Genesis 2:4-25 : RHS Commentary

 

Genesis 2:4-25

Genesis 2:4 “Generations” translates toldot, a form of the verb yeled which means “to give birth.”  So this second creation story is the story of the birth of the heavens and the earth, followed by the births of Adam and of Eve and of the importance of birth. The phrase, “these are the generations of . . . (elah toldot)” occurs 9 more times in the book of Genesis, each one listing someone’s descendants. [Genesis 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9,  and 37:2]

Genesis 2:4 Note that the name for God used throughout the Garden of Eden story is “the LORD God,” or jehovah elohim.

Elohim  is a Hebrew plural word translated as "God."  It typically denotes: strength; a bull or ox; an oak tree (or terebinth) . 

Some rabbis teach that elohim is used in scriptural accounts teaching about  obedience, law, and order. Note that elohim is used in the Genesis 1 creation account;  God spoke and all creation obeyed. 

The King James Translators used “LORD” in place of the Hebrew YHVH or Yahweh [V and W both translate the letter, vav]. This Hebrew word translates into English as 'Jehovah.'    German has no letter ‘Y’, so when Martin Luther was translating the Old Testament into German, YHWH or Yahweh became Jehovah.  These 4 Hebrew letters – YHVH -  are called the tetragrammaton, or 4-letter "unspoken" name of God.  This Hebrew name is spoken only by the Aaronic high priest in the temple on the Day of Atonement.  Modern Hebrew Bibles use adoni (My Lord) or haShem (the Name) in place of YHVH.   The King James translators may have been copying Jewish translators when they decided to use the CAPITALIZED 4 letter English word ‘LORD’ wherever YHVH shows up in the Hebrew text. 

For some rabbis, Jehovah is the name of God often associated with scripture stories where mercy and forgiveness are central, as in this story of Adam and Eve.

Genesis 2:5 “There was not a man to till the ground” uses word play.  Adam translates as the generic “man”; adamah translates as “ground.”  Thus humans are “earthlings.”

Genesis 2:7  The LORD God formed “the man” (ha adam) from the dust of “the ground (ha adamah). Ha is Hebrew for the definite article, “the.”

Note that the man is ‘formed’ (yatsar) from the ground, much like a potter forms a clay pot.

“Life” translates the Hebrew chaim (from the verb chai, or ‘living). Another form of this verb is chava or “Eve,” the name given to the woman after the fall.

Genesis 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden “eastward” in Eden.  One might ask, ‘East of what?’ Well, east of where God is. Note that later, in the tabernacle and temple, the high priest walk eastward out of the Holy of Holies, through the vail, into the holy place. This center room of the temple is decorated with trees and cherubim. The menorah, or candlestick – which is a stylized tree with a trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit – stands in the middle of this garden setting. “East” is also used in the Eden story in Genesis 3:24 and 4:16.

“Eden” transliterates the Hebrew ‘eden, which means pleasure, delight, and fertility.

Genesis 2:9  Note that the tree of life (ets ha chaim) and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (ets ha da’at tob v’rah) are both described as ‘pleasant to the sight and good for food.’

Genesis 2:10-14 The names of these four rivers suggest a Middle Eastern/North African setting for the garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:15 “Dress” translates the Hebrew avodah, which means “to work, labor, serve or worship [temple work]).  “Keep” translates the Hebrew shomer, which means “to guard or protect, to observe.” These words will later be used to describe serving God and keeping His commandments.

Genesis 2:18 “Help meet” is not one word but two.  They describe someone who is ‘a helper suited to the task.’  Note that in the Old Testament, one who ‘helps’ is not subordinate to the person they are assisting; rather, they have skills or knowledge needed for a task.  The person most often described in the biblical text as ‘a helper’ is God.

Genesis 2:21-22 The Hebrew word tsela is translated as “rib” only in these two verses.  The other 40x it is used in the Old Testament refer to architectural structures, such as side rooms of the temple, or the side walls of the temple lined with cedar, or the two sides or leaves of the temple doors, or the sides of the ark of the covenant.

Genesis 2:22 “Made” translates the Hebrew banah, which is better translated as “built.”  This verb is also the root meaning of the Hebrew words ben (son), eben (stone), and beth (house, family or daughter).  The Hebrew idiom “to be built up” (used of women like Sarah [Gen. 16:2] or Rachel [Gen. 30:3) means “to become the mother of a family or to acquire children.”

Genesis 2:23 “Bone” translates the Hebrew etsem which may be related to the Hebrew word ets which means “tree, or wood.”  Sometimes a human skeleton is poetically compared to a tree growing inside a person.

Genesis 2:24 “Cleave [or cling to ]” translates the Hebrew dabaq , which also describes our relationship with God.  In Deut. 13:4, several words from Genesis 2 are used: “Ye shall walk after the LORD [yhvh] your God [elohim], and fear him, and keep [shomer] his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve [avodah] him, and cleave [dabaq] unto him.”