrating the rest of God the Son, and
the finishing of the work of our redemption, we may and ought to act faith upon
this original institution of the sabbath day, and to commemorate the work of
creation, to the honour of the great Creator, who is therefore worthy to
receive, on that day, blessing, and honour, and praise, from all religious
assemblies.
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.
In
these verses, I. Here is a name given to the Creator which we have not yet met
with, and that is Jehovah--the LORD, in capital letters, which are constantly
used in our English translation to intimate that in the original it is Jehovah.
All along, in the first chapter, he was called Elohim--a God of power; but now
Jehovah Elohim--a God of power and perfection, a finishing God. As we find him known
by his name Jehovah when he appeared to perform what he had promised (Exod. vi.
3), so now we have him known by that name, when he had perfected what he had
begun. Jehovah is that great and incommunicable name of God which denotes his
having his being of himself, and his giving being to all things; fitly
therefore is he called by that name now that heaven and earth are finished.
II. Further notice taken of the
production of plants and herbs, because they were made and appointed to be food
for man, v. 5, 6. Here observe, 1. The earth did not bring forth its fruits of
itself, by any innate virtue of its own but purely by the almighty power of
God, which formed every plant and every herb before it grew in the earth. Thus
grace in the soul, that plant of renown, grows not of itself in nature's soil,
but is the work of God's own hands. 2. Rain also is the gift of God; it came
not till the Lord God caused it to rain. If rain be wanted, it is God that
withholds it; if rain come plentifully in its season, it is God that sends it;
if it come in a distinguishing way, it is God that causeth it to rain upon one
city and not upon another, Amos iv. 7. 3. Though God, ordinarily, works by
means, yet he is not tied to them, but when he pleases he can do his own work
without them. As the plants were produced before the sun was made, so they were
before there was either rain to water the earth or man to till it. Therefore
though we must not tempt God in the neglect of means, yet we must trust God in
the want of means. 4. Some way or other God will take care to water the plants
that are of his own planting. Though as yet there was no rain, God made a mist
equivalent to a shower, and with it watered the whole face of the ground. Thus
he chose to fulfil his purpose by the weakest means, that the excellency of the
power might be of God. Divine grace descends like a mist, or silent dew, and
waters the church without noise, Deut. xxxii. 2.
III. A more particular account of the
creation of man, v. 7. Man is a little world, consisting of heaven and earth,
soul and body. Now here we have an account of the origin of both and the
putting of both together: let us seriously consider it, and say, to our
Creator's praise, We are fearfully and wonderfully made, Ps. cxxxix. 14. Elihu,
in the patriarchal age, refers to this history when he says (Job xxxiii. 6), I
also am formed out of the clay, and (v. 4), The breath of the Almighty hath
given me life, and (ch. xxxii. 8), There is a spirit in man. Observe then,
1. The mean origin, and yet the curious
structure, of the body of man. (1.) The matter was despicable. He was made of
the dust of the ground, a very unlikely thing to make a man of; but the same
infinite power that made the world of nothing made man, its master-piece, of
next to nothing. He was made of the dust, the small dust, such as is upon the
surface of the earth. Probably, not dry dust, but dust moistened with the mist
that went up, v. 6. He was not made of gold-dust, powder of pearl, or diamond
dust, but common dust, dust of the ground. Hence he is said to be of the earth,
choikos--dusty, 1 Cor. xv. 47. And we also are of the earth, for we are his
offspring, and of the same mould. So near an affinity is there between the
earth and our earthly parents that our mother's womb, out of which we were
born, is called the earth (Ps. cxxxix. 15), and the earth, in which we must be
buried, is called our mother's womb, Job i. 21. Our foundation is in the earth,
Job iv. 19. Our fabric is earthly, and the fashioning of it like that of an
earthen vessel, Job x. 9. Our food is out of the earth, Job xxviii. 5. Our
familiarity is with the earth, Job xvii. 14. Our fathers are in the earth, and
our own final tendency is to it; and what have we then to be proud of? (2.) Yet
the Maker was great, and the make fine. The Lord God, the great fountain of
being and power, formed man. Of the other creatures it is said that they were
created and made; but of man that he was formed, which denotes a gradual
process in the work with great accuracy and exactness. To express the creation
of this new thing, he takes a new word, a word (some think) borrowed from the
potter's forming his vessel upon the wheel; for we are the clay, and God the
potter, Isa. lxiv. 8. The body of man is curiously wrought, Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16.
Materiam superabat opus--The workmanship exceeded the materials. Let us present
our bodies to God as living sacrifices (Rom. xii. 1), as living temples (1 Cor.
vi. 19), and then these vile bodies shall shortly be new-formed like Christ's glorious
body, Phil. iii. 21.
2. The high origin and the admirable
serviceableness of the soul of man. (1.) It takes its rise from the breath of
heaven, and is produced by it. It was not made of the earth, as the body was;
it is a pity then that it should cleave to the earth, and mind earthly things.
It came immediately from God; he gave it to be put into the body (Eccl. xii.
7), as afterwards he gave the tables of stone of his own writing to be put into
the ark, and the urim of his own framing to be put into the breast-plate. Hence
God is not only the former but the Father of spirits. Let the soul which God
has breathed into us breathe after him; and let it be for him, since it is from
him. Into his hands let us commit our spirits, for from his hands we had them.
(2.) It takes its lodging in a house of clay, and is the life and support of
it. It is by it that man is a living soul, that is, a living man; for the soul
is the man. The body would be a worthless, useless, loathsome carcase, if the
soul did not animate it. To God that gave us these souls we must shortly give
an account of them, how we have employed them, used them, proportioned them,
and disposed of them; and if then it be found that we have lost them, though it
were to gain the world, we shall be undone for ever. Since the extraction of
the soul is so noble, and its nature and faculties are so excellent, let us not
be of those fools that despise their own souls, by preferring their bodies
before them, Prov. xv. 32. When our Lord Jesus anointed the blind man's eyes
with clay perhaps he intimated that it was he who at first formed man out of
the clay; and when he breathed on his disciples, saying, Receive you the Holy
Ghost, he intimated that it was he who at first breathed into man's nostrils the
breath of life. He that made the soul is alone able to new-make it.
The
Garden of Eden. B. C. 4004.
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.
Man
consisting of body and soul, a body made out of the earth and a rational
immortal soul the breath of heaven, we have, in these verses, the provision
that was made for the happiness of both; he that made him took care to make him
happy, if he could but have kept himself so and known when he was well off.
That part of man by which he is allied to the world of sense was made happy;
for he was put in the paradise of God: that part by which he is allied to the
world of spirits was well provided for; for he was taken into covenant with
God. Lord, what is man that he should be thus dignified--man that is a worm!
Here we have,
I. A description of the garden of Eden,
which was intended for the mansion and demesne of this great lord, the palace
of this prince. The inspired penman, in this history, writing for the Jews
first, and calculating his narratives for the infant state of the church,
describes things by their outward sensible appearances, and leaves us, by further
discoveries of the divine light, to be led into the understanding of the
mysteries couched under them. Spiritual things were strong meat, which they
could not yet bear; but he writes to them as unto carnal, 1 Cor. iii. 1.
Therefore he does not so much insist upon the happiness of Adam's mind as upon
that of his outward state. The Mosaic history, as well as the Mosaic law, has
rather the patterns of heavenly things than the heavenly things themselves,
Heb. ix. 23. Observe,
1. The place appointed for Adam's
residence was a garden; not an ivory house nor a palace overlaid with gold, but
a garden, furnished and adorned by nature, not by art. What little reason have
men to be proud of stately and magnificent buildings, when it was the happiness
of man in innocency that he needed none! As clothes came in with sin, so did
houses. The heaven was the roof of Adam's house, and never was any roof so
curiously ceiled and painted. The earth was his floor, and never was any floor
so richly inlaid. The shadow of the trees was his retirement; under them were
his dining-rooms, his lodging-rooms, and never were any rooms so finely hung as
these: Solomon's, in all their glory, were not arrayed like them. The better we
can accommodate ourselves to plain things, and the less we indulge ourselves
with those artificial delights which have been invented to gratify men's pride
and luxury, the nearer we approach to a state of innocency. Nature is content
with a little and that which is most natural, grace with less, but lust with
nothing.
2. The contrivance and furniture of this
garden were the immediate work of God's wisdom and power. The Lord God planted
this garden, that is, he had planted it--upon the third day, when the fruits of
the earth were made. We may well suppose to have been the most accomplished
place for pleasure and delight that ever the sun saw, when the all-sufficient
God himself designed it to be the present happiness of his beloved creature,
man, in innocency, and a type and a figure of the happiness of the chosen
remnant in glory. No delights can be agreeable nor satisfying to a soul but
those that God himself has provided and appointed for it; no true paradise, but
of God's planting. The light of our own fires, and the sparks of our own
kindling, will soon leave us in the dark, Isa. l. 11. The whole earth was now a
paradise compared with what it is since the fall and since the flood; the
finest gardens in the world are a wilderness compared with what the whole face
of the ground was before it was cursed for man's sake: yet that was not enough;
God planted a garden for Adam. God's chosen ones shall have distinguishing
favours shown them.
3. The situation of this garden was
extremely sweet. It was in Eden, which signifies delight and pleasure. The place
is here particularly pointed out by such marks and bounds as were sufficient, I
suppose, when Moses wrote, to specify the place to those who knew that country;
but now, it seems, the curious cannot satisfy themselves concerning it. Let it
be our care to make sure a place in the heavenly paradise, and then we need not
perplex ourselves with a search after the place of the earthly paradise. It is
certain that, wherever it was, it had all desirable conveniences, and (which
never any house nor garden on earth was) without any inconvenience. Beautiful
for situation, the joy and the glory of the whole earth, was this garden:
doubtless it was earth in its highest perfection.
4. The trees with which this garden was
planted. (1.) It had all the best and choicest trees in common with the rest of
the ground. It was beautiful and adorned with every tree that, for its height
or breadth, its make or colour, its leaf or flower, was pleasant to the sight
and charmed the eye; it was replenished and enriched with every tree that
yielded fruit grateful to the taste and useful to the body, and so good for
food. God, as a tender Father, consulted not only Adam's profit, but his
pleasure; for there is a pleasure consistent with innocency, nay, there is a
true and transcendent pleasure in innocency. God delights in the prosperity of
his servants, and would have them easy; it is owing to themselves if they be
uneasy. When Providence puts us into an Eden of plenty and pleasure, we ought
to serve him with joyfulness and gladness of heart, in the abundance of the
good things he gives us. But, (2.) It had two extraordinary trees peculiar to
itself; on earth there were not their like. [1.] There was the tree of life in
the midst of the garden, which was not so much a memorandum to him of the
fountain and author of his life, nor perhaps any natural means to preserve or
prolong life; but it was chiefly intended to be a sign and seal to Adam,
assuring him of the continuance of life and happiness, even to immortality and
everlasting bliss, through the grace and favour of his Maker, upon condition of
his perseverance in this state of innocency and obedience. Of this he might eat
and live. Christ is now to us the tree of life (Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 2), and the
bread of life, John vi. 48, 53. [2.] There was the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, so called, not because it had any virtue in it to beget or
increase useful knowledge (surely then it would not have been forbidden), but,
First, Because there was an express positive revelation of the will of God
concerning this tree, so that by it he might know moral good and evil. What is
good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of
this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil was written in
the heart of man by nature; but this, which resulted from a positive law, was
written upon this tree. Secondly, Because, in the event, it proved to give Adam
an experimental knowledge of good by the loss of it and of evil by the sense of
it. As the covenant of grace has in it, not only Believe and be saved, but
also, Believe not and be damned (Mark xvi. 16), so the covenant of innocency
had in it, not only "Do this and live," which was sealed and
confirmed by the tree of life, but, "Fail and die," which Adam was
assured of by this other tree: "Touch it at your peril;" so that, in
these two trees, God set before him good and evil, the blessing and the curse,
Deut. xxx. 19. These two trees were as two sacraments.
5. The rivers with which this garden was watered,
v. 10-14. These four rivers (or one river branched into four streams)
contributed much both to the pleasantness and the fruitfulness of this garden.
The land of Sodom is said to be well watered every where, as the garden of the
Lord, ch. xiii. 10. Observe, That which God plants he will take care to keep
watered. The trees of righteousness are set by the rivers, Ps. i. 3. In the
heavenly paradise there is a river infinitely surpassing these; for it is a
river of the water of life, not coming out of Eden, as this, but proceeding out
of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1), a river that makes glad
the city of our God, Ps. xlvi. 4. Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon,
which we read of elsewhere. By these the captive Jews sat down and wept, when
they remembered Sion (Ps. cxxxvii. 1); but methinks they had much more reason
to weep (and so have we) at the remembrance of Eden. Adam's paradise was their
prison; such wretched work has sin made. Of the land of Havilah it is said (v.
12), The gold of that land is good, and there is bdellium and the onyx-stone:
surely this is mentioned that the wealth of which the land of Havilah boasted
might be as foil to that which was the glory of the land of Eden. Havilah had
gold, and spices, and precious stones; but Eden had that which was infinitely
better, the tree of life, and communion with God. So we may say of the 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 infinitely better."
II. The placing of man in this paradise
of delight, v. 15, where observe,
1. How God put him in possession of it:
The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden; so v. 8, 15.
Note here, (1.) Man was made out of paradise; for, after God had formed him, he
put him into the garden: he was made of common clay, not of paradise-dust. He
lived out of Eden before he lived in it, that he might see that all the
comforts of his paradise-state were owing to God's free grace. He could not
plead a tenant-right to the garden, for he was not born upon the premises, nor
had any thing but what he received; all boasting was hereby for ever excluded.
(2.) The same God that was the author of his being was the author of his bliss;
the same hand that made him a living soul planted the tree of life for him, and
settled him by it. He that made us is alone able to make us happy; he that is
the former of our bodies and the Father of our spirits, he, and none but he,
can effectually provide for the felicity of both. (3.) It adds much to the
comfort of any condition if we have plainly seen God going before us and
putting us into it. If we have not forced providence, but followed it, and
taken the hints of direction it has given us, we may hope to find a paradise
where otherwise we could not have expected it. See Ps. xlvii. 4.
2. How God appointed him business and
employment. He put him there, not like Leviathan into the waters, to play
therein, but to dress the garden and to keep it. Paradise itself was not a
place of exemption from work. Note, here, (1.) We were none of us sent into the
world to be idle. He that made us these souls and bodies has given us something
to work with; and he that gave us this earth for our habitation has made us something
to work on. If a high extraction, or a great estate, or a large dominion, or
perfect innocency, or a genius for pure contemplation, or a small family, could
have given a man a writ of ease, Adam would not have been set to work; but he
that gave us being has given us business, to serve him and our generation, and
to work out our salvation: if we do not mind our business, we are unworthy of
our being and maintenance. (2.) Secular employments will vary well consist with
a state of innocency and a life of communion with God. The sons and heirs of
heaven, while they are here in this world, have something to do about this
earth, which must have its share of their time and thoughts; and, if they do it
with an eye to God, they are as truly serving him in it as when they are upon
their knees. (3.) The husbandman's calling is an ancient and honourable
calling; it was needful even in paradise. The garden of Eden, though it needed
not to be weeded (for thorns and thistles were not yet a nuisance), yet must be
dressed and kept. Nature, even in its primitive state, left room for the
improvements of art and industry. It was a calling fit for a state of
innocency, making provision for life, not for lust, and giving man an
opportunity of admiring the Creator and acknowledging his providence: while his
hands were about his trees, his heart might be with his God. (4.) There is a
true pleasure in the business which God calls us to, and employs us in. Adam's
work was so far from being an allay that it was an addition to the pleasures of
paradise; he could not have been happy if he had been idle: it is still a law,
He that will not work has no right to eat, 2 Thess. iii. 10; Prov. xxvii. 23.
III. The command which God gave to man in
innocency, and the covenant he then took him into. Hitherto we have seen God as
man's powerful Creator and his bountiful Benefactor; now he appears as his
Ruler and Lawgiver. God put him into the garden of Eden, not to live there as
he might list, but to be under government. As we are not allowed to be idle in
this world, and to do nothing, so we are not allowed to be wilful, and do what
we please. When God had given man a dominion over the creatures, he would let
him know that still he himself was under the government of his Creator.
The
Tree of Knowledge Prohibited. B. C. 4004.
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.
Observe here, I. God's authority over
man, as a creature that had reason and freedom of will. The Lord God commanded
the man, who stood now as a public person, the father and representative of all
mankind, to receive law, as he had lately received a nature, for himself and
all his. God commanded all the creatures, according to their capacity; the
settled course of nature is a law, Ps. cxlviii. 6; civ. 9. The brute-creatures
have their respective instincts; but man was made capable of performing
reasonable service, and therefore received, not only the command of a Creator,
but the command of a Prince and Master. Though Adam was a very great man, a
very good man, and a very happy man, yet the Lord God commanded him; and the command
was no disparagement to his greatness, no reproach to his goodness, nor any
diminution at all to his happiness. Let us acknowledge God's right to rule us,
and our own obligations to be ruled by him; and never allow any will of our own
in contradiction to, or competition with, the holy will of God.
II. The particular act of this authority,
in prescribing to him what he should do, and upon what terms he should stand
with his Creator. Here is,
1. A confirmation of his present
happiness to him, in that grant, Of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely
eat. This was not only an allowance of liberty to him, in taking the delicious
fruits of paradise, as a recompence for his care and pains in dressing and
keeping it (1 Cor. ix. 7, 10), but it was, withal, an assurance of life to him,
immortal life, upon his obedience. For the tree of life being put in the midst
of the garden (v. 9), as the heart and soul of it, doubtless God had an eye to
that especially in this grant; and therefore when, upon his revolt, this grant
is recalled, no notice is taken of any tree of the garden as prohibited to him,
except the tree of life (ch. iii. 22), of which it is there said he might have
eaten and lived for ever, that is, never died, nor ever lost his happiness.
"Continue holy as thou art, in conformity to thy Creator's will, and thou
shalt continue happy as thou art in the enjoyment of thy Creator's favour,
either in this paradise or in a better." Thus, upon condition of perfect
personal and perpetual obedience, Adam was sure of paradise to himself and his
heirs for ever.
2. A trial of his obedience, upon pain of
the forfeiture of all his happiness: "But of the other tree which stood
very near the tree of life (for they are both said to be in the midst of the
garden), and which was called the tree of knowledge, in the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die;" as if he had said, "Know, Adam, that
thou art now upon thy good behaviour, thou art put into paradise upon trial; be
observant, be obedient, and thou art made for ever; otherwise thou wilt be as
miserable as now thou art happy." Here,
(1.) Adam is threatened with death in
case of disobedience: Dying thou shalt die, denoting a sure and dreadful
sentence, as, in the former part of this covenant, eating thou shalt eat,
denotes a free and full grant. Observe [1.] Even Adam, in innocency, was awed
with a threatening; fear is one of the handles of the soul, by which it is
taken hold of and held. If he then needed this hedge, much more do we now. [2.]
The penalty threatened is death: Thou shalt die, that is, "Thou shalt be
debarred from the tree of life, and all the good that is signified by it, all
the happiness thou hast, either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt
become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface it and attend
it." [3.] This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin: In the
day thou eatest, thou shalt die, that is, "Thou shalt become mortal and
capable of dying; the grant of immortality shall be recalled, and that defence
shall depart from thee. Thou shalt become obnoxious to death, like a condemned
malefactor that is dead in the law" (only, because Adam was to be the root
of mankind, he was reprieved); "nay, the harbingers and forerunners of
death shall immediately seize thee, and thy life, thenceforward, shall be a
dying life: and this, surely; it is a settled rule, the soul that sinneth, it
shall die."
(2.) Adam is tried with a positive law,
not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Now it was very proper to
make trial of his obedience by such a command as this, [1.] Because the reason
of it is fetched purely from the will of the Law-maker. Adam had in his nature
an aversion to that which was evil in itself, and therefore he is tried in a
thing which was evil only because it was forbidden; and, being in a small
thing, it was the more fit to prove his obedience by. [2.] Because the
restraint of it is laid upon the desires of the flesh and of the mind, which,
in the corrupt nature of man, are the two great fountains of sin. This
prohibition checked both his appetite towards sensitive delights and his
ambitions of curious knowledge, that his body might be ruled by his soul and
his soul by his God.
Thus easy, thus happy, was man in a state
of innocency, having all that heart could wish to make him so. How good was God
to him! How many favours did he load him with! How easy were the laws he gave
him! How kind the covenant he made with him! Yet man, being in honour,
understood not his own interest, but soon became as the beasts that perish.
Adam's
Dominion. B. C. 4004.
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.
Here
we have, I. An instance of the Creator's care of man and his fatherly concern
for his comfort, v. 18. Though God had let him know that he was a subject, by
giving him a command, (v. 16, 17), yet here he lets him know also, for his
encouragement in his obedience, that he was a friend, and a favourite, and one
whose satisfaction he was tender of. Observe,
1. How God graciously pitied his
solitude: It is not good that man, this man, should be alone. Though there was
an upper world of angels and a lower world of brutes, and he between them, yet
there being none of the same nature and rank of beings with himself, none that
he could converse familiarly with, he might be truly said to be alone. Now he
that made him knew both him and what was good for him, better than he did
himself, and he said, "It is not good that he should continue thus
alone." (1.) It is not for his comfort; for man is a sociable creature. It
is a pleasure to him to exchange knowledge and affection with those of his own
kind, to inform and to be informed, to love and to be beloved. What God here
says of the first man Solomon says of all men (Eccl. iv. 9, &c.), that two
are better than one, and woe to him that is alone. If there were but one man in
the world, what a melancholy man must he needs be! Perfect solitude would turn
a paradise into a desert, and a palace into a dungeon. Those therefore are
foolish who are selfish and would be placeed alone in the earth. (2.) It is not
for the increase and continuance of his kind. God could have made a world of
men at first, to replenish the earth, as he replenished heaven with a world of
angels: but the place would have been too strait for the designed number of men
to live together at once; therefore God saw fit to make up that number by a
succession of generations, which, as God had formed man, must be from two, and
those male and female; one will be ever one.
2. How God graciously resolved to provide
society for him. The result of this reasoning concerning him was this kind
resolution, I will make a help-meet for him; a help like him (so some read it),
one of the same nature and the same rank of beings; a help near him (so
others), one to cohabit with him, and to be always at hand; a help before him
(so others), one that he should look upon with pleasure and delight. Note
hence, (1.) In our best state in this world we have need of one another's help;
for we are members one of another, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have
no need of thee, 1 Cor. xii. 21. We must therefore be glad to receive help from
others, and give help to others, as there is occasion. (2.) It is God only who
perfectly knows our wants, and is perfectly able to supply them all, Phil. iv.
19. In him alone our help is, and from him are all our helpers. (3.) A suitable
wife is a help-meet, and is from the Lord. The relation is then likely to be
comfortable when meetness directs and determines the choice, and mutual
helpfulness is the constant care and endeavour, 1 Cor. vii. 33, 34. (4.)
Family-society, if it is agreeable, is a redress sufficient for the grievance
of solitude. He that has a good God, a good heart, and a good wife, to converse
with, and yet complains he wants conversation, would not have been easy and
content in paradise; for Adam himself had no more: yet, even before Eve was
created, we do not find that he complained of being alone, knowing that he was
not alone, for the Father was with him. Those that are most satisfied in God
and his favour are in the best way, and in the best frame, to receive the good
things of this life, and shall be sure of them, as far as Infinite Wisdom sees
good.
II. An instance of the creatures'
subjection to man, and his dominion over them (v. 19, 20): Every beast of the
field and every fowl of the air God brought to Adam, either by the ministry of
angels, or by a special instinct, directing them to come to man as their
master, teaching the ox betimes to know his owner. Thus God gave man livery and
seisin of the fair estate he had granted him, and put him in possession of his
dominion over the creatures. God brought them to him, that he might name them,
and so might give, 1. A proof of his knowledge, as a creature endued with the
faculties both of reason and speech, and so taught more than the beasts of the
earth and made wiser than the fowls of heaven, Job xxxv. 11. And, 2. A proof of
his power. It is an act of authority to impose names (Dan. i. 7), and of
subjection to receive them. The inferior creatures did now, as it were, do
homage to their prince at his inauguration, and swear fealty and allegiance to
him. If Adam had continued faithful to his God, we may suppose the creatures
themselves would so well have known and remembered the names Adam now gave them
as to have come at his call, at any time, and answered to their names. God gave
names to the day and night, to the firmament, to the earth, and to the sea; and
he calleth the stars by their names, to show that he is the supreme Lord of
these. But he gave Adam leave to name the beasts and fowls, as their
subordinate lord; for, having made him in his own image, he thus put some of
his honour upon him.
III. An instance of the creatures'
insufficiency to be a happiness for man: But (among them all) for Adam there
was not found a help meet for him. Some make these to be the words of Adam
himself; observing all the creatures come to him by couples to be named, he
thus intimates his desire to his Maker:--"Lord, these have all helps meet
for them; but what shall I do? Here is never a one for me." It is rather
God's judgment upon the review. He brought them all together, to see if there
were ever a suitable match for Adam in any of the numerous families of the
inferior creatures; but there was none. Observe here, 1. The dignity and
excellency of the human nature. On earth there was not its like, nor its peer
to be found among all visible creatures; they were all looked over, but it
could not be matched among them all. 2. The vanity of this world and the things
of it; put them all together, and they will not make a help-meet for man. They
will not suit the nature of his soul, nor supply its needs, nor satisfy its
just desires, nor run parallel with its never-failing duration. God creates a
new thing to be a help-meet for man--not so much the woman as the seed of the
woman.
The
Formation of Eve; Marriage Instituted. B.
C. 4004.
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.
Here
we have, I. The making of the woman, to be a help-meet for Adam. This was done
upon the sixth day, as was also the placing of Adam in paradise, though it is
here mentioned after an account of the seventh day's rest; but what was said in
general (ch. i. 27), that God made man male and female, is more distinctly
related here. Observe, 1. That Adam was first formed, then Eve (1 Tim. ii. 13),
and she was made of the man, and for the man (1 Cor. xi. 8, 9), all which are
urged there as reasons for the humility, modesty, silence, and submissiveness,
of that sex in general, and particularly the subjection and reverence which
wives owe to their own husbands. Yet man being made last of the creatures, as
the best and most excellent of all, Eve's being made after Adam, and out of
him, puts an honour upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Cor. xi. 7. If
man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the
visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust
double-refined, one remove further from the earth. 2. That Adam slept while his
wife was in making, that no room might be left to imagine that he had herein
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or been his counsellor, Isa. xl. 13. He had
been made sensible of his want of a meet help; but, God having undertaken to
provide him one, he does not afflict himself with any care about it, but lies
down and sleeps sweetly, as one that had cast all his care on God, with a
cheerful resignation of himself and all his affairs to his Maker's will and
wisdom. Jehovah-jireh, let the Lord provide when and whom he pleases. If we
graciously rest in God, God will graciously work for us and work all for good.
3. That God caused a sleep to fall on Adam, and made it a deep sleep, that so
the opening of his side might be no grievance to him; while he knows no sin,
God will take care he shall feel no pain. When God, by his providence, does
that to his people which is grievous to flesh and blood, he not only consults
their happiness in the issue, but by his grace he can so quiet and compose
their spirits as to make them easy under the sharpest operations. 4. That the
woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to
rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his
side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to
be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and without any diminution to his strength or
comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed without a scar); but in lieu
thereof he had a help meet for him, which abundantly made up his loss: what God
takes away from his people he will, one way or other, restore with advantage.
In this (as in many other things) Adam was a figure of him that was to come;
for out of the side of Christ, the second Adam, his spouse the church was
formed, when he slept the sleep, the deep sleep, of death upon the cross, in
order to which his side was opened, and there came out blood and water, blood
to purchase his church and water to purify it to himself. See Eph. v. 25, 26.
II. The marriage of the woman to Adam.
Marriage is honourable, but this surely was the most honourable marriage that
ever was, in which God himself had all along an immediate hand. Marriages (they
say) are made in heaven: we are sure this was, for the man, the woman, the
match, were all God's own work; he, by his power, made them both, and now, by
his ordinance, made them one. This was a marriage made in perfect innocency,
and so was never any marriage since, 1. God, as her Father, brought the woman
to the man, as his second self, and a help-meet for him. When he had made her,
he did not leave her to her own disposal; no, she was his child, and she must
not marry without his consent. Those are likely to settle to their comfort who
by faith and prayer, and a humble dependence upon providence, put themselves
under a divine conduct. That wife that is of God's making by special grace, and
of God's bringing by special providence, is likely to prove a help-meet for a
man. 2. From God, as his Father, Adam received her (v. 23): "This is now
bone of my bone. Now I have what I wanted, and which all the creatures could
not furnish me with, a help meet for me." God's gifts to us are to be
received with a humble thankful acknowledgment of his wisdom in suiting them to
us, and his favour in bestowing them on us. Probably it was revealed to Adam in
a vision, when he was asleep, that this lovely creature, now presented to him,
was a piece of himself, and was to be his companion and the wife of his
covenant. Hence some have fetched an argument to prove that glorified saints in
the heavenly paradise shall know one another. Further, in token of his
acceptance of her, he gave her a name, not peculiar to her, but common to her
sex: She shall be called woman, Isha, a she-man, differing from man in sex
only, not in nature--made of man, and joined to man.
III. The institution of the ordinance of
marriage, and the settling of the law of it, v. 24. The sabbath and marriage
were two ordinances instituted in innocency, the former for the preservation of
the church, the latter for the preservation of the world of mankind. It appears
(by Matt. xix. 4, 5) that it was God himself who said here, "A man must
leave all his relations, to cleave to his wife;" but whether he spoke it
by Moses, the penman, or by Adam (who spoke, v. 23), is uncertain. It should
seem, they are the words of Adam, in God's name, laying down this law to all
his posterity. 1. See here how great the virtue of a divine ordinance is; the
bonds of it are stronger even than those of nature. To whom can we be more
firmly bound than the fathers that begat us and the mothers that bore us? Yet
the son must quit them, to be joined to his wife, and the daughter forget them,
to cleave to her husband, Ps. xlv. 10, 11. 2. See how necessary it is that
children should take their parents' consent along with them in their marriage,
and how unjust those are to their parents, as well as undutiful, who marry
without it; for they rob them of their right to them, and interest in them, and
alienate it to another, fraudulently and unnaturally. 3. See what need there is
both of prudence and prayer in the choice of this relation, which is so near
and so lasting. That had need be well done which is to be done for life. 4. See
how firm the bond of marriage is, not to be divided and weakened by having many
wives (Mal. ii. 15) nor to be broken or cut off by divorce, for any cause but
fornication, or voluntary desertion. 5. See how dear the affection ought to be
between husband and wife, such as there is to our own bodies, Eph. v. 28. These
two are one flesh; let them then be one soul.
IV. An evidence of the purity and
innocency of that state wherein our first parents were created, v. 25. They
were both naked. They needed no clothes for defense against cold nor heat, for
neither could be injurious to them. They needed none for ornament. Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Nay, they needed none for
decency; they were naked, and had no reason to be ashamed. They knew not what
shame was, so the Chaldee reads it. Blushing is now the colour of virtue, but
it was not then the colour of innocency. Those that had no sin in their
conscience might well have no shame in their faces, though they had no clothes
to their backs.
