Albert Barnes Commentary Genesis 2:4-7

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven. And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground; but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." — Genesis 2:4-7 (ASV)

4. תולדות tôl^edôt “generations, products, developments.” That which comes from any source, as the child from the parent, the record of which is history.

יהוה y^ehovâh. This word occurs about six thousand times in Scripture. It is obvious from its use that it is, so to speak, the proper name of God. It never has the article. It is never changed for construction with another noun. It is never accompanied by a suffix. It is never applied to any but the true God. This sacred exclusiveness of application, indeed, led the Jews always to read אדוני 'adōnāy in its place—or, if 'adōnāy preceded it, they read אלהים 'ĕlōhîm—to indicate which the vowel points of one of these terms were written beneath it.

The root of this name is חוה chāvâh—an older variety of היה hāyâh—which, as we have seen, has three meanings: “be” in the sense of coming into existence, “be” in the sense of becoming, and “be” in the sense of merely existing. The first of these meanings has no application to God, who had no beginning of existence.

The last applies to God but offers no distinctive characteristic, as it belongs equally to all objects that have existence. The second is proper to God in the sense, not of acquiring any new attribute, but of becoming active from a state of repose. But He becomes active to the eye of man only by causing some new effect to be, which makes its appearance in the world of perceptible things. He becomes, then, only by causing to be or to become.

Hence, He who becomes, when applied to the Creator, is really He who causes to be. This name, therefore, involves the active or causative force of the root from which it springs. It designates God in relation to the system of things He has called into being, and especially in relation to man, the only intelligent observer of Him or of His works in this world below. It distinguishes Him as the Author of being, and therefore the Creator, the worker of miracles, the performer of promise, the keeper of covenant. Beginning with the י (y) of personality, it points out God as the person whose habitual character it has become to cause His purpose to take place. Hence, אלהים 'ĕlōhîm designates God as the Everlasting, the Almighty, in His unchangeable essence, as He is before as well as after creation. יהוה y^ehovâh distinguishes Him as the personal Self-existent, and Author of all existing things, who gives expression and effect to His purpose, thereby manifests Himself as existing, and maintains a spiritual intercourse with His intelligent creatures.

The vowel marks usually placed under the consonants of this word are said to belong to אדוני 'adōnāy; and its real pronunciation, which is supposed to be lost, is conjectured to have been יהוה y^ehōvâh. This conjecture is supported by the analogy of the supposed ancient third singular masculine imperfect of the verb הוה hāvâh, and by the Greek forms ΙΑΩ (IAŌ) and ΙΑΒΕ (IABE) which are found in certain authors (Diodorus Siculus 1.94; Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.18; Theodoret, Quaestiones in Exodum 15). It is true, indeed, when it has a prefix, all its vowels coincide with those of אדוני 'adōnāy. But otherwise, the vowel under the first letter is different, and the qamets at the end is as usual in proper names ending in the Hebrew letter ה (h), as in others.

יהוה y^ehōvâh also finds an analogy in the word ירחם y^erochām. In the forms ΙΑΩ (IAŌ) and ΙΑΒΕ (IABE), the Greek vowels doubtless represent the Hebrew consonants, and not any vowel points. The Hebrew letter ה (h) is often represented by the Greek letter α (a).

From יהוה yah^evâh we may obtain יהוּ y^ehû at the end of compounds, and therefore expect יהוּ y^ehû at the beginning. But the form at the beginning is יהו y^ehô or יו yô—which indicates the pronunciation יהוה y^ehōvâh as current with the punctuators. All this supports the suggestion that the coincidental agreement of the two nouns Yahweh and Adonai in the principal vowels was the circumstance that facilitated the Jewish endeavor to avoid uttering the proper name of God except on the most solemn occasions.

The pronunciation Yahweh, moreover, rests on precarious grounds. The Hebrew analogy would give יִהְוֶה yihveh, not יְהוָֹה y^ehōvâh, for the verbal form. The middle vowel cholem (o) may indicate the intensive or active force of the root, but we place no stress on the mode of pronunciation, since it cannot be positively ascertained.

5. שׂדה śādeh “plain, country, field,” for pasture or tillage, in opposition to גן gan—“garden, park.”

7. נשׂמה n^eśāmâh “breath,” applied to God and man only.

We meet with no division again in the text until we come to Genesis 3:15, when the first minor break in the narrative occurs. This is noted by the intervening space being less than the remainder of the line. The narrative is therefore thus far regarded as continuous.

We are now entering a new plan of narrative. We therefore need to particularly note a principle of Hebrew composition where one line of events is continued without interruption to its natural resting point. After this, the writer returns to address a related series of incidents.

These incidents are equally necessary for clarifying his main purpose, even though their insertion in chronological order would have damaged the symmetry and clarity of the previous narrative. The account now to be given is, as a whole, later than that already given as a whole; however, the first incident to be recorded now is somewhat earlier than the last event in the preceding document.

Up to this point, we have adhered closely to the form of the original in our translation and so have used some inversions which are foreign to our prose style. From now on, we shall deviate as little as possible from the King James Version.

The document we are now entering extends from Genesis 2:4 to the end of Genesis 4. In the second and third chapters, the author uses the combination יהוה אלהים y^ehovâh 'ĕlōhîm, “the Lord God,” to designate the Supreme Being; in the fourth, he drops אלהים 'ĕlōhîm, “God,” and employs יהוה y^ehovâh, “the Lord,” alone.

Therefore, as far as the divine name is concerned, the fourth chapter is as clearly separable from the second and third as the first document is from the present one. If diversity of the divine name were a proof of diversity of authorship, we should here have two documents due to different authors, each of them different also from the author of the first document. The second and third chapters, though agreeing in the designation of God, are clearly distinguishable in style.

The general subject of this document is the history of man to the end of the line of Cain and the birth of Enosh. This falls into three clearly marked sections: the origin, the fall, and the family of Adam.

The difference of style and phraseology in its various parts will be found to correspond with the diversity in the topics it addresses. It reverts to an earlier point of time than that at which we had arrived in the former document and proceeds with a new plan, exactly adapted to the new occasion.

The present section discusses the process of nature which was simultaneous with the later part of the supernatural process described in the preceding document. Its opening paragraph refers to the field.

Genesis 2:4

This verse is the title of the present section. It states the subject it addresses: the generations of the skies and the land. The “generations” are the posterity or the progress of events relating to the posterity of the party to whom the term is applied (Genesis 5:1; Genesis 6:9; Genesis 10:1; Genesis 11:10; Genesis 37:2). The development of events is here presented under the figure of the descendants of a parental pair, the skies and the land being the metaphorical progenitors of those events, which are brought about by their joint operation.

It then notes the date at which the new narrative begins: In their being created. This is the first or general date: namely, after the primary creation and during the course of the secondary creation. Since the secondary creation occupied six days, some processes of nature began before these days had passed.

Next, therefore, is the more special date: in the day of Yahweh God’s making land and skies. Looking back at the preceding narrative, we observe that the skies were adjusted and named on the second day, and the land on the third. Both, therefore, were completed on the third day, which is accordingly the opening date of the second branch of the narrative.

The uniqueness of the present section, therefore, is that it combines the creative with the preserving agency of God. Creation and progress here go hand in hand for a time. The narrative here, then, overlaps half the time of the former, and at the end of the chapter has not advanced beyond its end.

יהוה אלהים y^ehovâh 'ĕlōhîm—“the Lord God.” This phrase is introduced here for the first time.

אלהים 'ĕlōhîm, as we have seen, is the generic term denoting God as the Everlasting and therefore the Almighty, as He was before the world began and still continues to be, now that He is the sole object of supreme reverence to all intelligent creatures.

Yahweh is God’s proper name in relation to humankind: He is self-existent, the author of existence to all persons and things, and manifests His existence to those whom He has made capable of such knowledge.

Hence, the latter name (Yahweh) is appropriate to the present stage of our narrative. God has become active in a way worthy of Himself, and at the same time unique to His nature. He has exercised His creative power in calling the universe into existence. He has now reconstituted the skies and the land, clothed the land with new vegetation, and peopled it with a new animal kingdom.

Especially, He has called into being an inhabitant of this earth made in His own image, and therefore capable of understanding His works and holding conversation with Him.

To humankind He has now revealed Himself and His power through certain acts. And to humankind He has accordingly become known by a name that signifies that new creative process of which humanity forms a prominent part.

Yahweh—He who causes the successive events of time to occur in the sight and for the benefit of humankind—is a name whose special significance will become clear on future occasions in the history of God’s dealings with humankind.

The union of these two divine names, then, indicates Him who was before all things and by whom all things now consist. It also implies that He who is now distinguished by the new name Jehovah (יהוה y^ehovâh) is the same who was previously called Elohim.

The combination of the names is especially suitable in a passage that records a concurrence of creation and development. The historian continues the apposition of the two names through this and the following chapter. The abstract and primordial name then gives way to the concrete and historical one.

The skies and the land at the beginning of the verse are given in order of their importance in nature, the skies being first as grander and higher than the land; at the end, in the order of their importance in the narrative, the land being before the skies, as the future scene of the events to be recorded.

This title, we see, presupposes the former document, as it alludes to the creation in general, and to the things made on the second and third days in particular, without directly narrating these events. This way of referring to them implies that they were well known at the time of the narrator, either by personal observation or by testimony.

Personal observation is out of the question in this case. Therefore, they were already known by the testimony of God, and the preceding record is that testimony. The narrator of the second passage, therefore, even if not the same as the narrator of the former, almost certainly had the first document in mind when composing the second.

Genesis 2:5

This verse corresponds to the second verse of the preceding narrative. It describes the field or arable land in the absence of certain conditions necessary to the growth of vegetation. Plant and herb here comprise the whole vegetable world. Plants and herbs of the field are those which are to be found in the open land. A different statement is made concerning each.

Regarding the statement, Not a plant of the field was yet in the land, we must remember that the narrative has returned to the third day of the preceding creation. At first sight, then, one might suppose that the vegetable species were not created at the particular time of day to which the narrative refers. But it is not stated that young trees were not in existence, only that plants of the field were not yet in the land. Of the herbs, it is only said that they had not yet put forth a bud or blade.

The actual existence of both trees and herbs is implied in what follows. The reasons for the previously described state are the lack of rain to water the soil and of man to cultivate it. These conditions would only allow for growth if the vegetable seeds, at least, were already in existence.

Now, the plants were made before the seeds (Genesis 1:11–12), and therefore the first full-grown and seed-bearing specimens of each kind were already created. Hence, we infer that the state described in the text was this: the original trees were confined to a center of vegetation, from which it was intended that they should spread in the course of nature.

At that juncture, then, there was not a tree of the field—that is, a tree of propagation—in the land. Even the created trees had not sent down a single root of growth into the land. And if they had dropped a seed, it was only on the land, and not in the land, as it had not yet struck root.

Concerning the phrase, And not an herb of the field yet grew, the herbage seems to have been more widely diffused than the trees. Hence, it is not said that they were not in the land, as it is said of field trees. But at that moment, not an herb had exhibited any signs of growth or put forth a single blade beyond the immediate product of creative power.

Rain upon the land and man to till it were the two needs that hindered vegetation. These two means of promoting vegetable growth differed in their importance and in their mode of application. Moisture is absolutely necessary, and where it is supplied in abundance, the shifting wind will in the course of time carry the seed. Browsing herds will also aid in this diffusion process.

Man serves merely as an aid to nature in preparing the soil and depositing seeds and plants for optimal rapid growth and abundant fruitfulness. The narrative, as usual, notes only the main things. Rain is the only source of vegetable sap; man is the only intentional cultivator.

Genesis 2:6

As in the former narrative, so here, the remainder of the chapter is used to record the removal of the two hindrances to vegetation. The first of these is removed by the establishment of the natural process by which rain is produced. The atmosphere had been adjusted enough to admit some light.

However, even on the third day, a dense mass of clouds still obscured the heavenly bodies from view. But on the creation of plants, the Lord God caused it to rain on the land. This is described in the present verse: A mist went up from the land.

It had been ascending from the steaming, moist land ever since the waters receded into the hollows. The briny moisture, which could not promote vegetation, dried up. And now He causes the accumulated clouds to burst and dissolve into heavy showers.

Thus, the mist watered the whole face of the soil. The face of the sky is thereby cleared, and on the following day the sun shone out in all its cloudless splendor and nurturing warmth.

On the fourth day, then, a second process of nature began. The bud began to swell, the tender blade to emerge and take on its green hue, the gentle breeze to stir the full-sized plants, the first seeds to be shaken off and carried to their resting place, the first root to strike into the ground, and the first shoot to rise towards the sky.

This enables us to determine with some probability the season of the year when the creation took place. If we look at the ripe fruit on the first trees, we presume the season is autumn. The scattering of seeds, the falling of rains, and the need for a cultivator, as suggested in the text, all point to the same period.

In a mild climate, the process of vegetation begins with the falling of the early rains. Man would naturally be led to gather the abundant fruit that fell from the trees, thus unintentionally providing a store for the non-bearing period of the year. Moreover, it is probable that he was formed in a region where vegetation was little interrupted by the coldest season. This would be most favorable for the preservation of life in his state of original inexperience.

These presumptions are in harmony with the numbering of the months at the Flood (Genesis 7:11), and with the outgoing and the turn of the year at autumn (Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22).

Genesis 2:7

The second obstacle to the favorable growth of the plant kingdom is now removed: And the Lord God formed the man of dust from the soil. This account of man’s origin differs from the former one because of the different purpose the author has in mind.

In the previous account, his creation as an integral whole is recorded with special reference to his higher nature, by which he was suited to hold communion with his Maker and exercise dominion over the lower creation. Here, his constitution is described with particular attention to his suitability as the cultivator of the soil. He is a compound of matter and mind.

His material part is dust from the soil, out of which he is formed as the potter molds the vessel out of the clay. He is אדם 'ādām, “Adam,” the man of the soil, אדמה 'ădāmâh, “adamah.” His mission in this respect is to draw out the capabilities of the soil to support by its produce the multitudes of his descendants.

His mental part is from another source: And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The word נשׂמה n^eśāmâh is invariably applied to God or man, never to any non-rational creature. The phrase “breath of life” is special to this passage.

It expresses the spiritual and primary element in man, which is not formed, but breathed by the Creator into man’s physical form. This rational part is that in which he bears the image of God and is suited to be His representative on earth. As the earth was prepared to be the dwelling, so the body was prepared to be the organ of that breath of life, which is his very essence, himself.

Regarding the phrase, And the man became a living soul, this term “living soul” is also applied to the water and land animals (Genesis 1:20–21; Genesis 1:24). As by his body he is connected to the earth and by his soul to heaven, so by the vital union of these he is associated with the whole animal kingdom, of which he is the appointed sovereign. This passage, therefore, aptly describes him as suited to dwell and rule on this earth. The fullness of his glory will be revealed later in his relation to the future and to God.

The line of narrative here reaches a resting point. The second lack of the fertile soil is here supplied. The man to till the ground is presented in that form which exhibits his fitness for this appropriate and necessary task. We are therefore free to return to another series of events which is essential to the continuation of our narrative.