Nielsen’s Nook

The following is my rendering of the main texts for this series on the Tree of Wisdom in Genesis 2.

(8) And YHWH God [1] planted a garden in Eden in the east [2] and there he placed the man [3] that he had fashioned. [4]

(9) And out of the ground YHWH God caused to sprout [6] every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. Now in the midst of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

…

(15) And YHWH God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep watch over it.

(16) And YHWH God commanded the man saying, “From every tree of the garden you may surely eat.

(17) But from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you are not to eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will surely die. [6]

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1. Kidner notes that YHWH God (yehwah ‘elohim, יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים) is a “rare, almost unique, double name” used. (Genesis, 58)

2. The eastern region, the east. Refers to where the Garden was relative to something - i.e., east of what? Perhaps east of Sinai where the Israelites were with Moses.

3. The man or human being (ha’adam, הָאָדָם ) is in connection to the earth, ground or land (ha’adamah, הָאֲדָמָה ).

4. he had fashioned, formed, create out of existing material.

5. To sprout or have grow (tsamah, צָמַח ). This word looks back to Genesis 2:5 where “no bush of the field was in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up.” Now in contrast trees had sprung up, not mere small shrubs.

6. The two absolute constructions in vv 16 and 17 layout a stark contrast. It is God who caused all the fruitful trees to grow that there may be trees from which the man might surely eat (’acal to’cel, אָכֹל תֹּאכֵל). There is clear picture here of God both creating and sustaining the life of the man. In contrast the absolute construction used in verse 17 follows. The man may surely eat from any tree excepting one. God’s intention is not at this time to sustain the life of the man by the eating of this tree’s fruit. Consequently, if the man were to assert himself against YHWH God’s will here there would be certain death, he would surely die (mot tamut, מוֹת תָּמוּת).