Man's
relationship with God: the special manner of his creation
In chapter 2 we have man's
relationship with God, and his own portion as such. Hence
the LORD [1]
God is introduced: not merely God as a creator, but God
in relationship with those He has created. Hence we have
the special manner of man's creation.
The Garden of Eden
Only a word or two is
called for as to the garden. It was a place of delights.
Eden means pleasure. It has wholly disappeared, and it
was meant that it should; only we find, by two at least
of the rivers, that it was on this earth substantially as
we have it. Jehovah Elohim had formed the man, Jehovah
Elohim had planted the garden. The river of God to water
the earth had its rise there. The fresh springs of God
are found in the place of His delight. Man was set there
to dress and keep it. Man and the earth are both now in
ruin.
The two trees:
man's responsibility in obedience and a sovereign source
of life
But we have in this
chapter, more particularly, the special relationship of
man with God, with his wife (type of Christ and His
church), with the creation; and the two great principles,
from which everything flows as regards man, established
in the garden where man was placed in blessing; namely,
responsibility in obedience, and a sovereign source of
life—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and
the tree of life. In these two things, in conciliating
these two, lies the lot of every man [2]. It is impossible out of Christ.
It is the question raised in the law, and answered in
grace in Christ. The law put life as the result of the
perfect obedience of him who knew good and evil, that is,
made it depend on the result of our responsibility.
Christ, having undergone the consequence of man's having
failed, becomes (in the power of a life which had gained
the victory over death which was the consequence of that
disobedience) a source of life eternal that evil could
not reach, and that in a righteousness perfect according
to a work which has taken away all guilt from him that
has share in it, a righteousness moreover in which we
stand before God according to His own mind and righteous
will and nature, according to His own glory. His
priesthood [3]
applies to the details of the development of this life in
the midst of evil, and the place of divine perfectness in
which we are set by His work, and reconciles our present
infirmities with our divinely given place before God. In
the garden the knowledge of good and evil did not yet
exist: obedience only in refraining from an act, which
was no sin if it had not been forbidden, constituted the
test. It was not a prohibition of sin as at Sinai, and a
claim of good when good and evil were known.
Man in contrast
with every other creature
The condition of man, in
contrast with every other creature here below, found its
source in this, that, instead of springing from the earth
or water by the sole word of God, as a living being, man
was formed and fashioned from the dust, and God places
him in immediate relationship, as a living being, with
Himself; inasmuch as he becomes a living being through
God Himself's breathing into his nostrils the breath of
life.
Man by his
derivation of life in immediate relationship with God
All animated creatures are
called living souls, and said to have the breath of life;
but God did not breathe into the nostrils of any in order
to their becoming living souls. Man was, by his
existence, in immediate relationship with God, as
deriving his life immediately from Himself; hence he is
called in Acts 17 the offspring of God, and in Luke it is
said "the [son] of Adam the [son] of God."
Adam's
relationship with God, his wife, and the inferior
creation
It is important to
consider this chapter as laying down, in a special
manner, all the principles of the relationship of man,
whether with God, with his wife, or with the inferior
creation. Here were all things in their own order as
creatures of God in connection with the earth; but man's
labour not the means of their growth and fruitfulness.
Nor did rain from heaven minister fruitfulness from
above. The mist that watered it rose from the earth,
drawn up by power and blessing, but not coming down. Yet
man was, as to his place, in a peculiar one in reference
to God. Man did not dwell in heaven; God did not dwell on
earth. But God had formed a place of peculiar blessing
and delight for man's habitation, and there He visited
him. Out of this garden, where he was placed by the hand
of God as sovereign of the world, flowed rivers which
watered and characterised the world without. Upon Adam
reposed the duty of obedience. The image of God upon
earth, in the absence of evil from his nature, and as the
centre of a vast system around him and in connection with
him, his own proper blessing was in his immediate
connection and intercourse with God, according to the
place he was set in.
Adam's blessing
secured by dependence on and intercourse with God
As soon as God had
redeemed a people, He dwelt among them. His abiding
presence is the consequence of redemption and through it
only (Ex. 29: 46). Here He created, blessed, and visited.
Adam, created the conscious centre of all around him, had
his blessing and security in dependence on and
intercourse with God. This, as we shall see, he
forfeited, and became the craving centre of his own
wishes and ambition, which he could never satisfy.
The position of
the first and innocent Adam
Earthly nature then in its
perfection, with man, in relationship with God by
creation and the breath of life that was in him, for its
centre; enjoyment; a source of abiding life, and a means
of putting responsibility to the test; the sources of
universal refreshment to the world without; and if
continuing in his created condition, blessed intercourse
with God on this ground such was the position of the
first and innocent Adam. That he might not be alone here,
but have a companion, fellowship, and the enjoyment of
affection, God formed—not another man, for then the
one were not a centre—but out of the one man
himself, his wife, that the union might be the most
absolute and intimate possible, and Adam head and centre
of all. He receives her, moreover, from the hand of God
Himself. Such was nature around man: what God always
owns, and man never sins against with impunity, though
sin has spoiled it all; the picture of what Christ, the
church, and the universe shall be at the end in power in
the obedient man. As yet all was innocence, unconscious
of evil.
[1]
That is Jehovah Elohim, a personal name as well as
Godhead. It was important too that Israel should know
that their God was the original Creator of all. Still it
is only used when special ways and connection with man
are introduced. The distinction of Jehovistic and
Elohistic documents is the merest child's play, and flows
from entire ignorance of the ways and mind of God. There
is always a reason for one or the other. Elohim is simply
God; Jehovah is the acting governing person in time
though self-existing, who abides ever the same and having
to do with others, who is, and was, and is to come.
[2] In Eden the two principles were
there, obedience and life; man failed, incurred death,
and was excluded from life there. The law did not treat
man as lost, though it proves him so, but takes up the
two principles and makes life dependent on obedience.
Christ takes the consequence of failure for us on the
cross, and is the source of divine life to us, and that
in a new resurrection state.
[3] The difference between priesthood
and advocacy will be treated in its place in John and
Hebrews. I only remark here that priesthood refers to
help and access to God, advocacy to failure.
Genesis 2 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
In chapter 2 we have man's relationship with God, and his own portion as such. Hence the LORD [1] God is introduced: not merely God as a creator, but God in relationship with those He has created. Hence we have the special manner of man's creation.
The Garden of Eden
Only a word or two is called for as to the garden. It was a place of delights. Eden means pleasure. It has wholly disappeared, and it was meant that it should; only we find, by two at least of the rivers, that it was on this earth substantially as we have it. Jehovah Elohim had formed the man, Jehovah Elohim had planted the garden. The river of God to water the earth had its rise there. The fresh springs of God are found in the place of His delight. Man was set there to dress and keep it. Man and the earth are both now in ruin.
The two trees: man's responsibility in obedience and a sovereign source of life
But we have in this chapter, more particularly, the special relationship of man with God, with his wife (type of Christ and His church), with the creation; and the two great principles, from which everything flows as regards man, established in the garden where man was placed in blessing; namely, responsibility in obedience, and a sovereign source of life—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. In these two things, in conciliating these two, lies the lot of every man [2]. It is impossible out of Christ. It is the question raised in the law, and answered in grace in Christ. The law put life as the result of the perfect obedience of him who knew good and evil, that is, made it depend on the result of our responsibility. Christ, having undergone the consequence of man's having failed, becomes (in the power of a life which had gained the victory over death which was the consequence of that disobedience) a source of life eternal that evil could not reach, and that in a righteousness perfect according to a work which has taken away all guilt from him that has share in it, a righteousness moreover in which we stand before God according to His own mind and righteous will and nature, according to His own glory. His priesthood [3] applies to the details of the development of this life in the midst of evil, and the place of divine perfectness in which we are set by His work, and reconciles our present infirmities with our divinely given place before God. In the garden the knowledge of good and evil did not yet exist: obedience only in refraining from an act, which was no sin if it had not been forbidden, constituted the test. It was not a prohibition of sin as at Sinai, and a claim of good when good and evil were known.
Man in contrast with every other creature
The condition of man, in contrast with every other creature here below, found its source in this, that, instead of springing from the earth or water by the sole word of God, as a living being, man was formed and fashioned from the dust, and God places him in immediate relationship, as a living being, with Himself; inasmuch as he becomes a living being through God Himself's breathing into his nostrils the breath of life.
Man by his derivation of life in immediate relationship with God
All animated creatures are called living souls, and said to have the breath of life; but God did not breathe into the nostrils of any in order to their becoming living souls. Man was, by his existence, in immediate relationship with God, as deriving his life immediately from Himself; hence he is called in Acts 17 the offspring of God, and in Luke it is said "the [son] of Adam the [son] of God."
Adam's relationship with God, his wife, and the inferior creation
It is important to consider this chapter as laying down, in a special manner, all the principles of the relationship of man, whether with God, with his wife, or with the inferior creation. Here were all things in their own order as creatures of God in connection with the earth; but man's labour not the means of their growth and fruitfulness. Nor did rain from heaven minister fruitfulness from above. The mist that watered it rose from the earth, drawn up by power and blessing, but not coming down. Yet man was, as to his place, in a peculiar one in reference to God. Man did not dwell in heaven; God did not dwell on earth. But God had formed a place of peculiar blessing and delight for man's habitation, and there He visited him. Out of this garden, where he was placed by the hand of God as sovereign of the world, flowed rivers which watered and characterised the world without. Upon Adam reposed the duty of obedience. The image of God upon earth, in the absence of evil from his nature, and as the centre of a vast system around him and in connection with him, his own proper blessing was in his immediate connection and intercourse with God, according to the place he was set in.
Adam's blessing secured by dependence on and intercourse with God
As soon as God had redeemed a people, He dwelt among them. His abiding presence is the consequence of redemption and through it only (Ex. 29: 46). Here He created, blessed, and visited. Adam, created the conscious centre of all around him, had his blessing and security in dependence on and intercourse with God. This, as we shall see, he forfeited, and became the craving centre of his own wishes and ambition, which he could never satisfy.
The position of the first and innocent Adam
Earthly nature then in its perfection, with man, in relationship with God by creation and the breath of life that was in him, for its centre; enjoyment; a source of abiding life, and a means of putting responsibility to the test; the sources of universal refreshment to the world without; and if continuing in his created condition, blessed intercourse with God on this ground such was the position of the first and innocent Adam. That he might not be alone here, but have a companion, fellowship, and the enjoyment of affection, God formed—not another man, for then the one were not a centre—but out of the one man himself, his wife, that the union might be the most absolute and intimate possible, and Adam head and centre of all. He receives her, moreover, from the hand of God Himself. Such was nature around man: what God always owns, and man never sins against with impunity, though sin has spoiled it all; the picture of what Christ, the church, and the universe shall be at the end in power in the obedient man. As yet all was innocence, unconscious of evil.
[1] That is Jehovah Elohim, a personal name as well as Godhead. It was important too that Israel should know that their God was the original Creator of all. Still it is only used when special ways and connection with man are introduced. The distinction of Jehovistic and Elohistic documents is the merest child's play, and flows from entire ignorance of the ways and mind of God. There is always a reason for one or the other. Elohim is simply God; Jehovah is the acting governing person in time though self-existing, who abides ever the same and having to do with others, who is, and was, and is to come.
[2] In Eden the two principles were there, obedience and life; man failed, incurred death, and was excluded from life there. The law did not treat man as lost, though it proves him so, but takes up the two principles and makes life dependent on obedience. Christ takes the consequence of failure for us on the cross, and is the source of divine life to us, and that in a new resurrection state.
[3] The difference between priesthood and advocacy will be treated in its place in John and Hebrews. I only remark here that priesthood refers to help and access to God, advocacy to failure.