Man in Innocency before the Fall

Genesis 2:4-45

1. The earth his abode (Genesis 2:4-6)

2. The creation of man (Genesis 2:7)

3. The garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-14)

4. Man in the garden. His commission (Genesis 2:15-17)

a. To keep the garden

b. The commandment

5. No helpmeet for Adam found (Genesis 2:18-20)

6. The formation of the woman (Genesis 2:21-22)

7. The union (Genesis 2:23-25)

This is not a new version of the creation or a repetition of the account in the preceding chapter. The relationships of the created man to nature and to His Creator are now more specifically introduced. The name of God appears now no longer as “Elohim” but another name precedes the word Elohim; it is the name “Jehovah.” This name is used because it is the name of God in relationship with man. Jehovah is the Son of God.

In Genesis 2:7 we have the creation of man revealed. Jehovah God formed him out of the dust of the earth; He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Here is that which distinguishes man from the beast. The animals also are living souls, but not immortal. Man alone became a living soul by the inbreathing of Jehovah Elohim and that constitutes man immortal.

The garden of Eden was situated in a fertile, pleasant plain, somewhere near the two streams still known by their names, the Euphrates and the Tigris (Hiddekel). The tree of life represents Christ, while the rivers of water are clearly the types of the Holy Spirit. What the tree of knowledge of good and evil was no one knows. The command was given to test man in his innocency. Adam unfallen had not the knowledge of good and evil. That knowledge was acquired by the fall. The test, therefore, involved not some great moral evil but simply the authority and right of God to prohibit something. The tree of knowledge then represented responsibility.

“Thou shalt surely die” means literally “dying thou shalt die.” This does not mean “eternal death,” but “physical death.”

The formation of the woman is highly typical. Adam is the figure of Him who was to come (Romans 5:14), the last Adam. Here Christ and the Church are foreshadowed. The deep sleep into which Adam was put by Jehovah Elohim is typical of the death of the cross, The woman, built out of his side, is the type of the Church. As the helpmeet of Adam was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh and also the bride of Adam, so is the church the body and the bride of Christ. The woman was brought to Adam and presented to him. But Christ will present the Church to Himself (Ephesians 5:27). Marriage is indicated in Genesis 2:24 and quoted in Matthew 19:5, 1Corinthians 6:16, and Ephesians 5:31. Both were naked, the suitable condition for innocence.