Creation of the Garden Sanctuary (Gen 2:8

(ה ָיּ͏ ַח שׁ͏ ֶפ ֶנ).

¹⁴⁹

It is both the physical body being made from the dust of the earth, and the

breath of life from God that makes man a living being;

¹⁵⁰

not just the soul and not just the

material. It is not that man has a body or man has a soul, but that man exists as body and

soul.

¹⁵¹

Man is unique because he is made in the image and likeness of God and has been

given the breath of life from God; the animals have neither.

¹⁵²

This twofold distinction of

being made in the image and likeness of God as well as having the breath of life from God

is a central theme to my thesis and will be addressed further throughout this dissertation.

the temple in ANE context was the center of the cosmic space.

¹⁵⁴

The creation story is here zooming all the way down and focusing on the garden as a sanctuary as the center of the chiasm of the creation of man and woman.

Summary statement (2:8). Similar to how chapter 1 is set up, the garden is first formed before it is filled. Verse 8, however, is a simple heading that explains verses 9–17. The first half of verse 8 is a summary of the forming of the garden which will occur in verse 9–14; the second half of verse 8 is a summary of the filling of the garden that will occur in verse 15–17. After God makes the man, he plants a garden in Eden in the east.

¹⁵⁵

The meaning of “Eden” is somewhat unknown. Most follow that it is a second root from the cognate “delight.”

¹⁵⁶

Cassuto thinks that it comes from a Ugaritic cognate meaning

“well-watered,” but Wenham says this is a misunderstanding of the Ugaritic. It should simply be seen similar to its homonym “pleasure, delight.” It is a place of God’s blessing and presence; it is where God dwells.

¹⁵⁷

After God has planted the garden, he places the man there which he formed.

Forming the garden (2:9–14). Now that both the reasons that no shrub of the field or vegetation of the field were found in 2:5 have been remedied, God forms the garden. Every tree that is desirable to look at and good for food is made to sprout there.

¹⁵⁸

In addition to these trees, God also plants two other trees in the middle of the garden—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The purpose of these trees will

154Walton,Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology, 107. However, Walton thinks that the whole cosmos is the temple in this case.

155Theן ִמprefix here is locative. SeeDCH5:342.

156HALOT, 792.

157Cassuto,A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1:107–8; Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 61.

158ץ ֵﬠ͏־ל ָכּ͏is a group treated as a whole—“all/every kind of tree,” GKC §127b, c; Williams, Williams’ Hebrew Syntax, §105; Joüon §139h.

be seen later.

¹⁵⁹

The tree of life is well known in the ANE context; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not.

¹⁶⁰

In verse 10 a river comes out from Eden to irrigate the garden and then diverges into four rivers.

¹⁶¹

The river follows the sanctuary theme and is seen in Ezekiel 47:1–12 and Psalm 46:5.

¹⁶²

Verses 11 through 14 then describe the four branches that flow from this river. Two of them are well known; the other two are not. Interestingly the two that are not well known have the most description. Even the stones in verse 12 are difficult to interpret.

¹⁶³

There are many options for what the first two rivers are.

¹⁶⁴

Perhaps the point is that they are difficult to pinpoint. The garden is somewhere east of Israel, and should not be a physical place that we should try to find, since after 3:24 it is inaccessible.

¹⁶⁵

The fact that precious stones and gold are found in the ground and do not grow on trees is another polemic against the ANE myths.

¹⁶⁶

Filling the garden (2:15–17). The next three verses have to do with filling the garden. After the summary statement in 2:8a, the particulars are here set out.

¹⁶⁷

Since it was made for man, the filling has to do with placing man in the garden, and instructing

159The purpose of the tree of life is seen in chapter three when the man and the woman are cast from the garden—it produced life, Ross,Creation and Blessing, 123.

160Cassuto,A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1:112.

161The participleא ֵצֹיdenotes duration, GKC §107d.

162Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 65.

163The LXX apparently had no idea what they were either. The Hexaplaric witnesses think onyx.

See Wevers,Notes on the Greek Text of Genesis, 28.

164Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 65; Cassuto,A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1:116–18.

165Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 67. It is also possible that after the flood the rivers would not have traced the same route.

166Cassuto,A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1:119.

167Cassuto,A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, 1:121. There is no reason to see either 2:8a or 2:14 as expressing a pluperfect idea. The narrative is advancing in both with the waw–consecutive

imperfect. Therefore they should be seen as in logical sequence.

him. God took the man and set him in the garden.

¹⁶⁸

The purpose of putting the man in the garden is to work and to keep it. This is interesting because these two verbs are used for priestly service in the tabernacle and for religious commands.

¹⁶⁹

The garden is again seen with temple imagery.

¹⁷⁰

Man was also expected to work before the fall, and man’s work is service to Yahweh. Again, man was not created in order to relieve the burden of the gods, as in ANE myths. Instead, man works, and that work is pleasing to Yahweh.

In verse 16 God commands the man that he is “surely allowed” to eat from any tree in the garden.

¹⁷¹

Verse 17 continues the statement in contrast.

¹⁷²

From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the man was never allowed to eat.

¹⁷³

For in the day that man ate from it, he would most certainly die.

¹⁷⁴

The motive clause given after the prohibition is characteristic of God’s law.

¹⁷⁵

The temple imagery, the use of God’s covenant name, the prohibition and motive clause, and the divine presence all point to the covenantal nature of the interaction here in the garden. The importance of this will be seen in Genesis 9.

168McDowell argues that this verse is similar in imagery to the ceremonies in Mesopotamia for creating a living manifestation of the god. The second hiphil is used here forחונ(HALOT, 679), which is used in the OT for the cultic implementation of divine images. See McDowell,The Image of God in the Garden of Eden, 157–58.

169Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 67.

170Bauckham wants to remove the idea of humans as the priests of creation. He does this out of an idea that creation does not need man to praise God on its behalf. See Richard Bauckham, “Joining

Creation’s Praise of God,”Ecotheology7, no. 1 (2002): 45–59. This is too narrow a view of the priestly service of man before Yahweh, however.

171The use of an infinitive absolute with a verb of the same cognate expresses the verity of the statement. SeeBHRG§20.2/1; GKC §113p; Joüon §123h.

172The disjunctive waw on a non-verbal form in continuity of setting introduces a contrast with the previous clause. SeeIBHS§39.2.3b; Andersen,The Sentence in Biblical Hebrew, 181.

173אֹל+imperfect gives a permanent prohibition. See GKC §107o;BHRG§41.5/8; Williams, Williams’ Hebrew Syntax, §396.

174The prepositional phraseםֺוי ְבּ͏is before the verb to put stress on it. See Williams,Williams’

Hebrew Syntax, §575a. Again, the cognate verb with an infinitive absolute stresses the certainty of the event. Putting the infinitive absolute before the verb puts stress on the verb—“you will surelydie.” See GKC §113n, p; Williams,Williams’ Hebrew Syntax, §205;BHRG§20.2/1, 19.3/1;IBHS§31.6.2a.

175Wenham,Genesis 1–15, 67.

What does eating from the tree do? Most likely it has to do with choosing moral autonomy over obedience to God’s commands.

¹⁷⁶

“Good and evil” in the OT have to do with judgment between right and wrong. This judgment comes from God.

¹⁷⁷

Therefore

“good and evil” function like a yes or no answer—will you obey?

¹⁷⁸

The death that is

envisioned certainly entails physical death. The condemnation is most likely that man

would be prohibited from eating of the tree of life and obtaining immortality.

¹⁷⁹

Therefore

he would remain in his already mortal state.

¹⁸⁰

Dalam dokumen BREATH OF LIFE: A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN–ANIMAL DISTINCTION AND A CRITIQUE OF (Halaman 69-73)

Creation of the Garden Sanctuary (Gen 2:8–17)

(ה ָיּ͏ ַח שׁ͏ ֶפ ֶנ).

It is both the physical body being made from the dust of the earth, and the

breath of life from God that makes man a living being;

not just the soul and not just the

material. It is not that man has a body or man has a soul, but that man exists as body and

soul.

Man is unique because he is made in the image and likeness of God and has been

given the breath of life from God; the animals have neither.

This twofold distinction of

being made in the image and likeness of God as well as having the breath of life from God

is a central theme to my thesis and will be addressed further throughout this dissertation.

the temple in ANE context was the center of the cosmic space.

The creation story is here zooming all the way down and focusing on the garden as a sanctuary as the center of the chiasm of the creation of man and woman.

The meaning of “Eden” is somewhat unknown. Most follow that it is a second root from the cognate “delight.”

Cassuto thinks that it comes from a Ugaritic cognate meaning

“well-watered,” but Wenham says this is a misunderstanding of the Ugaritic. It should simply be seen similar to its homonym “pleasure, delight.” It is a place of God’s blessing and presence; it is where God dwells.

After God has planted the garden, he places the man there which he formed.

Forming the garden (2:9–14). Now that both the reasons that no shrub of the field or vegetation of the field were found in 2:5 have been remedied, God forms the garden. Every tree that is desirable to look at and good for food is made to sprout there.

In addition to these trees, God also plants two other trees in the middle of the garden—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The purpose of these trees will

be seen later.

The tree of life is well known in the ANE context; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not.

In verse 10 a river comes out from Eden to irrigate the garden and then diverges into four rivers.

The river follows the sanctuary theme and is seen in Ezekiel 47:1–12 and Psalm 46:5.

Verses 11 through 14 then describe the four branches that flow from this river. Two of them are well known; the other two are not. Interestingly the two that are not well known have the most description. Even the stones in verse 12 are difficult to interpret.

There are many options for what the first two rivers are.

Perhaps the point is that they are difficult to pinpoint. The garden is somewhere east of Israel, and should not be a physical place that we should try to find, since after 3:24 it is inaccessible.

The fact that precious stones and gold are found in the ground and do not grow on trees is another polemic against the ANE myths.

Filling the garden (2:15–17). The next three verses have to do with filling the garden. After the summary statement in 2:8a, the particulars are here set out.

Since it was made for man, the filling has to do with placing man in the garden, and instructing

him. God took the man and set him in the garden.

The purpose of putting the man in the garden is to work and to keep it. This is interesting because these two verbs are used for priestly service in the tabernacle and for religious commands.

The garden is again seen with temple imagery.

Man was also expected to work before the fall, and man’s work is service to Yahweh. Again, man was not created in order to relieve the burden of the gods, as in ANE myths. Instead, man works, and that work is pleasing to Yahweh.

In verse 16 God commands the man that he is “surely allowed” to eat from any tree in the garden.

Verse 17 continues the statement in contrast.

From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the man was never allowed to eat.

For in the day that man ate from it, he would most certainly die.

The motive clause given after the prohibition is characteristic of God’s law.

The temple imagery, the use of God’s covenant name, the prohibition and motive clause, and the divine presence all point to the covenantal nature of the interaction here in the garden. The importance of this will be seen in Genesis 9.

What does eating from the tree do? Most likely it has to do with choosing moral autonomy over obedience to God’s commands.

“Good and evil” in the OT have to do with judgment between right and wrong. This judgment comes from God.

Therefore

“good and evil” function like a yes or no answer—will you obey?

The death that is

envisioned certainly entails physical death. The condemnation is most likely that man

would be prohibited from eating of the tree of life and obtaining immortality.

Therefore

he would remain in his already mortal state.