A Garden in Eden – Genesis 2:4-9

British gardener Tim Ingram writes about the purpose of gardens and compares what his purpose has been to that of a fellow gardener in Wales: “She views a garden as a work of art worthy of the same critical appraisal as fine literature, music or paintings. Whereas I see a garden more as a botanical collection that relates to the origins of plants and as a resource for propagation, and simply as a place to learn.”  He notes that gardens can be both.  Here is the common human definition of what is useful as opposed to what is beautiful.  God’s garden was both.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:4–9, ESV)

Verse 4 is a header for chapter 2-5 and the story of Adam, though all the other uses of this phrase “these are the generations” (Genesis 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12,19; 36:1,9; 37:2), mentions a human individual and this one says it is the generations of “the heavens and the earth.”  Perhaps it is because Adam’s generations cover the entire population of the Earth.

Though Genesis 1 indicates that plants were created on the third day, Moses mentions Adam’s creation from the dust of the ground before making bushes and plants at least in the area where God plants a garden.  The reason he says God did not create these plants was there was no rain and there was no one to work the ground, though there was a mist that watered the ground.  But once there were humans to work this garden, it could be planted and there could be rain to sustain it.  A garden is a planned and cultivated growth of plants, as opposed to wild growth.  Though wild growth is beautiful, the order and care taken in a garden is a different kind of beauty that shows man’s dominion over creation.

Some of the other creation stories from the ancient near east mention humans being made from dust, but also want to put part of the gods blood mixed in with the dust, an attempt, perhaps, to recognize the godlike nature of human beings.  But Yahweh Elohim (first mention of Yahweh being the more specific title of God) breathes into Adam to give him life.  Adam is then placed in this garden, which is in a region called Eden, to work the garden.  Work is a good part of creation, not a part of the curse.  In the garden all work would be productive and successful.  God works and humans work.

God puts in the garden every tree that is beautiful to look at and useful for food.  For God, utility is not limited to food stuffs but also includes beauty.  We can make items, like cars, that are useful for transportation, but we also appreciate how they look.  The same for buildings, homes, furniture, etc.  God desires beauty, and so do we.

Yahweh Elohim also puts the trees of Life and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden.  Their importance and usefulness will become apparent later.