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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Genesis, Chapter II].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1></center>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<A NAME="Page12"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>G E N E S I S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter is an appendix to the history of the creation, more
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particularly explaining and enlarging upon that part of the history
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which relates immediately to man, the favourite of this
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lower world. We have in it,
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I. The institution and sanctification
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of the sabbath, which was made for man, to further his holiness
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and comfort
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>).
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II. A more particular account of man's
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creation, as the centre and summary of the whole work
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:1-7">ver. 1-7</A>).
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III. A description of the garden of Eden, and the placing of man
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in it under the obligations of a law and covenant
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:8-17">ver. 8-17</A>).
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IV. The creation of the woman, her marriage to the man, and
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the institution of the ordinance of marriage
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:18-25">ver. 18</A>, &c.).</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ge2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>
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1 Thus the heavens and the earth
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were finished, and all the host of
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them.
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2 And on the seventh day
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God ended his work which he had
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made; and he rested on the seventh
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day from all his work which he had
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made.
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3 And God blessed the
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seventh day, and sanctified it: because
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that in it he had rested from all
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his work which God created and made.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here,
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I. The settlement of the
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kingdom of nature, in God's resting from the
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work of creation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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Here observe,
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1. The creatures made both in heaven and
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earth are the <I>hosts</I> or <I>armies</I> of them, which
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denotes them to be numerous, but marshalled,
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disciplined, and under command.
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How great is the sum of them! And yet
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every one knows and keeps his place. God
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uses them as his hosts for the defence of his
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people and the destruction of his enemies;
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for he is the Lord of hosts, of all these hosts,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:35">Dan. iv. 35</A>.
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2. The heavens and the earth
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are finished pieces, and so are all the creatures
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in them. So perfect is God's work that
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<A NAME="Page13"> </A>
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nothing can be added to it nor taken from it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:14">Eccl. iii. 14</A>.
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God that began to build showed
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himself well able to finish.
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3. After the end
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of the first six days God ceased from all
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works of creation. He has so ended his work
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as that though, in his providence, he worketh
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hitherto
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+5:17">John v. 17</A>),
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preserving and governing
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all the creatures, and particularly forming
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the spirit of man within him, yet he does not
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make any new species of creatures. In miracles,
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he has controlled and overruled nature,
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but never changed its settled course, nor repealed
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nor added to any of its establishments.
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4. The eternal God, though infinitely happy
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in the enjoyment of himself, yet took a satisfaction
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in the work of his own hands. He
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did not rest, as one weary, but as one well-pleased
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with the instances of his own goodness
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and the manifestations of his own glory.</P>
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<P>
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II. The commencement of the kingdom of
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grace, in the sanctification of the sabbath
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day,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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He rested on that day, and took
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a complacency in his creatures, and then
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sanctified it, and appointed us, on that day,
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to rest and take a complacency in the Creator;
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and his rest is, in the fourth commandment,
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made a reason for ours, after six days' labour.
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Observe,
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1. The solemn observance of one
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day in seven, as a day of holy rest and holy
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work, to God's honour, is the indispensable
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duty of all those to whom God has revealed
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his holy sabbaths.
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2. The way of sabbath-sanctification
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is the good old way,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:16">Jer. vi. 16</A>.
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Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I
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see no reason to doubt that the sabbath,
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being now instituted in innocency, was religiously
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observed by the people of God
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throughout the patriarchal age.
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3. The
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sabbath of the Lord is truly honourable, and
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we have reason to honour it--honour it for
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the sake of its antiquity, its great Author,
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the sanctification of the first sabbath by the
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holy God himself, and by our first parents in
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innocency, in obedience to him.
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4. The
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sabbath day is a blessed day, for God blessed
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it, and that which he blesses is blessed
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indeed. God has put an honour upon it, has
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appointed us, on that day, to bless him, and
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has promised, on that day, to meet us and
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bless us.
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5. The sabbath day is a holy day,
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for God has sanctified it. He has separated
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and distinguished it from the rest of the
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days of the week, and he has consecrated it
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and set it apart to himself and his own service
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and honour. Though it is commonly
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taken for granted that the Christian sabbath
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we observe, reckoning from the creation, is
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not the seventh but the first day of the week,
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yet being a seventh day, and we in it, celebrating
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the rest of God the Son, and the
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finishing of the work of our redemption, we
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may and ought to act faith upon this original
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institution of the sabbath day, and to commemorate
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the work of creation, to the honour
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of the great Creator, who is therefore worthy
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to receive, on that day, blessing, and honour,
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and praise, from all religious assemblies.</P>
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<A NAME="Ge2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge2_7"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Creation.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>
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4 These <I>are</I> the generations of the
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heavens and of the earth when they
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were created, in the day that the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God made the earth and the
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heavens,
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5 And every plant of the
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field before it was in the earth, and
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every herb of the field before it grew:
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for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God had not caused it to
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rain upon the earth, and <I>there was</I> not
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a man to till the ground.
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6 But there
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went up a mist from the earth, and watered
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the whole face of the ground.
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7 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God formed man
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<I>of</I> the dust of the ground, and breathed
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into his nostrils the breath of life;
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and man became a living soul.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses,
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I. Here is a name given
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to the Creator which we have not yet met
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with, and that is <I>Jehovah</I>--the LORD, in
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capital letters, which are constantly used in
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our English translation to intimate that in
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the original it is <I>Jehovah.</I> All along, in the
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first chapter, he was called <I>Elohim--a God
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of power;</I> but now <I>Jehovah Elohim--a God
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of power and perfection,</I> a finishing God. As
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we find him known by his name Jehovah
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when he appeared to perform what he had
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promised
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+6:3">Exod. vi. 3</A>),
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so now we have him
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known by that name, when he had perfected
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what he had begun. <I>Jehovah</I> is that great
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and incommunicable name of God which
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denotes his having his being of himself, and
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his giving being to all things; fitly therefore
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is he called by that name now that heaven
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and earth are finished.</P>
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<P>
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II. Further notice taken of the production
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of plants and herbs, because they were made
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and appointed to be food for man,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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Here observe,
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1. The earth did not bring
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forth its fruits of itself, by any innate virtue
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of its own but purely by the almighty power
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of God, which formed every plant and every
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herb before it grew in the earth. Thus
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grace in the soul, that plant of renown, grows
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not of itself in nature's soil, but is the work
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of God's own hands.
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2. Rain also is the
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gift of God; it came not till <I>the Lord God
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caused it to rain.</I> If rain be wanted, it is
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God that withholds it; if rain come plentifully
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in its season, it is God that sends it; if
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it come in a distinguishing way, it is God
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that <I>causeth it to rain upon one city and not
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upon another,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+4:7">Amos iv. 7</A>.
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3. Though God,
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ordinarily, works by means, yet he is not tied
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to them, but when he pleases he can do his
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own work without them. As the plants were
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produced before the sun was made, so they
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were before there was either rain to water
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the earth or man to till it. Therefore though
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we must not tempt God in the neglect of
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means, yet we must trust God in the want
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of means.
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4. Some way or other God will
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take care to water the plants that are of his
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<A NAME="Page14"> </A>
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own planting. Though as yet there was no
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rain, God made a mist equivalent to a shower,
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and with it <I>watered the whole face of the
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ground.</I> Thus he chose to fulfil his purpose
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by the weakest means, <I>that the excellency of the
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power might be of God.</I> Divine grace descends
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like a mist, or silent dew, and waters
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the church without noise,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:2">Deut. xxxii. 2</A>.</P>
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<P>
|
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III. A more particular account of the
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|
creation of man,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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Man is a little world,
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consisting of heaven and earth, soul and body.
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Now here we have an account of the origin
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of both and the putting of both together:
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let us seriously consider it, and say, to our
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Creator's praise, We are <I>fearfully and wonderfully
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made,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:14">Ps. cxxxix. 14</A>.
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Elihu, in the
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patriarchal age, refers to this history when
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he says
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:6">Job xxxiii. 6</A>),
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<I>I also am formed out
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of the clay,</I> and
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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<I>The breath of the Almighty
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hath given me life,</I> and
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+32:8"><I>ch.</I> xxxii. 8</A>),
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<I>There is a spirit in man.</I> Observe then,</P>
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<P>
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1. The mean origin, and yet the curious
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structure, of the body of man.
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(1.) The matter
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was despicable. He was made <I>of the dust of
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the ground,</I> a very unlikely thing to make a
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man of; but the same infinite power that
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made the world of nothing made man, its
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master-piece, of next to nothing. He was
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made of the dust, the small dust, such as is
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upon the surface of the earth. Probably,
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not dry dust, but dust moistened with the
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mist that went up,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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He was not made
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of gold-dust, powder of pearl, or diamond
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dust, but common dust, dust of the ground.
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Hence he is said to be of the earth, <B><I>choikos</I></B>--<I>dusty,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:47">1 Cor. xv. 47</A>.
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And we also are of the
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earth, for we are his offspring, and of the
|
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same mould. So near an affinity is there
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|
between the earth and our earthly parents
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|
that our mother's womb, out of which we
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were born, is called <I>the earth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:15">Ps. cxxxix. 15</A>),
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and the earth, in which we must be buried,
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is called our <I>mother's womb,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:21">Job i. 21</A>.
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Our foundation is in the earth,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+4:19">Job iv. 19</A>.
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Our fabric is earthly, and the fashioning of it like
|
|
that of an earthen vessel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:9">Job x. 9</A>.
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Our food
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is out of the earth,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+28:5">Job xxviii. 5</A>.
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Our familiarity is with the earth,
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+17:14">Job xvii. 14</A>.
|
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Our fathers are in the earth, and our own
|
|
final tendency is to it; and what have we
|
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then to be proud of?
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(2.) Yet the Maker
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was great, and the make fine. The Lord
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God, the great fountain of being and power,
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formed man. Of the other creatures it is
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said that they were <I>created</I> and <I>made;</I> but of
|
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man that he was <I>formed,</I> which denotes a
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gradual process in the work with great
|
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accuracy and exactness. To express the
|
|
creation of this new thing, he takes a new
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word, a word (some think) borrowed from
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the potter's forming his vessel upon the
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|
wheel; for we are the clay, and God the
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|
potter,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:8">Isa. lxiv. 8</A>.
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|
The body of man is
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|
curiously wrought,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:15,16">Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16</A>.
|
|
<I>Materiam superabat opus--The workmanship exceeded
|
|
the materials.</I> Let us present our
|
|
bodies to God as living sacrifices
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+12:1">Rom. xii. 1</A>),
|
|
as living temples
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+6:19">1 Cor. vi. 19</A>),
|
|
and then
|
|
these vile bodies shall shortly be new-formed
|
|
like Christ's glorious body,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:21">Phil. iii. 21</A>.</P>
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<P>
|
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|
2. The high origin and the admirable serviceableness
|
|
of the soul of man.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It
|
|
takes its rise from the breath of heaven, and
|
|
is produced by it. It was not made of the
|
|
earth, as the body was; it is a pity then that
|
|
it should cleave to the earth, and mind earthly
|
|
things. It came immediately from God; he
|
|
gave it to be put into the body
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:7">Eccl. xii. 7</A>),
|
|
as afterwards he gave the tables of stone of
|
|
his own writing to be put into the ark, and
|
|
the <I>urim</I> of his own framing to be put into
|
|
the breast-plate. Hence God is not only the
|
|
former but the Father of spirits. Let the soul
|
|
which God has breathed into us breathe after
|
|
him; and let it be for him, since it is from
|
|
him. Into his hands let us commit our
|
|
spirits, for from his hands we had them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It takes its lodging in a house of clay, and is
|
|
the life and support of it. It is by it that
|
|
man is a living soul, that is, a living man;
|
|
for the soul is the man. The body would
|
|
be a worthless, useless, loathsome carcase,
|
|
if the soul did not animate it. To God that
|
|
gave us these souls we must shortly give an
|
|
account of them, how we have employed
|
|
them, used them, proportioned them, and
|
|
disposed of them; and if then it be found
|
|
that we have lost them, though it were
|
|
to gain the world, we shall be undone for
|
|
ever. Since the extraction of the soul is so
|
|
noble, and its nature and faculties are so
|
|
excellent, let us not be of those fools that
|
|
despise their own souls, by preferring their
|
|
bodies before them,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+15:32">Prov. xv. 32</A>.
|
|
When our Lord Jesus anointed the blind man's
|
|
eyes with clay perhaps he intimated that it
|
|
was he who at first formed man out of the
|
|
clay; and when he <I>breathed on his disciples,
|
|
saying, Receive you the Holy Ghost,</I> he intimated
|
|
that it was he who at first breathed
|
|
into man's nostrils the breath of life. He
|
|
that made the soul is alone able to new-make
|
|
it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_15"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Garden of Eden.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>
|
|
8 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God planted a
|
|
garden eastward in Eden; and there
|
|
he put the man whom he had formed.
|
|
9 And out of the ground made the
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God to grow every tree
|
|
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
|
|
food; the tree of life also in the
|
|
midst of the garden, and the tree of
|
|
knowledge of good and evil.
|
|
10 And
|
|
a river went out of Eden to water the
|
|
garden; and from thence it was
|
|
parted, and became into four heads.
|
|
11 The name of the first <I>is</I> Pison:
|
|
that <I>is</I> it which compasseth the whole
|
|
land of Havilah, where <I>there is</I> gold;
|
|
12 And the gold of that land <I>is</I> good;
|
|
there <I>is</I> bdellium and the onyx stone.
|
|
13 And the name of the second river
|
|
<I>is</I> Gihon: the same <I>is</I> it that compasseth
|
|
the whole land of Ethiopia.
|
|
14 And the name of the third river <I>is</I>
|
|
Hiddekel: that <I>is</I> it which goeth toward
|
|
the east of Assyria. And the
|
|
fourth river <I>is</I> Euphrates.
|
|
15 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God took the man, and put
|
|
him into the garden of Eden to dress
|
|
it and to keep it.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Man consisting of body and soul, a body
|
|
made out of the earth and a rational immortal
|
|
soul the breath of heaven, we have, in
|
|
these verses, the provision that was made
|
|
for the happiness of both; he that made him
|
|
took care to make him happy, if he could
|
|
but have kept himself so and known when
|
|
he was well off. That part of man by which
|
|
he is allied to the world of sense was made
|
|
happy; for he was put in the paradise of
|
|
God: that part by which he is allied to the
|
|
world of spirits was well provided for; for
|
|
he was taken into covenant with God. Lord,
|
|
what is man that he should be thus dignified--man
|
|
that is a worm! Here we have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. A description of the garden of
|
|
Eden, which was intended for the mansion and
|
|
demesne of this great lord, the palace of this
|
|
prince. The inspired penman, in this history,
|
|
writing for the Jews first, and calculating
|
|
his narratives for the infant state of
|
|
the church, describes things by their outward
|
|
sensible appearances, and leaves us,
|
|
by further discoveries of the divine light, to
|
|
be led into the understanding of the mysteries
|
|
couched under them. Spiritual things
|
|
were strong meat, which they could not yet
|
|
bear; but he writes to them as unto carnal,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:1">1 Cor. iii. 1</A>.
|
|
Therefore he does not so much
|
|
insist upon the happiness of Adam's mind as
|
|
upon that of his outward state. The Mosaic
|
|
history, as well as the Mosaic law, has
|
|
rather the patterns of heavenly things than
|
|
the heavenly things themselves,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:23">Heb. ix. 23</A>.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The place appointed for Adam's residence
|
|
was a garden; not an ivory house nor
|
|
a palace overlaid with gold, but a garden,
|
|
furnished and adorned by nature, not by art.
|
|
What little reason have men to be proud of
|
|
stately and magnificent buildings, when it
|
|
was the happiness of man in innocency that
|
|
he needed none! As clothes came in with
|
|
sin, so did houses. The heaven was the roof
|
|
of Adam's house, and never was any roof so
|
|
curiously ceiled and painted. The earth was
|
|
his floor, and never was any floor so richly
|
|
inlaid. The shadow of the trees was his
|
|
retirement; under them were his
|
|
dining-rooms, his lodging-rooms, and never were any
|
|
rooms so finely hung as these: Solomon's,
|
|
in all their glory, were not arrayed like them.
|
|
The better we can accommodate ourselves to
|
|
plain things, and the less we indulge ourselves
|
|
with those artificial delights which
|
|
have been invented to gratify men's pride and
|
|
luxury, the nearer we approach to a state of
|
|
innocency. Nature is content with a little
|
|
and that which is most natural, grace with
|
|
less, but lust with nothing.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The contrivance and furniture of this
|
|
garden were the immediate work of God's
|
|
wisdom and power. The Lord God planted
|
|
this garden, that is, he <I>had</I> planted it--upon
|
|
the third day, when the fruits of the earth
|
|
were made. We may well suppose to have
|
|
been the most accomplished place for pleasure
|
|
and delight that ever the sun saw, when the
|
|
all-sufficient God himself designed it to be
|
|
the present happiness of his beloved creature,
|
|
man, in innocency, and a type and a figure
|
|
of the happiness of the chosen remnant in
|
|
glory. No delights can be agreeable nor satisfying
|
|
to a soul but those that God himself
|
|
has provided and appointed for it; no true
|
|
paradise, but of God's planting. The light
|
|
of our own fires, and the sparks of our own
|
|
kindling, will soon leave us in the dark,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:11">Isa. l. 11</A>.
|
|
The whole earth was now a paradise
|
|
compared with what it is since the fall and
|
|
since the flood; the finest gardens in the
|
|
world are a wilderness compared with what
|
|
the whole face of the ground was before it
|
|
was cursed for man's sake: yet that was not
|
|
enough; God planted a garden for Adam.
|
|
God's chosen ones shall have distinguishing
|
|
favours shown them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The situation of this garden was extremely
|
|
sweet. It was in <I>Eden,</I> which signifies
|
|
<I>delight</I> and <I>pleasure.</I> The place is here
|
|
particularly pointed out by such marks and
|
|
bounds as were sufficient, I suppose, when
|
|
Moses wrote, to specify the place to those
|
|
who knew that country; but now, it seems,
|
|
the curious cannot satisfy themselves concerning
|
|
it. Let it be our care to make sure
|
|
a place in the heavenly paradise, and then
|
|
we need not perplex ourselves with a search
|
|
after the place of the earthly paradise. It is
|
|
certain that, wherever it was, it had all desirable
|
|
conveniences, and (which never any
|
|
house nor garden on earth was) without any
|
|
inconvenience. Beautiful for situation, the
|
|
joy and the glory of the whole earth, was this
|
|
garden: doubtless it was earth in its highest
|
|
perfection.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The trees with which this garden was
|
|
planted.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It had all the best and choicest
|
|
trees in common with the rest of the ground.
|
|
It was beautiful and adorned with every tree
|
|
that, for its height or breadth, its make or
|
|
colour, its leaf or flower, was pleasant to the
|
|
sight and charmed the eye; it was replenished
|
|
and enriched with every tree that yielded
|
|
fruit grateful to the taste and useful to the
|
|
body, and so good for food. God, as a tender
|
|
Father, consulted not only Adam's profit,
|
|
but his pleasure; for there is a pleasure
|
|
consistent with innocency, nay, there is a true
|
|
and transcendent pleasure in innocency.
|
|
God delights in the prosperity of his servants,
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page16"> </A>
|
|
|
|
and would have them easy; it is owing to
|
|
themselves if they be uneasy. When Providence
|
|
puts us into an Eden of plenty and
|
|
pleasure, we ought to <I>serve him with joyfulness
|
|
and gladness of heart,</I> in the abundance
|
|
of the good things he gives us. But,
|
|
|
|
(2.) It
|
|
had two extraordinary trees peculiar to itself;
|
|
on earth there were not their like.
|
|
|
|
[1.] There was the <I>tree of life in the midst of the
|
|
garden,</I> which was not so much a memorandum
|
|
to him of the fountain and author of his
|
|
life, nor perhaps any natural means to preserve
|
|
or prolong life; but it was chiefly intended
|
|
to be a sign and seal to Adam, assuring
|
|
him of the continuance of life and
|
|
happiness, even to immortality and everlasting
|
|
bliss, through the grace and favour of
|
|
his Maker, upon condition of his perseverance
|
|
in this state of innocency and obedience.
|
|
Of this he might eat and live. Christ
|
|
is now to us the tree of life
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:7,22:2">Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 2</A>),
|
|
and the <I>bread of life,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+6:48,53">John vi. 48, 53</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] There was <I>the tree of the knowledge of
|
|
good and evil,</I> so called, not because it had
|
|
any virtue in it to beget or increase useful
|
|
knowledge (surely then it would not have
|
|
been forbidden), but, <I>First,</I> Because there
|
|
was an express positive revelation of the
|
|
will of God concerning this tree, so that by
|
|
it he might know moral good and evil. What
|
|
is good? It is good not to eat of this tree.
|
|
What is evil? It is evil to eat of this tree.
|
|
The distinction between all other moral good
|
|
and evil was written in the heart of man by
|
|
nature; but this, which resulted from a positive
|
|
law, was written upon this tree. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
Because, in the event, it proved to
|
|
give Adam an experimental knowledge of
|
|
good by the loss of it and of evil by the
|
|
sense of it. As the covenant of grace has in
|
|
it, not only <I>Believe and be saved,</I> but also,
|
|
<I>Believe not and be damned</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+16:16">Mark xvi. 16</A>),
|
|
so the covenant of innocency had in it, not only
|
|
"Do this and live," which was sealed and
|
|
confirmed by the tree of life, but, "Fail and
|
|
die," which Adam was assured of by this
|
|
other tree: "Touch it at your peril;" so that,
|
|
in these two trees, God set before him <I>good and
|
|
evil, the blessing and the curse,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:19">Deut. xxx. 19</A>.
|
|
These two trees were as two sacraments.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. The rivers with which this garden was
|
|
watered,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:10-14"><I>v.</I> 10-14</A>.
|
|
These four rivers (or
|
|
one river branched into four streams) contributed
|
|
much both to the pleasantness and
|
|
the fruitfulness of this garden. The land of
|
|
Sodom is said to be <I>well watered every where,
|
|
as the garden of the Lord,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+13:10"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 10</A>.
|
|
Observe, That which God plants he will take
|
|
care to keep watered. The trees of righteousness
|
|
are set by the rivers,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+1:3">Ps. i. 3</A>.
|
|
In the
|
|
heavenly paradise there is a river infinitely
|
|
surpassing these; for it is a river of the
|
|
water of life, not coming out of Eden, as this,
|
|
but proceeding out of the throne of God and
|
|
of the Lamb
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Rev+22:1">Rev. xxii. 1</A>),
|
|
a river that <I>makes
|
|
glad the city of our God,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:4">Ps. xlvi. 4</A>.
|
|
Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon, which
|
|
we read of elsewhere. By these the captive
|
|
Jews sat down and <I>wept, when they remembered
|
|
Sion</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:1">Ps. cxxxvii. 1</A>);
|
|
but methinks
|
|
they had much more reason to weep (and so
|
|
have we) at the remembrance of Eden.
|
|
Adam's paradise was their prison; such
|
|
wretched work has sin made. Of the land
|
|
of Havilah it is said
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
<I>The gold of that
|
|
land is good,</I> and <I>there is bdellium and the
|
|
onyx-stone:</I> surely this is mentioned that the
|
|
wealth of which the land of Havilah boasted
|
|
might be as foil to that which was the glory
|
|
of the land of Eden. Havilah had gold, and
|
|
spices, and precious stones; but Eden had
|
|
that which was infinitely better, the tree of
|
|
life, and communion with God. So we may
|
|
say of the Africans and Indians: "They have
|
|
the gold, but we have the gospel. The gold
|
|
of their land is good, but the riches of ours
|
|
are infinitely better."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The placing of man in this paradise of
|
|
delight,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>,
|
|
where observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How God put him in possession of it:
|
|
<I>The Lord God took the man, and put him into
|
|
the garden of Eden;</I> so
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:8,15"><I>v.</I> 8, 15</A>.
|
|
Note here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Man was made <I>out</I> of paradise; for, after
|
|
God had formed him, he put him into the
|
|
garden: he was made of common clay, not
|
|
of paradise-dust. He lived out of Eden before
|
|
he lived in it, that he might see that all
|
|
the comforts of his paradise-state were owing
|
|
to God's free grace. He could not plead a
|
|
tenant-right to the garden, for he was not
|
|
born upon the premises, nor had any thing
|
|
but what he received; all boasting was hereby
|
|
for ever excluded.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The same God that
|
|
was the author of his being was the author
|
|
of his bliss; the same hand that made him a
|
|
living soul planted the tree of life for him,
|
|
and settled him by it. He that made us is
|
|
alone able to make us happy; he that is the
|
|
former of our bodies and the Father of our
|
|
spirits, he, and none but he, can effectually
|
|
provide for the felicity of both.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It adds
|
|
much to the comfort of any condition if we
|
|
have plainly seen God going before us and
|
|
putting us into it. If we have not forced
|
|
providence, but followed it, and taken the
|
|
hints of direction it has given us, we may
|
|
hope to find a paradise where otherwise we
|
|
could not have expected it. See
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+47:4">Ps. xlvii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. How God appointed him business and
|
|
employment. He put him there, not like
|
|
Leviathan into the waters, to play therein,
|
|
but to dress the garden and to keep it. Paradise
|
|
itself was not a place of exemption
|
|
from work. Note, here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) We were none
|
|
of us sent into the world to be idle. He that
|
|
made us these souls and bodies has given us
|
|
something to work with; and he that gave us
|
|
this earth for our habitation has made us
|
|
something to work on. If a high extraction,
|
|
or a great estate, or a large dominion, or
|
|
perfect innocency, or a genius for pure contemplation,
|
|
or a small family, could have
|
|
given a man a writ of ease, Adam would not
|
|
have been set to work; but he that gave us
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
being has given us business, to serve him and
|
|
our generation, and to work out our salvation:
|
|
if we do not mind our business, we are
|
|
unworthy of our being and maintenance.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Secular employments will vary well consist
|
|
with a state of innocency and a life of
|
|
communion with God. The sons and heirs
|
|
of heaven, while they are here in this world,
|
|
have something to do about this earth, which
|
|
must have its share of their time and thoughts;
|
|
and, if they do it with an eye to God, they
|
|
are as truly serving him in it as when they
|
|
are upon their knees.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The husbandman's
|
|
calling is an ancient and honourable
|
|
calling; it was needful even in paradise.
|
|
The garden of Eden, though it needed not
|
|
to be weeded (for thorns and thistles were
|
|
not yet a nuisance), yet must be dressed and
|
|
kept. Nature, even in its primitive state,
|
|
left room for the improvements of art and
|
|
industry. It was a calling fit for a state of
|
|
innocency, making provision for life, not for
|
|
lust, and giving man an opportunity of admiring
|
|
the Creator and acknowledging his
|
|
providence: while his hands were about his
|
|
trees, his heart might be with his God.
|
|
|
|
(4.) There is a true pleasure in the business which
|
|
God calls us to, and employs us in. Adam's
|
|
work was so far from being an allay that it
|
|
was an addition to the pleasures of paradise;
|
|
he could not have been happy if he had
|
|
been idle: it is still a law, He that will not
|
|
work has no right to eat,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+3:10,Pr+27:23">2 Thess. iii. 10; Prov. xxvii. 23</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The command which God gave to
|
|
man in innocency, and the covenant he then
|
|
took him into. Hitherto we have seen God
|
|
as man's powerful Creator and his bountiful
|
|
Benefactor; now he appears as his Ruler and
|
|
Lawgiver. God put him into the garden of
|
|
Eden, not to live there as he might list, but
|
|
to be under government. As we are not
|
|
allowed to be idle in this world, and to do
|
|
nothing, so we are not allowed to be wilful,
|
|
and do what we please. When God had
|
|
given man a dominion over the creatures, he
|
|
would let him know that still he himself was
|
|
under the government of his Creator.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Tree of Knowledge Prohibited.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>
|
|
16 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God commanded
|
|
the man, saying, Of every tree of the
|
|
garden thou mayest freely eat:
|
|
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of
|
|
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
|
|
it: for in the day that thou eatest
|
|
thereof thou shalt surely die.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Observe here,
|
|
|
|
I. God's authority over man,
|
|
as a creature that had reason and freedom of
|
|
will. The Lord God commanded the man,
|
|
who stood now as a public person, the father
|
|
and representative of all mankind, to receive
|
|
law, as he had lately received a nature, for
|
|
himself and all his. God commanded all the
|
|
creatures, according to their capacity; the
|
|
settled course of nature is a law,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+148:6,Ps+104:9">Ps. cxlviii. 6; civ. 9</A>.
|
|
The brute-creatures have their
|
|
respective instincts; but man was made capable
|
|
of performing reasonable service, and
|
|
therefore received, not only the command of
|
|
a Creator, but the command of a Prince and
|
|
Master. Though Adam was a very great
|
|
man, a very good man, and a very happy
|
|
man, yet the Lord God commanded him;
|
|
and the command was no disparagement to
|
|
his greatness, no reproach to his goodness,
|
|
nor any diminution at all to his happiness.
|
|
Let us acknowledge God's right to rule us,
|
|
and our own obligations to be ruled by him;
|
|
and never allow any will of our own in contradiction
|
|
to, or competition with, the holy
|
|
will of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The particular act of this authority, in
|
|
prescribing to him what he should do, and
|
|
upon what terms he should stand with his
|
|
Creator. Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A confirmation of his present happiness
|
|
to him, in that grant, <I>Of every tree in
|
|
the garden thou mayest freely eat.</I> This was
|
|
not only an allowance of liberty to him, in
|
|
taking the delicious fruits of paradise, as a
|
|
recompence for his care and pains in dressing
|
|
and keeping it
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+9:7,10">1 Cor. ix. 7, 10</A>),
|
|
but it
|
|
was, withal, an assurance of life to him, immortal
|
|
life, upon his obedience. For the
|
|
tree of life being put <I>in the midst of the garden</I>
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
as the heart and soul of it, doubtless
|
|
God had an eye to that especially in this
|
|
grant; and therefore when, upon his revolt,
|
|
this grant is recalled, no notice is taken of
|
|
any tree of the garden as prohibited to him,
|
|
except the tree of life
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:22"><I>ch.</I> iii. 22</A>),
|
|
of which it
|
|
is there said he might have eaten and <I>lived
|
|
for ever,</I> that is, never died, nor ever lost his
|
|
happiness. "Continue holy as thou art, in
|
|
conformity to thy Creator's will, and thou
|
|
shalt continue happy as thou art in the enjoyment
|
|
of thy Creator's favour, either in this
|
|
paradise or in a better." Thus, upon condition
|
|
of perfect personal and perpetual obedience,
|
|
Adam was sure of paradise to himself
|
|
and his heirs for ever.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. A trial of his obedience, upon pain of
|
|
the forfeiture of all his happiness: "<I>But of
|
|
the</I> other tree which stood very near the tree
|
|
of life (for they are both said to be <I>in the
|
|
midst of the garden</I>), and which was called
|
|
the <I>tree of knowledge, in the day thou eatest
|
|
thereof, thou shalt surely die;</I>" as if he had
|
|
said, "Know, Adam, that thou art now
|
|
upon thy good behaviour, thou art put into
|
|
paradise upon trial; be observant, be obedient,
|
|
and thou art made for ever; otherwise
|
|
thou wilt be as miserable as now thou art
|
|
happy." Here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Adam is threatened with death in case
|
|
of disobedience: <I>Dying thou shalt die,</I> denoting
|
|
a sure and dreadful sentence, as, in
|
|
the former part of this covenant, <I>eating thou
|
|
shalt eat,</I> denotes a free and full grant. Observe
|
|
|
|
[1.] Even Adam, in innocency, was
|
|
awed with a threatening; fear is one of the
|
|
handles of the soul, by which it is taken hold
|
|
of and held. If he then needed this hedge,
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page18"> </A>
|
|
|
|
much more do we now.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The penalty
|
|
threatened is death: <I>Thou shalt die,</I> that is,
|
|
"Thou shalt be debarred from the tree of
|
|
life, and all the good that is signified by it,
|
|
all the happiness thou hast, either in possession
|
|
or prospect; and thou shalt become
|
|
liable to death, and all the miseries that preface
|
|
it and attend it."
|
|
|
|
[3.] This was
|
|
threatened as the immediate consequence of
|
|
sin: <I>In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die,</I>
|
|
that is, "Thou shalt become mortal and
|
|
capable of dying; the grant of immortality
|
|
shall be recalled, and that defence shall depart
|
|
from thee. Thou shalt become obnoxious
|
|
to death, like a condemned malefactor
|
|
that is dead in the law" (only, because Adam
|
|
was to be the root of mankind, he was reprieved);
|
|
"nay, the harbingers and forerunners
|
|
of death shall immediately seize thee,
|
|
and thy life, thenceforward, shall be a dying
|
|
life: and this, <I>surely;</I> it is a settled rule, <I>the
|
|
soul that sinneth, it shall die.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Adam is tried with a positive law, not
|
|
to eat of the fruit <I>of the tree of knowledge.</I>
|
|
Now it was very proper to make trial of his
|
|
obedience by such a command as this,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Because the reason of it is fetched purely
|
|
from the will of the Law-maker. Adam had
|
|
in his nature an aversion to that which was
|
|
evil in itself, and therefore he is tried in a
|
|
thing which was evil only because it was
|
|
forbidden; and, being in a small thing, it
|
|
was the more fit to prove his obedience by.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Because the restraint of it is laid upon
|
|
the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
|
|
which, in the corrupt nature of man, are the
|
|
two great fountains of sin. This prohibition
|
|
checked both his appetite towards sensitive
|
|
delights and his ambitions of curious knowledge,
|
|
that his body might be ruled by his
|
|
soul and his soul by his God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Thus easy, thus happy, was man in a state
|
|
of innocency, having all that heart could
|
|
wish to make him so. How good was God
|
|
to him! How many favours did he load
|
|
him with! How easy were the laws he gave
|
|
him! How kind the covenant he made with
|
|
him! Yet man, being in honour, understood
|
|
not his own interest, but soon <I>became
|
|
as the beasts that perish.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Adam's Dominion.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>
|
|
18 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God said, <I>It is</I>
|
|
not good that the man should be
|
|
alone; I will make him an help meet
|
|
for him.
|
|
19 And out of the ground
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God formed every beast of
|
|
the field, and every fowl of the air;
|
|
and brought <I>them</I> unto Adam to see
|
|
what he would call them: and whatsoever
|
|
Adam called every living creature,
|
|
that <I>was</I> the name thereof.
|
|
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle,
|
|
and to the fowl of the air, and to
|
|
every beast of the field; but for Adam
|
|
there was not found an help meet for
|
|
him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here we have,
|
|
|
|
I. An instance of the
|
|
Creator's care of man and his fatherly concern
|
|
for his comfort,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
Though God
|
|
had let him know that he was a subject, by
|
|
giving him a command,
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>),
|
|
yet here
|
|
he lets him know also, for his encouragement
|
|
in his obedience, that he was a friend,
|
|
and a favourite, and one whose satisfaction
|
|
he was tender of. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How God graciously pitied his solitude:
|
|
<I>It is not good that man, this man,
|
|
should be alone.</I> Though there was an upper
|
|
world of angels and a lower world of brutes,
|
|
and he between them, yet there being none
|
|
of the same nature and rank of beings with
|
|
himself, none that he could converse familiarly
|
|
with, he might be truly said to be
|
|
<I>alone.</I> Now he that made him knew both
|
|
him and what was good for him, better than
|
|
he did himself, and he said, "It is not good
|
|
that he should continue thus alone."
|
|
|
|
(1.) It
|
|
is not for his comfort; for man is a sociable
|
|
creature. It is a pleasure to him to exchange
|
|
knowledge and affection with those of his
|
|
own kind, to inform and to be informed, to
|
|
love and to be beloved. What God here
|
|
says of the first man Solomon says of all
|
|
men
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:9,10">Eccl. iv. 9</A>,
|
|
&c.), that <I>two are better than
|
|
one,</I> and <I>woe to him that is alone.</I> If there
|
|
were but one man in the world, what a melancholy
|
|
man must he needs be! Perfect
|
|
solitude would turn a paradise into a desert,
|
|
and a palace into a dungeon. Those therefore
|
|
are foolish who are selfish and would be
|
|
place alone in the earth.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is not for
|
|
the increase and continuance of his kind.
|
|
God could have made a world of men at first,
|
|
to replenish the earth, as he replenished
|
|
heaven with a world of angels: but the place
|
|
would have been too strait for the designed
|
|
number of men to live together at once;
|
|
therefore God saw fit to make up that number
|
|
by a succession of generations, which, as
|
|
God had formed man, must be from two,
|
|
and those male and female; one will be
|
|
ever one.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. How God graciously resolved to provide
|
|
society for him. The result of this reasoning
|
|
concerning him was this kind resolution,
|
|
<I>I will make a help-meet for him;</I> a help <I>like</I>
|
|
him (so some read it), one of the same nature
|
|
and the same rank of beings; a help <I>near</I> him
|
|
(so others), one to cohabit with him, and to
|
|
be always at hand; a help <I>before</I> him (so
|
|
others), one that he should look upon with
|
|
pleasure and delight. Note hence,
|
|
|
|
(1.) In
|
|
our best state in this world we have need of
|
|
one another's help; for we are members one
|
|
of another, and <I>the eye cannot say to the hand,
|
|
I have no need of thee,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+12:21">1 Cor. xii. 21</A>.
|
|
We must therefore be glad to receive help from
|
|
others, and give help to others, as there is
|
|
occasion.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is God only who perfectly
|
|
knows our wants, and is perfectly able to
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page19"> </A>
|
|
|
|
supply them all,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:19">Phil. iv. 19</A>.
|
|
In him alone
|
|
our help is, and from him are all our helpers.
|
|
|
|
(3.) A suitable wife is a help-meet, and is
|
|
from the Lord. The relation is then likely
|
|
to be comfortable when meetness directs and
|
|
determines the choice, and mutual helpfulness
|
|
is the constant care and endeavour,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+7:33,34">1 Cor. vii. 33, 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) Family-society, if it is agreeable,
|
|
is a redress sufficient for the grievance
|
|
of solitude. He that has a good God, a good
|
|
heart, and a good wife, to converse with, and
|
|
yet complains he wants conversation, would
|
|
not have been easy and content in paradise;
|
|
for Adam himself had no more: yet, even
|
|
before Eve was created, we do not find that
|
|
he complained of being alone, knowing that
|
|
he <I>was not alone, for the Father was with him.</I>
|
|
Those that are most satisfied in God and his
|
|
favour are in the best way, and in the best
|
|
frame, to receive the good things of this life,
|
|
and shall be sure of them, as far as Infinite
|
|
Wisdom sees good.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. An instance of the creatures' subjection
|
|
to man, and his dominion over them
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>):
|
|
<I>Every beast of the field and every fowl of the
|
|
air God brought to Adam,</I> either by the ministry
|
|
of angels, or by a special instinct,
|
|
directing them to come to man as their master,
|
|
teaching the ox betimes to know his
|
|
owner. Thus God gave man livery and seisin
|
|
of the fair estate he had granted him, and
|
|
put him in possession of his dominion over
|
|
the creatures. God brought them to him,
|
|
that he might name them, and so might give,
|
|
|
|
1. A proof of his knowledge, as a creature
|
|
endued with the faculties both of reason and
|
|
speech, and so <I>taught more than the beasts of
|
|
the earth and made wiser than the fowls of
|
|
heaven,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:11">Job xxxv. 11</A>.
|
|
And,
|
|
|
|
2. A proof of
|
|
his power. It is an act of authority to impose
|
|
names
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+1:7">Dan. i. 7</A>),
|
|
and of subjection to
|
|
receive them. The inferior creatures did now,
|
|
as it were, do homage to their prince at his
|
|
inauguration, and swear fealty and allegiance
|
|
to him. If Adam had continued faithful to
|
|
his God, we may suppose the creatures themselves
|
|
would so well have known and remembered
|
|
the names Adam now gave them
|
|
as to have come at his call, at any time, and
|
|
answered to their names. God gave names
|
|
to the day and night, to the firmament, to
|
|
the earth, and to the sea; and he <I>calleth the
|
|
stars by their names,</I> to show that he is the
|
|
supreme Lord of these. But he gave Adam
|
|
leave to name the beasts and fowls, as their
|
|
subordinate lord; for, having made him in
|
|
his own image, he thus put some of his honour
|
|
upon him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. An instance of the creatures' insufficiency
|
|
to be a happiness for man: <I>But</I> (among
|
|
them all) <I>for Adam there was not found a help
|
|
meet for him.</I> Some make these to be the
|
|
words of Adam himself; observing all the
|
|
creatures come to him by couples to be named,
|
|
he thus intimates his desire to his Maker:--"Lord,
|
|
these have all helps meet for them;
|
|
but what shall I do? Here is never a one
|
|
for me." It is rather God's judgment upon
|
|
the review. He brought them all together,
|
|
to see if there were ever a suitable match for
|
|
Adam in any of the numerous families of the
|
|
inferior creatures; but there was none. Observe
|
|
here,
|
|
|
|
1. The dignity and excellency of
|
|
the human nature. On earth there was not
|
|
its like, nor its peer to be found among all
|
|
visible creatures; they were all looked over,
|
|
but it could not be matched among them all.
|
|
|
|
2. The vanity of this world and the things of
|
|
it; put them all together, and they will not
|
|
make a help-meet for man. They will not
|
|
suit the nature of his soul, nor supply its
|
|
needs, nor satisfy its just desires, nor run
|
|
parallel with its never-failing duration. God
|
|
creates a new thing to be a help-meet for
|
|
man--not so much the woman as the seed
|
|
of the woman.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge2_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Formation of Eve; Marriage Instituted.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 4004.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>
|
|
21 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God caused a
|
|
deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he
|
|
slept: and he took one of his ribs, and
|
|
closed up the flesh instead thereof;
|
|
22 And the rib, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
God had taken from man, made he
|
|
a woman, and brought her unto the
|
|
man.
|
|
23 And Adam said, This <I>is</I>
|
|
now bone of my bones, and flesh of
|
|
my flesh: she shall be called Woman,
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|
because she was taken out of Man.
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|
24 Therefore shall a man leave his
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|
father and his mother, and shall
|
|
cleave unto his wife: and they shall
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|
be one flesh.
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|
25 And they were
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|
both naked, the man and his wife,
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|
and were not ashamed.
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|
</FONT></P>
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|
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|
<P>
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|
|
|
Here we have,
|
|
|
|
I. The making of the woman,
|
|
to be a help-meet for Adam. This was
|
|
done upon the sixth day, as was also the
|
|
placing of Adam in paradise, though it is
|
|
here mentioned after an account of the seventh
|
|
day's rest; but what was said in general
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:27"><I>ch.</I> i. 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
that God made man male and female,
|
|
is more distinctly related here. Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. That Adam was first formed, then
|
|
Eve
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+2:13">1 Tim. ii. 13</A>),
|
|
and she was made of the
|
|
man, and for the man
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+11:8,9">1 Cor. xi. 8, 9</A>),
|
|
all which are urged there as reasons for the humility,
|
|
modesty, silence, and submissiveness,
|
|
of that sex in general, and particularly the
|
|
subjection and reverence which wives owe to
|
|
their own husbands. Yet man being made
|
|
last of the creatures, as the best and most
|
|
excellent of all, Eve's being made after Adam,
|
|
and out of him, puts an honour upon that
|
|
sex, as the glory of the man,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+11:7">1 Cor. xi. 7</A>.
|
|
If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to
|
|
her husband, the crown of the visible creation.
|
|
The man was dust refined, but the woman
|
|
was dust double-refined, one remove further
|
|
from the earth.
|
|
|
|
2. That Adam slept while
|
|
his wife was in making, that no room might
|
|
be left to imagine that he had herein <I>directed
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
the Spirit of the Lord, or been his counsellor,</I>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:13">Isa. xl. 13</A>.
|
|
He had been made sensible of
|
|
his want of a meet help; but, God having
|
|
undertaken to provide him one, he does not
|
|
afflict himself with any care about it, but lies
|
|
down and sleeps sweetly, as one that had cast
|
|
all his care on God, with a cheerful resignation
|
|
of himself and all his affairs to his
|
|
Maker's will and wisdom. Jehovah-jireh,
|
|
let the Lord provide when and whom he
|
|
pleases. If we graciously rest in God, God
|
|
will graciously work for us and work all for
|
|
good.
|
|
|
|
3. That <I>God caused a sleep to fall on
|
|
Adam,</I> and made it a deep sleep, that so the
|
|
opening of his side might be no grievance to
|
|
him; while he knows no sin, God will take
|
|
care he shall feel no pain. When God, by
|
|
his providence, does that to his people which
|
|
is grievous to flesh and blood, he not only
|
|
consults their happiness in the issue, but by
|
|
his grace he can so quiet and compose their
|
|
spirits as to make them easy under the
|
|
sharpest operations.
|
|
|
|
4. That the woman
|
|
was <I>made of a rib out of the side of Adam;</I>
|
|
not made out of his head to rule over him,
|
|
nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by
|
|
him, but out of his side to be equal with him,
|
|
under his arm to be protected, and near his
|
|
heart to be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and
|
|
without any diminution to his strength or
|
|
comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed
|
|
without a scar); but in lieu thereof he had a
|
|
help meet for him, which abundantly made
|
|
up his loss: what God takes away from his
|
|
people he will, one way or other, restore with
|
|
advantage. In this (as in many other things)
|
|
Adam was a figure of him that was to come;
|
|
for out of the side of Christ, the second
|
|
Adam, his spouse the church was formed,
|
|
when he slept the sleep, the deep sleep, of
|
|
death upon the cross, in order to which his
|
|
side was opened, and there came out blood
|
|
and water, blood to purchase his church and
|
|
water to purify it to himself. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:25,26">Eph. v. 25, 26</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The marriage of the woman to Adam.
|
|
Marriage is honourable, but this surely was
|
|
the most honourable marriage that ever was,
|
|
in which God himself had all along an immediate
|
|
hand. Marriages (they say) are
|
|
made in heaven: we are sure this was, for
|
|
the man, the woman, the match, were all
|
|
God's own work; he, by his power, made
|
|
them <I>both,</I> and now, by his ordinance, made
|
|
them <I>one.</I> This was a marriage made in
|
|
perfect innocency, and so was never any
|
|
marriage since,
|
|
|
|
1. God, as <I>her</I> Father,
|
|
brought the woman to the man, as his
|
|
second self, and a help-meet for him. When
|
|
he had made her, he did not leave her to
|
|
her own disposal; no, she was his child, and
|
|
she must not marry without his consent.
|
|
Those are likely to settle to their comfort
|
|
who by faith and prayer, and a humble dependence
|
|
upon providence, put themselves
|
|
under a divine conduct. That wife that is
|
|
of God's making by special grace, and of
|
|
God's bringing by special providence, is
|
|
likely to prove a help-meet for a man.
|
|
|
|
2. From God, as <I>his</I> Father, Adam received her
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>This is now bone of my bone.</I> Now
|
|
I have what I wanted, and which all the
|
|
creatures could not furnish me with, a help
|
|
meet for me." God's gifts to us are to be
|
|
received with a humble thankful acknowledgment
|
|
of his wisdom in suiting them to
|
|
us, and his favour in bestowing them on us.
|
|
Probably it was revealed to Adam in a vision,
|
|
when he was asleep, that this lovely creature,
|
|
now presented to him, was a piece of himself,
|
|
and was to be his companion and the
|
|
wife of his covenant. Hence some have
|
|
fetched an argument to prove that glorified
|
|
saints in the heavenly paradise shall know
|
|
one another. Further, in token of his acceptance
|
|
of her, he gave her a name, not
|
|
peculiar to her, but common to her sex:
|
|
<I>She shall be called woman, Isha,</I> a <I>she-man,</I>
|
|
differing from man in sex only, not in nature--made
|
|
of man, and joined to man.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The institution of the ordinance of
|
|
marriage, and the settling of the law of it,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
The sabbath and marriage were two
|
|
ordinances instituted in innocency, the
|
|
former for the preservation of the church,
|
|
the latter for the preservation of the world of
|
|
mankind. It appears (by
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+19:4,5">Matt. xix. 4, 5</A>)
|
|
that it was God himself who said here, "A
|
|
man must leave all his relations, to cleave
|
|
to his wife;" but whether he spoke it by
|
|
Moses, the penman, or by Adam (who spoke,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
is uncertain. It should seem, they
|
|
are the words of Adam, in God's name,
|
|
laying down this law to all his posterity.
|
|
|
|
1. See here how great the virtue of a divine ordinance
|
|
is; the bonds of it are stronger even
|
|
than those of nature. To whom can we be
|
|
more firmly bound than the fathers that
|
|
begat us and the mothers that bore us? Yet
|
|
the son must quit them, to be joined to his
|
|
wife, and the daughter forget them, to cleave
|
|
to her husband,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+45:10,11">Ps. xlv. 10, 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. See how
|
|
necessary it is that children should take their
|
|
parents' consent along with them in their
|
|
marriage, and how unjust those are to their
|
|
parents, as well as undutiful, who marry
|
|
without it; for they rob them of their right
|
|
to them, and interest in them, and alienate
|
|
it to another, fraudulently and unnaturally.
|
|
|
|
3. See what need there is both of prudence
|
|
and prayer in the choice of this relation,
|
|
which is so near and so lasting. That had
|
|
need be well done which is to be done for
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
4. See how firm the bond of marriage
|
|
is, not to be divided and weakened by
|
|
having many wives
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:15">Mal. ii. 15</A>)
|
|
nor to be
|
|
broken or cut off by divorce, for any cause
|
|
but fornication, or voluntary desertion.
|
|
|
|
5. See how dear the affection ought to be between
|
|
husband and wife, such as there is to
|
|
our own bodies,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:28">Eph. v. 28</A>.
|
|
These two are
|
|
one flesh; let them then be one soul.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. An evidence of the purity and innocency
|
|
of that state wherein our first parents
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page21"> </A>
|
|
|
|
were created,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
They were both naked.
|
|
They needed no clothes for defense against
|
|
cold nor heat, for neither could be injurious
|
|
to them. They needed none for ornament.
|
|
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
|
|
one of these. Nay, they needed none for
|
|
decency; they were naked, and had no
|
|
reason to be ashamed. <I>They knew not what
|
|
shame was,</I> so the Chaldee reads it. Blushing
|
|
is now the colour of virtue, but it was not
|
|
then the colour of innocency. Those that
|
|
had no sin in their conscience might well
|
|
have no shame in their faces, though they
|
|
had no clothes to their backs.</P>
|
|
|
|
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