Paradise? I have to WORK in Paradise!?!

Many throughout history have wondered where the garden of Eden was. Today, we shall see . . .

8. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. The self-existent God planted, notice it does not say created, a garden in Eden and placed the man whom He had moulded. Where was the garden? In the land of Eden. Now where was the land of Eden, hmm?

10. 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. The self-existent God sprouted from the soil every tree pleasing to view and to eat; the tree of life centered the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Note that by using the Jehovah God (KJV - Lord God), Moses (the penman) shows that all owes its existence to the One that exists because He exists.

10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. Now we get further details. The garden had an irrigating stream that split into four rivers after it left the garden. I've always wanted to have a garden with fruit trees and a slow stream meandering through it.

11. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; The first river was Pison or Pishon meaning dispersive and encompassed Havilah (meaning circular) famous for its gold.
12. And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And not just good gold, but precious stones of bdellium and onyx.
13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. Gihon means stream and it encompasses Ethiopia. (I know where that is :D).
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. Hiddekel is not a Hebrew word but Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible puts forth the notion that this river is the Tigris. Notice that it flows East towards Assyria. Euphrates means to break forth, rushing. Also notice that Moses did not include a reference to where Euphrates lies. Another point to notice in reference to the location of the garden is that landmarks familiar to those reading the book of Genesis were used. These countries were not listed as being in existence prior to the flood.

15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. God assigned man a task: care for his home.

In the last post, we looked at how the writer of Genesis changes focus from God creating, to that of the beginning of man. We embarked upon his recounting of creation for man and now continue.

And the LORD (Jehovah) God (Elohim) formed (moulded/fashioned) man of the dust (clay) of the ground (soil), and breathed (blew) into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life; and man became (existed) a living (alive) soul (breathing creature, will).

We are now introduced to another aspect of Him who created us. In Genesis 1, we saw God existing before time, heavens or earth. Here, the writer tells us that the same God, Elohim, is Self existent and eternal. The One who exists in and of Himself (has no creator or beginning nor end) created man by moulding as a potter moulds a lump of clay into a pot or a cup or vase, etc, man from the clay of the soil.

Once fashioned into a shape pleasing to the moulder (God), God then breathed or blew or instilled in the nostrils of man the spirit of life. Once that spirit existed in man we are told that man became or existed an alive and breathing creature. The word for breathing creature can also be translated as soul or will. It is translated as soul 419 times in the OT and as will only 4 times. Other translations are life, person, heart, and mind all denoting the intelligent part of man. This verse also shows how that we are made with a spirit, in other words; in the image of God.

This one verse explains how it is that man is different from any other creature in creation. It tells us: 1.) God moulded man. 2.) God instilled the spirit of life in man. 3.) Man became a living will or soul. No where else is this terminology applied to anything else in the creation. We are different yet we share something in common with the animals: God created us. How magnificent is our God!!

Christian

The Story of Creation

Well, folks. I have just finished resting a bit, myself. Time to get back into the Scriptures.

As we begin to read, once again in Genesis 2, I notice that the tone of the penman or rather his focus changes. In the first chapter and up to this point in chapter 2, the writer has dealt very concisely with the chronological order focusing upon God creating. From now on, he deals with the story of the creation with the focal point being man.

This is the history of the creation of the creation of the heavens and the earth. In the day that Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens, Here we have the transition from the chronological account to the detail account as I call it. As I read the term history, a picture comes into focus of facts being given detail. Like a lawyer before judge and jury presents the facts of the case and then paints for the courtroom a story of what transpired. We notice that day is again used here and have to again ask, is it literal 24 hours or figurative with a definitive phrase? This time, it is figurative with the definitive phrase "that Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens,". This is not, therefore, a separate creation rather it is details of the creation.

the earth had no grass, and no vegetation had yet sprouted, for Jehovah God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the soil. The author of Genesis records that in the time of creation, the earth had neither grass nor vegetation for there was neither rain nor a man to till the soil. The fact that man was not around to tend the earth is an interesting reason for there being no grass or vegetation. We know that grass will grow with or without man today. But without man or rain, grass will not grow. The same holds true if we take rain out of the equation. Grass will grow without rain so long as man tends and waters it himself, but take away man while there is no rain . . . and it dies. So there wasn't any rain and there wasn't any man and there wasn't any vegetation.

A vapor arose from the earth and watered the ground.
Now we have water which means that the grass and vegetation will grow. God provides, how bountiful is our God!?!

Christian