mh_parser/vol_split/1 - Genesis/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Gen.iii" n="iii" next="Gen.iv" prev="Gen.ii" progress="2.05%" title="Chapter II">
<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_12" n="12"/>
<h2 id="Gen.iii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
<h3 id="Gen.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Gen.iii-p1">This chapter is an appendix to the history of the
creation, more particularly explaining and enlarging upon that part
of the history which relates immediately to man, the favourite of
this lower world. We have in it, I. The institution and
sanctification of the sabbath, which was made for man, to further
his holiness and comfort (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|3" passage="Ge 2:1-3">ver.
1-3</scripRef>). II. A more particular account of man's creation,
as the centre and summary of the whole work (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.7" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|7" passage="Ge 2:1-7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>). III. A description of the garden
of Eden, and the placing of man in it under the obligations of a
law and covenant (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.17" parsed="|Gen|2|8|2|17" passage="Ge 2:8-17">ver.
8-17</scripRef>). IV. The creation of the woman, her marriage to
the man, and the institution of the ordinance of marriage
(<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.25" parsed="|Gen|2|18|2|25" passage="Ge 2:18-25">ver. 18</scripRef>, &amp;c.).</p>
<scripCom id="Gen.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2" parsed="|Gen|2|0|0|0" passage="Ge 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Gen.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|3" passage="Ge 2:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p1.7">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p2">1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them.   2 And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from
all his work which he had made.   3 And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p3">We have here, I. The settlement of the
kingdom of nature, in God's resting from the work of creation,
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.2" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|2" passage="Ge 2:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Here
observe, 1. The creatures made both in heaven and earth are the
<i>hosts</i> or <i>armies</i> of them, which denotes them to be
numerous, but marshalled, disciplined, and under command. How great
is the sum of them! And yet every one knows and keeps his place.
God uses them as his hosts for the defence of his people and the
destruction of his enemies; for he is the Lord of hosts, of all
these hosts, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.35" parsed="|Dan|4|35|0|0" passage="Da 4:35">Dan. iv. 35</scripRef>. 2.
The heavens and the earth are finished pieces, and so are all the
creatures in them. So perfect is God's work that

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_13" n="13"/>

nothing can be added to it nor taken from it,
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" passage="Ec 3:14">Eccl. iii. 14</scripRef>. God that
began to build showed himself well able to finish. 3. After the end
of the first six days God ceased from all works of creation. He has
so ended his work as that though, in his providence, he worketh
hitherto (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:John.5.17" parsed="|John|5|17|0|0" passage="Joh 5:17">John v. 17</scripRef>),
preserving and governing all the creatures, and particularly
forming the spirit of man within him, yet he does not make any new
species of creatures. In miracles, he has controlled and overruled
nature, but never changed its settled course, nor repealed nor
added to any of its establishments. 4. The eternal God, though
infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, yet took a
satisfaction in the work of his own hands. He did not rest, as one
weary, but as one well-pleased with the instances of his own
goodness and the manifestations of his own glory.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p4">II. The commencement of the kingdom of
grace, in the sanctification of the sabbath day, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.3" parsed="|Gen|2|3|0|0" passage="Ge 2:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He rested on that day, and took a
complacency in his creatures, and then sanctified it, and appointed
us, on that day, to rest and take a complacency in the Creator; and
his rest is, in the fourth commandment, made a reason for ours,
after six days' labour. Observe, 1. The solemn observance of one
day in seven, as a day of holy rest and holy work, to God's honour,
is the indispensable duty of all those to whom God has revealed his
holy sabbaths. 2. The way of sabbath-sanctification is the good old
way, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.16" parsed="|Jer|6|16|0|0" passage="Jer 6:16">Jer. vi. 16</scripRef>. Sabbaths
are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the
sabbath, being now instituted in innocency, was religiously
observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age. 3.
The sabbath of the Lord is truly honourable, and we have reason to
honour it—honour it for the sake of its antiquity, its great
Author, the sanctification of the first sabbath by the holy God
himself, and by our first parents in innocency, in obedience to
him. 4. The sabbath day is a blessed day, for God blessed it, and
that which he blesses is blessed indeed. God has put an honour upon
it, has appointed us, on that day, to bless him, and has promised,
on that day, to meet us and bless us. 5. The sabbath day is a holy
day, for God has sanctified it. He has separated and distinguished
it from the rest of the days of the week, and he has consecrated it
and set it apart to himself and his own service and honour. Though
it is commonly taken for granted that the Christian sabbath we
observe, reckoning from the creation, is not the seventh but the
first day of the week, yet being a seventh day, and we in it,
celebrating the rest of God the Son, and the finishing of the work
of our redemption, we may and ought to act faith upon this original
institution of the sabbath day, and to commemorate the work of
creation, to the honour of the great Creator, who is therefore
worthy to receive, on that day, blessing, and honour, and praise,
from all religious assemblies.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.iii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.4-Gen.2.7" parsed="|Gen|2|4|2|7" passage="Ge 2:4-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.4-Gen.2.7">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p4.4">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p4.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p5">4 These <i>are</i> the generations of the
heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.1">Lord</span> God made the earth and the
heavens,   5 And every plant of the field before it was in the
earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.2">Lord</span> God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth, and <i>there was</i> not a man to till the ground.
  6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
whole face of the ground.   7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.3">Lord</span> God formed man <i>of</i> the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p6">In these verses, I. Here is a name given to
the Creator which we have not yet met with, and that is
<i>Jehovah</i>—the LORD, in capital letters, which are constantly
used in our English translation to intimate that in the original it
is <i>Jehovah.</i> All along, in the first chapter, he was called
<i>Elohim—a God of power;</i> but now <i>Jehovah Elohim—a God of
power and perfection,</i> a finishing God. As we find him known by
his name Jehovah when he appeared to perform what he had promised
(<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.3" parsed="|Exod|6|3|0|0" passage="Ex 6:3">Exod. vi. 3</scripRef>), so now we have
him known by that name, when he had perfected what he had begun.
<i>Jehovah</i> is that great and incommunicable name of God which
denotes his having his being of himself, and his giving being to
all things; fitly therefore is he called by that name now that
heaven and earth are finished.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p7">II. Further notice taken of the production
of plants and herbs, because they were made and appointed to be
food for man, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.5-Gen.2.6" parsed="|Gen|2|5|2|6" passage="Ge 2:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5,
6</scripRef>. Here observe, 1. The earth did not bring forth its
fruits of itself, by any innate virtue of its own but purely by the
almighty power of God, which formed every plant and every herb
before it grew in the earth. Thus grace in the soul, that plant of
renown, grows not of itself in nature's soil, but is the work of
God's own hands. 2. Rain also is the gift of God; it came not till
<i>the Lord God caused it to rain.</i> If rain be wanted, it is God
that withholds it; if rain come plentifully in its season, it is
God that sends it; if it come in a distinguishing way, it is God
that <i>causeth it to rain upon one city and not upon another,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.7" parsed="|Amos|4|7|0|0" passage="Am 4:7">Amos iv. 7</scripRef>. 3. Though God,
ordinarily, works by means, yet he is not tied to them, but when he
pleases he can do his own work without them. As the plants were
produced before the sun was made, so they were before there was
either rain to water the earth or man to till it. Therefore though
we must not tempt God in the neglect of means, yet we must trust
God in the want of means. 4. Some way or other God will take care
to water the plants that are of his

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_14" n="14"/>

own
planting. Though as yet there was no rain, God made a mist
equivalent to a shower, and with it <i>watered the whole face of
the ground.</i> Thus he chose to fulfil his purpose by the weakest
means, <i>that the excellency of the power might be of God.</i>
Divine grace descends like a mist, or silent dew, and waters the
church without noise, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.2" parsed="|Deut|32|2|0|0" passage="De 32:2">Deut. xxxii.
2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p8">III. A more particular account of the
creation of man, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.7" parsed="|Gen|2|7|0|0" passage="Ge 2:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
Man is a little world, consisting of heaven and earth, soul and
body. Now here we have an account of the origin of both and the
putting of both together: let us seriously consider it, and say, to
our Creator's praise, We are <i>fearfully and wonderfully made,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.14" parsed="|Ps|139|14|0|0" passage="Ps 139:14">Ps. cxxxix. 14</scripRef>. Elihu, in
the patriarchal age, refers to this history when he says (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.6" parsed="|Job|33|6|0|0" passage="Job 33:6">Job xxxiii. 6</scripRef>), <i>I also am formed
out of the clay,</i> and (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.4" parsed="|Job|33|4|0|0" passage="Job 33:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), <i>The breath of the Almighty hath given me
life,</i> and (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.32.8" parsed="|Job|32|8|0|0" passage="Job 32:8"><i>ch.</i> xxxii.
8</scripRef>), <i>There is a spirit in man.</i> Observe then,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p9">1. The mean origin, and yet the curious
structure, of the body of man. (1.) The matter was despicable. He
was made <i>of the dust of the ground,</i> a very unlikely thing to
make a man of; but the same infinite power that made the world of
nothing made man, its master-piece, of next to nothing. He was made
of the dust, the small dust, such as is upon the surface of the
earth. Probably, not dry dust, but dust moistened with the mist
that went up, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.6" parsed="|Gen|2|6|0|0" passage="Ge 2:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He
was not made of gold-dust, powder of pearl, or diamond dust, but
common dust, dust of the ground. Hence he is said to be of the
earth, <b><i>choikos</i></b>—<i>dusty,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.47" parsed="|1Cor|15|47|0|0" passage="1Co 15:47">1 Cor. xv. 47</scripRef>. And we also are of the earth,
for we are his offspring, and of the same mould. So near an
affinity is there between the earth and our earthly parents that
our mother's womb, out of which we were born, is called <i>the
earth</i> (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.15" parsed="|Ps|139|15|0|0" passage="Ps 139:15">Ps. cxxxix.
15</scripRef>), and the earth, in which we must be buried, is
called our <i>mother's womb,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.21" parsed="|Job|1|21|0|0" passage="Job 1:21">Job
i. 21</scripRef>. Our foundation is in the earth, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.19" parsed="|Job|4|19|0|0" passage="Job 4:19">Job iv. 19</scripRef>. Our fabric is earthly,
and the fashioning of it like that of an earthen vessel, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.9" parsed="|Job|10|9|0|0" passage="Job 10:9">Job x. 9</scripRef>. Our food is out of the
earth, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.5" parsed="|Job|28|5|0|0" passage="Job 28:5">Job xxviii. 5</scripRef>. Our
familiarity is with the earth, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.14" parsed="|Job|17|14|0|0" passage="Job 17:14">Job
xvii. 14</scripRef>. Our fathers are in the earth, and our own
final tendency is to it; and what have we then to be proud of? (2.)
Yet the Maker was great, and the make fine. The Lord God, the great
fountain of being and power, formed man. Of the other creatures it
is said that they were <i>created</i> and <i>made;</i> but of man
that he was <i>formed,</i> which denotes a gradual process in the
work with great accuracy and exactness. To express the creation of
this new thing, he takes a new word, a word (some think) borrowed
from the potter's forming his vessel upon the wheel; for we are the
clay, and God the potter, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.8" parsed="|Isa|64|8|0|0" passage="Isa 64:8">Isa. lxiv.
8</scripRef>. The body of man is curiously wrought, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.15-Ps.139.16" parsed="|Ps|139|15|139|16" passage="Ps 139:15,16">Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16</scripRef>. <i>Materiam
superabat opus—The workmanship exceeded the materials.</i> Let us
present our bodies to God as living sacrifices (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.11" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.1" parsed="|Rom|12|1|0|0" passage="Ro 12:1">Rom. xii. 1</scripRef>), as living temples (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.12" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.19" parsed="|1Cor|6|19|0|0" passage="1Co 6:19">1 Cor. vi. 19</scripRef>), and then these vile
bodies shall shortly be new-formed like Christ's glorious body,
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p9.13" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.21" parsed="|Phil|3|21|0|0" passage="Php 3:21">Phil. iii. 21</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p10">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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.7" parsed="|Eccl|12|7|0|0" passage="Ec 12:7">Eccl. xii. 7</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.32" parsed="|Prov|15|32|0|0" passage="Pr 15:32">Prov. xv.
32</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.iii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.15" parsed="|Gen|2|8|2|15" passage="Ge 2:8-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.15">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p10.4">The Garden of Eden. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p10.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p11">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.1">Lord</span>
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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.2">Lord</span> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.3">Lord</span> God took the man, and put
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p12">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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p13">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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.1" parsed="|1Cor|3|1|0|0" passage="1Co 3:1">1 Cor. iii. 1</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.23" parsed="|Heb|9|23|0|0" passage="Heb 9:23">Heb. ix. 23</scripRef>.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p14">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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p15">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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.11" parsed="|Isa|50|11|0|0" passage="Isa 50:11">Isa. l.
11</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p16">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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p17">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,

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_16" n="16"/>

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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.7 Bible:Rev.22.2" parsed="|Rev|2|7|0|0;|Rev|22|2|0|0" passage="Re 2:7,22:2">Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 2</scripRef>), and the
<i>bread of life,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:John.6.48 Bible:John.6.53" parsed="|John|6|48|0|0;|John|6|53|0|0" passage="Joh 6:48,53">John vi. 48,
53</scripRef>. [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> (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.16" parsed="|Mark|16|16|0|0" passage="Mk 16:16">Mark xvi. 16</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.19" parsed="|Deut|30|19|0|0" passage="De 30:19">Deut. xxx.
19</scripRef>. These two trees were as two sacraments.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p18">5. The rivers with which this garden was
watered, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.10-Gen.2.14" parsed="|Gen|2|10|2|14" passage="Ge 2:10-14"><i>v.</i> 10-14</scripRef>.
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> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10" parsed="|Gen|13|10|0|0" passage="Ge 13:10"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 10</scripRef>. Observe, That which God
plants he will take care to keep watered. The trees of
righteousness are set by the rivers, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.3" parsed="|Ps|1|3|0|0" passage="Ps 1:3">Ps.
i. 3</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.1" parsed="|Rev|22|1|0|0" passage="Rev 22:1">Rev.
xxii. 1</scripRef>), a river that <i>makes glad the city of our
God,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.46.4" parsed="|Ps|46|4|0|0" passage="Ps 46:4">Ps. xlvi. 4</scripRef>.
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> (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.1" parsed="|Ps|137|1|0|0" passage="Ps 137:1">Ps. cxxxvii.
1</scripRef>); 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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p18.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.12" parsed="|Gen|2|12|0|0" passage="Ge 2:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>),
<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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p19">II. The placing of man in this paradise of
delight, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.15" parsed="|Gen|2|15|0|0" passage="Ge 2:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>, where
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p20">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 <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8 Bible:Gen.2.15" parsed="|Gen|2|8|0|0;|Gen|2|15|0|0" passage="Ge 2:8,15"><i>v.</i> 8,
15</scripRef>. 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 <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.47.4" parsed="|Ps|47|4|0|0" passage="Ps 47:4">Ps.
xlvii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p21">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

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_17" n="17"/>

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 very 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,
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.10 Bible:Prov.27.23" parsed="|2Thess|3|10|0|0;|Prov|27|23|0|0" passage="2Th 3:10,Pr 27:23">2 Thess. iii. 10; Prov.
xxvii. 23</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p22">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>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.iii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17" parsed="|Gen|2|16|2|17" passage="Ge 2:16-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p22.2">The Tree of Knowledge
Prohibited. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p22.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p23">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p23.1">Lord</span>
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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p24">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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.148.6 Bible:Ps.104.9" parsed="|Ps|148|6|0|0;|Ps|104|9|0|0" passage="Ps 148:6,Ps 104:9">Ps. cxlviii.
6; civ. 9</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p25">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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p26">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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.7 Bible:1Cor.9.10" parsed="|1Cor|9|7|0|0;|1Cor|9|10|0|0" passage="1Co 9:7,10">1 Cor. ix. 7, 10</scripRef>), 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>
(<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.9" parsed="|Gen|2|9|0|0" passage="Ge 2:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.22" parsed="|Gen|3|22|0|0" passage="Ge 3:22"><i>ch.</i>
iii. 22</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p27">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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p28">(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,

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_18" n="18"/>

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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p29">(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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p30">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>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.iii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.20" parsed="|Gen|2|18|2|20" passage="Ge 2:18-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.20">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p30.2">Adam's Dominion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p30.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p31">18 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p31.1">Lord</span>
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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p31.2">Lord</span> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p32">Here we have, I. An instance of the
Creator's care of man and his fatherly concern for his comfort,
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18" parsed="|Gen|2|18|0|0" passage="Ge 2:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Though God had
let him know that he was a subject, by giving him a command,
(<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17" parsed="|Gen|2|16|2|17" passage="Ge 2:16,17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p33">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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.9-Eccl.4.10" parsed="|Eccl|4|9|4|10" passage="Ec 4:9,10">Eccl. iv.
9</scripRef>, &amp;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 placed
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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p34">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>
<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.21" parsed="|1Cor|12|21|0|0" passage="1Co 12:21">1 Cor. xii. 21</scripRef>. 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

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_19" n="19"/>

supply them all, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.19" parsed="|Phil|4|19|0|0" passage="Php 4:19">Phil. iv.
19</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p34.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.33-1Cor.7.34" parsed="|1Cor|7|33|7|34" passage="1Co 7:33,34">1 Cor. vii. 33,
34</scripRef>. (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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p35">II. An instance of the creatures'
subjection to man, and his dominion over them (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.19-Gen.2.20" parsed="|Gen|2|19|2|20" passage="Ge 2:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>): <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> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.11" parsed="|Job|35|11|0|0" passage="Job 35:11">Job xxxv. 11</scripRef>.
And, 2. A proof of his power. It is an act of authority to impose
names (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p35.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.7" parsed="|Dan|1|7|0|0" passage="Da 1:7">Dan. i. 7</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p36">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>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.iii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.21-Gen.2.25" parsed="|Gen|2|21|2|25" passage="Ge 2:21-25" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.21-Gen.2.25">
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p36.2">The Formation of Eve; Marriage
Instituted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p36.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p37">21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p37.1">Lord</span>
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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p37.2">Lord</span> 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, because she was taken out of <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p37.3" osisRef="Bible:PrMan.1.24" parsed="|PrMan|1|24|0|0" passage="Man. 24">Man.   24</scripRef> Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.   25 And they were both
naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p38">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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.27" parsed="|Gen|1|27|0|0" passage="Ge 1:27"><i>ch.</i> i.
27</scripRef>), that God made man male and female, is more
distinctly related here. Observe, 1. That Adam was first formed,
then Eve (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.2" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.13" parsed="|1Tim|2|13|0|0" passage="1Ti 2:13">1 Tim. ii. 13</scripRef>),
and she was made of the man, and for the man (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.8-1Cor.11.9" parsed="|1Cor|11|8|11|9" passage="1Co 11:8,9">1 Cor. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.4" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.7" parsed="|1Cor|11|7|0|0" passage="1Co 11:7">1 Cor.
xi. 7</scripRef>. 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

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_20" n="20"/>

the Spirit of the Lord, or been
his counsellor,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.13" parsed="|Isa|40|13|0|0" passage="Isa 40:13">Isa. xl.
13</scripRef>. 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 <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p38.6" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.25-Eph.5.26" parsed="|Eph|5|25|5|26" passage="Eph 5:25,26">Eph. v. 25, 26</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p39">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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p39.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.23" parsed="|Gen|2|23|0|0" passage="Ge 2:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): "<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 class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p40">III. The institution of the ordinance of
marriage, and the settling of the law of it, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.24" parsed="|Gen|2|24|0|0" passage="Ge 2:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. 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 <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.4-Matt.19.5" parsed="|Matt|19|4|19|5" passage="Mt 19:4,5">Matt. xix. 4, 5</scripRef>) 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.23" parsed="|Gen|2|23|0|0" passage="Ge 2:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>),
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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.10-Ps.45.11" parsed="|Ps|45|10|45|11" passage="Ps 45:10,11">Ps. xlv. 10, 11</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.5" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" passage="Mal 2:15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>) 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, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p40.6" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.28" parsed="|Eph|5|28|0|0" passage="Eph 5:28">Eph. v. 28</scripRef>. These two are one flesh; let them
then be one soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p41">IV. An evidence of the purity and innocency
of that state wherein our first parents

<pb id="Gen.iii-Page_21" n="21"/>

were
created, <scripRef id="Gen.iii-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.25" parsed="|Gen|2|25|0|0" passage="Ge 2:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. 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>
</div></div2>