Genesis 2https://t.co/IcfdROb6aY
— Ryan Ropero (@ryanropero) December 4, 2024
Genesis Chapter 2
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%202&version=GNV
2 God resteth the seventh day, and sanctifieth it. 15 He setteth man in the garden. 22 He createth the woman. 24 Marriage is ordained.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the [a]host of them.
Host
It is interesting that the term “Host” is (tsaba: Host, army, service, warfare. ) is used to refer to all of creation.
Was creation created as an army? for war? or was this foreshadowing for the coming battle between good and evil?
It also used a couple of other places in the bible as a
Deuteronomy 4:19
19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Psalm 33:6
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the [a]host of them.
Host – Hebrew
tsaba: Host, army, service, warfare
Original Word: צָבָא
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: tsaba
Pronunciation: tsaw-BAH
Phonetic Spelling: (tsaw-baw’)
Definition: Host, army, service, warfare
Meaning: a mass of persons, reg, organized for, war, a campaign
Word Origin: Derived from the root verb צָבָא (tsaba), meaning “to wage war” or “to serve.”
Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: – G4756 (stratia): Often used in the New Testament to refer to a host or army, particularly in a celestial context (e.g., Luke 2:13).
- G4753 (stratologeo): To enlist soldiers, reflecting the concept of service or warfare.
Usage: The Hebrew word “tsaba” primarily refers to an organized group, often a military force or army. It can also denote the concept of service or duty, particularly in a military context. In the Bible, “tsaba” is frequently used to describe the armies of Israel, the celestial hosts (angels), and the service of the Levites in the tabernacle.
Cultural and Historical Background: In ancient Israel, the concept of “tsaba” was integral to both military and religious life. The Israelites often viewed their battles as spiritual endeavors, with God as the commander of their armies. The term also extends to the heavenly realm, where “tsaba” describes the hosts of angels serving God. The Levites’ service in the tabernacle is another form of “tsaba,” highlighting the idea of dedicated service to God.
2 For in the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and the seventh day he [b]rested from all his work, which he had made.
3 So God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.
4 These are the [d]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, neither was there a man to till the ground,6 But a mist went up from the earth, and watered all the earth.
shrub
Interesting to read that shrubs did not exist yet because man had not cultivated the land.
English Standard Version:
5Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted; for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6But springsc welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
7 The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed in his face breath of life, and the man was a living soul.
Yahweh
God name is a literal breath. You cannot help to breathe when you say it.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden Eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had made.
Eden
“Paradise” or “ Pleasure”
The Garden of Eden was aptly named because it reflects the meaning of the noun עדן (eden). The Garden in Genesis was luxurious, well-watered and extremely fertile. Genesis 2:9 says that every tree in the garden was pleasing to look at and good for food. This garden in Genesis was so renowned for its fertility that it became the epitome of a lush and luxuriant living environment (Isaiah 51:3).
The verb עדן (adan) appears only once in the Hebrew Bible (Neh. 9:25), and means “to delight in” or “to enjoy the good life.” Nehemiah recalls the Israelites delighting in the abundance of vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees of the promised land.
I think it’s also important to note that the Garden is in Eden. Eden is a place on earth and the Garden is in that location. You could almost say the Garden in Eden. Like “Central Park in New York City”.
Holy of Holies
The Garden of Eden is very reminiscent of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple. Eden would be the outer courts. But God dwells in the Holy of Holies aka The Garden. It is why sin cannot enter.
The Temple Layout
9 (For out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for meat: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and of evil.
10 And out of Eden went a river to water the garden, and from thence it was divided, and became into four heads.
11 The name of one is Pishon: the same compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where 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 compasseth the whole land of Cush.14 And the name of the [third] river is Hiddekel: this goeth toward the East side of Ashshur: and the fourth river is Parah)
Gihon
Potentially an underground river
1. The second river of Eden, surrounding the whole land of Cush or Ethiopia (Gen. ii. 13). Its identification has been a matter of dispute among Biblical exegetes and critics. Josephus (” Ant. ” i. 1, § 3) identifies Gihon with the Nile, and the Septuagint renders “Sihor” (the Nile; Jer. ii. 18) by Γηών. But the Midrash and later commentators, as Saadia and Rashi, think Pison, the first river of Eden, to be the Nile. The Arabs call the Oxus “Jaiḥun,” and it has been assumed by certain critics to be the “Gihon” of the Bible. The fact is that the identification of Gihon depends on that of Cush. Huet identifies Cush with Chusistan, and Bochart identifies it with Susiana; apparently, therefore, Gihon must be sought among Asiatic rivers, and it may be the Oxus, the Orontes, or the Ganges. But the medieval commentators, following the Septuagint, considered Cush to be Ethiopia, thus making Gihon an African river. Abraham Farissol, speaking of the position of Eden (“Iggeret Orḥot ‘Olam,” ch. xxx.), identifies Pison with the Nile, and speaks of Gihon in a way which led his annotator, Thomas Hyde (Ugolinus, “Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum,” vii.), to think that he meant the Niger. Placing Eden in the region of the Mountains of the Moon, Farissol removes the difficulty presented by the fact that the Euphrates and Tigris are in Asia by declaring that these rivers, though taking their rise in Africa, actually run underground till they reappear in Assyria (comp. Pausanias, ii. 5).
Cush
In biblical texts, the Hebrew word Cush appears to refer to any land south of northern Egypt, which could include present-day Ethiopia or Sudan. Indeed, some modern translations even use the term Ethiopia to translate the underlying Hebrew term (e.g., the NRSV). The implication is that this land was a kingdom to the south of Israel, but it was not Egypt and its inhabitants were not Egyptian. In most instances, biblical texts use Cush (the land) and Cushites (the people)
Perat
The Perat is identified as the Euphrates River, which runs almost parallel to the Tigris. Together, these two rivers defined a large part of the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization in ancient times. The name “Euphrates” is the Greek version of the Old Persian Ufrātu and the Akkadian Purattu, and even today the river is called al-Furāt in Arabic.
The Euphrates River is later mentioned in G‑d’s promise to Abraham regarding the Land of Israel, and is used as one of the defining borders of the Promised Land.4 We are also told that there was a time when Jewish civilization had spread so far that members of the tribe of Reuben were living all the way to the banks of the Euphrates!5
15 Then the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, that he might [r]dress it, and keep it.
Adam was not created in the Garden of Eden
Adam was created outside of it and then brought into it.
Adam could come and go from the garden.
He was to dress and keep the garden. To take care of it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, [t]Thou shalt eat freely of every tree of the garden,
17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for [u]in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the [v]death.
18 Also the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be himself alone: I will make him an help meet for him.
19 So the Lord God formed of the earth every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heaven, and brought them unto the [x]man to see how he would call them: for howsoever the man named the living creature, so was the name thereof.
20 The man therefore gave names unto all cattle, and to the fowl of the heaven, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam found he not an helper meet for him.
Names
I think Adam actually named them, not classified them. You name things that you love.
This wasnt about classification or identifing species.
- God had already classified them “cattle, beast of the field, and fowl of heaven”
- The animals where not afraid of Adam. Sin had not yet entered the world.
- Esv “ He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one”
- God did not bring one of each kind, he brought every one.
21 ¶ Therefore the Lord God caused an heavy sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in stead thereof.
22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of the man.
24 Therefore shall man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Naked
“For before sin entered, all things were honest” – Bible Gateway
innocent, pure
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