Verses 4-20….
The writer of Genesis now gives a resume of creation and adds a few more interesting facts. Notice that in verse 5 it says that every bit of vegetation was made and THEN planted….our God is a Master Gardener!
Rain was unknown then….mists kept the ground damp. We are told in verse 7 that man was made from something, the dust of the earth, in contrast to all other creation which came into being as God spoke from nothing. God made this man and then breathed into his nostrils, not just oxygen, but the capacity for eternal life. Every baby that is born will live for ever somewhere!
God planted a special garden with every sort of shade and fruit tree for this man to enjoy. Among these were two trees that God specifically told him he was not to touch….the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.
Man was given the job of looking after this garden as well as naming all of the animals and birds. What a variety there were! The land was described and the four great rivers that came from Eden to water that part of the world reminds us of God's provision for man's spiritual needs as well as his physical needs. He is the Water of Life, and in the book of Revelation we see the great River of Life that flows from God's throne with the tree of life growing there for the healing of the nations, which must be the spiritual heealing since all disease and sickness has already been done away with.
God planted His garden and made it complete, With rivers and mist to dampen the heat,
Everything perfect, with sin never known, God's greatness and power to all clearly shown.
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