The God of the Garden
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” – Genesis 2:7-8, 20b-22 NIV
“The compounding of the two divine names, ‘Yahweh’ and ‘God’ occurs twenty times in Genesis 2-3, but on only one other occasion in the entire Torah (Exodus 9:30). The reason why the two are combined in the Eden narrative is to bring together the title of the majestic, powerful ‘God’ portrayed in Genesis 1 with the title of the personal, intimate name for God, ‘Yahweh’, of Genesis 2-3. The idea is that the transcendent God of Genesis 1 is the same as the immanent God of Genesis 2-3.” – John D. Currid
“Elohim is appropriate for the majestic portrayal of God as Creator of the universe since it properly indicates omnipotent deity, whereas Yahweh is the name commonly associated with the covenant relationship between deity and his people, Israel. Its combination with Elohim achieves an overlapping of these theological emphases: Yahweh, the Lord of his people, is in fact the all-wise and powerful Elohim-Creator…The personal presence of Yahweh-Elohim among his people Israel was the pattern God inaugurated from the beginning.” – Kenneth A. Matthews
As with any text of the Bible, there is far more that can be drawn out and understood than can be taught in a single message (even if it is a long one!). In Genesis 2:4-25, there is a massive amount of information that is important for the foundational understanding of a myriad of issues. Marriage, loneliness, humanity’s dominion of the created beings, are all issues in these few dense verses. What must be at the forefront of understanding this portion of Genesis though, is God’s relationship with humanity. There is great care given to the sculpting of Adam and the building of Eve. There is great care in creating a garden which is both home and work place for the first man and his wife. There is incredible abundance and opulence in this special place in which humanity and God can enjoy one another. A space where humans will be fully known and fully loved by their Creator and by one another. This is the focal point of the passage. More than marriage, or differences between male and female, or whatever other topics come to us, the relationships of God and humanity in the full flower of their possibility are to be where our attention should be drawn. Here also is the key to why our attempts at creating a ‘new’ garden are always falling short of the longing in our souls. No matter how beautiful the setting, how pampering the staff, how deeply connected we are to the humans sharing a space, we will find it falls short of that for which our souls ache. What we are designed for is something deeper still; perfect, intimate connection to our Amazing, Creating, Covenant-making God. While we’ve yet to make it to the text of Genesis 3, one cannot read Genesis 2 without feeling its destructive force. We don’t have the Garden anymore. We will have it one day. But, in the meantime, in earth’s little while, we do get the best of the garden in Jesus. We get intimate relationship with God. We get to marvel and wonder at a God who created us, knows us fully and has made a way for us to have relationship with Him. In other words, we get the God of the Garden, even though the garden itself has been lost. And in giving us a way to have relationship with Him, God has given us a way to create spaces in which we can almost fully know and fully love other human beings as well. In a way that boggles the mind, God has left all of these road signs pointing the way back to Him and the garden He is preparing for us (John 14:1-4). And when our hearts ache for more, it ought to be a helpful reminder of what we’ve lost that’s been won back for us. In the meantime, we get to be in relationship with the God of the Garden and, that is an abundance that even Eden cannot contain.
Questions for further discussion/life application:
How are you working to deepen your relationship with God?
When in your life did you feel closest to God?
Who in your life has allowed you to be “fully known and fully loved” without shame?
What aspect(s) of Eden create the deepest ache in your soul?
How can you help those around you who don’t know Jesus to be awake to their soul’s ache for the God of the Garden?
A Song to Enjoy: I Am Yours, NEEDTOBREATHE