The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom he had formed. --Genesis 2:8
Do you ever think of Eden? I would have loved to have seen it. Maybe it was a taste of what Heaven will be like, or the New Earth spoken of in Revelation 21. Maybe I somehow want to see what might have been had sin not entered into the world. Perhaps I desire to see what Adam gave up in exchange for disobedience.
In our weekly men's Bible study, one of the leaders read Genesis 2:8 and then asked whether we thought that God spoke the garden of Eden into existence, or if he actually planted it, as in growing the trees from seeds or seedlings, taking the time to cultivate, putting in the effort to fertilize and weed it. He said this was something he had always wondered. It is a good question. Ontologically, God is powerful enough to have spoken the words, "Let there be a beautiful garden," and it would have been so. Positionally, God had the authority to delegate this task to a subordinate, so He could have commanded the angels to plant it for Him. Educationally, He could have mentored Adam, the first man, on the finer points of gardening, showing him how to grow the perfect garden so he would know later (for God is omniscient, and surely knew that man would fall and would be banished from Eden eventually).
The Bible, however, does not say anything like this. It says God took the initiative, that He did the work, and that He completed the task. How He must have loved the man that He had made in order to go to so much effort, to make this beautiful new home for him and to present it as a gift.
This got me started thinking about the whole creation process. When we read the first two chapters of Genesis, we see a progression, a series of verbs that gets progressively more labor intensive. Today I want us to look at this progression.
Create
The first verb used in the Bible is the word bara, to create. Some definitions of the Hebrew word bara (according to Strong's): to create; to cut down (as a wood); select or choose; dispatch; make fat. (According to Genesius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon): To cut out, to cut or pare down, to plane and polish. To create, to produce; to make smooth, to polish--hence to fashion, to create; to beget (as a son); to eat, to feed, to grow fat--so called from cutting food.
I think we have this misconception of God as some kind of master magician, a kind of Grand Wizard that points a bony finger and something appears or disappears. I think this sells God short. The act of creation took more effort and forethought than we sometimes realize. God had an eternity past to think of how to make a self-sustaining, self-regulating, self-propagating world. That is, He figured out how to make a tree, for example, that would begin in a seed and grow tall and strong, providing vegetation (leaves), sap, wood pulp, sometimes fruit, but always more seeds so that other trees could come into existence when the first tree was gone.
A better metaphor for the creative process is a master craftsman. Some of you may have seen someone conceive of a project, then take a tree and cut off the bark and branches, then shape the wood into a rough block. From there, he or she may tool it, cut out pieces from it, and then shape it into something utilitarian. Once it takes shape, the craftsman will plane it, pare it, and polish the wood until it shines. After all that work is done, you have something both useful and beautiful. That's the effort God put into creating the universe, and the Earth, and you.
Genesis 1:2 says the Earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon it. God created light, then an atmosphere to surround the Earth. He created land and sea, then plants to grow in both of those places. He created stars to shine at night, and a moon to influence the tides. He calculated a tilt in the poles and an orbit around the sun so that seasons would change during the year. He created animals of all kinds to make their homes in the plants and trees and vegetation, and to manage growth by consuming the vegetation so that the plants would not overtake the earth or the seas, choking out the ecosystems. Do you see how each step He took made the earth better, more useful and more beautiful? It was like he was polishing it, adding value to it with each step in the creation process.
Make
For the first five days of creation, God spoke everything into being. By His word all things came into being. However, on the account of the sixth day, the verb form changes. Instead of saying, "Let there be man," it says that God made man in His own image. This suggests to me that God took more care, more interest in the creation of man than that of the beasts, or of the plants, or of the heavenly bodies, or of the atmosphere, or even of light itself.
Genesis 2:7 says that God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life. Much like a potter makes beautiful vases and useful vessels out of clay, God got His hands dirty when He made us. Unlike the animals, who were created by a word, God was more hands-on when he made us. The animals were created with the ability to breathe on their own; God Himself breathed life into us. Whether this was literally a life's-breath, or if it figuratively refers to the soul, in either case it sets us apart from the animals. We are the pinnacle of God's creation, and we would do well to remember that. Psalm 139:14 says, "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well."
A secondary meaning to the term "made" or "fashioned" or "formed" used for the way God created us is the word "purposed." We are made for a purpose, each of us individually and all of us corporately. So many people are lost, going through life without purpose. When we truly seek our purpose, it is God who reveals it to us. He truly has a purpose for every one of us. We are precious in His sight, not merely because we are all God's creatures (yes, He created us all), but that He made us in His image, in His likeness, for a specific purpose.
Planted
Immediately after Genesis 2:7, where it says God formed man out of the dust, and breathed into him the breath of life, Genesis 2:8 says, "The Lord God planted a garden." When you create a masterpiece, the first thing you do it find a place to display it. A true artist does not create a work and leave it in the studio or workshop. There must be a fitting place to display it. Much care is taken to properly display the piece, with just the right lighting, and space, and context.
In the same way, God went to a lot of trouble to create a space for His masterpiece. He didn't speak the garden into existence; He didn't delegate it to someone else. He made this special homestead for the human He had so lovingly made. It was a place where all man's needs could be met. It was a place where the two of them could walk and talk in the cool of the evening. It was a very special place.
God loved mankind that much. He still does. When sin entered the world, He went to extraordinary lengths to restore that fellowship. He longs for the fellowship with us, the time when we can walk along with Him and discuss our day, or ask Him questions, or thank Him for His mercy and grace. He still loves us that much.
