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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.)
The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur.
And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:8-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever grown a garden?
Many people like to do this when winter lifts, giving way to better weather in spring and summer.
Going back to my younger days, I seem to remember that we had a garden in our back yard, a rather nice big one that was behind the garage. Each year, the soil would be tilled up and seeds to produce carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peas, potatoes, and green beans would be sown into nicely formed sections and their associated rows. There was special care devoted to protecting the plants because you find out quickly that animals such as rabbits like to eat them as much as you do.
After planting, the waiting and watching began until the time came when you could harvest the fruits of the garden laboring and enjoy eating those fruits (which were really vegetables but you know what I mean).
Why start talking about gardens and the food they produce for those who plant and tend to them?
Because in today’s passage from the second chapter of Genesis, we read about the very first garden ever created, the renowned Garden of Eden. Let’s look again at those words here:
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.)
The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur.
And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Vv.8-17
This garden was the best garden ever made and planted because we read where it was done by “the Lord God”.
We know it was placed “in the east” in a place called Eden and given the four rivers mentioned in this text that served to water the garden – the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, it’s believed this Garden of Eden was possibly located in modern day, southern Iraq as this is where you find the Tigris and Euphrates rivers intersecting. Of course, this isn’t known for sure because the location of the other two rivers, the Pishon and Gihon, are unknown.
What we do know is that God took Adam, the man He formed from the dust and breathed life into (v.7), and placed him in the garden where there were “all kinds of trees” growing from “the ground”, trees that the scriptures tell us “were pleasing to the eye and good for food”. In other words, Adam had everything he needed for work and survival.
We read that “in the middle of the garden” were two very unique and special trees, “the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, and God had specific instructions for Adam regarding them. Essentially, Adam could eat from any tree in Eden to include the tree of life but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was strictly off limits. To make sure this came through loud and clear, God told Adam that if he disobeyed his command and ate from the tree, then he (Adam) would “certainly die”.
And with that, things were established within creation’s first garden. Unfortunately, if you’re familiar with the Bible, you know that the perfection of Eden wouldn’t remain perfect long but until we get to that place, let’s all rejoice in thinking about the perfect garden utopia that our Lord made. It had to be absolutely magnificent like everything else made by His hands.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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