John Calvin Commentary Genesis 2:5

"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;" — Genesis 2:5 (ASV)

And every plant. This verse is connected with the preceding and must be read in continuation with it, for he connects the plants and herbs to the earth as the garment with which the Lord has adorned it, so that its nakedness would not appear as a deformity. The noun שיה (sicah), which we translate as plant, sometimes signifies trees, as below (Genesis 21:15). Therefore, some in this place translate it as shrub, to which I have no objection.

Yet the word plant is not unsuitable, because in the former passage, Moses seems to refer to the genus, and here to the species. But although he has related before that the herbs were created on the third day, it is not without reason that they are mentioned here again, so that we may know that they were then produced, preserved, and propagated in a manner different from what we perceive today.

For herbs and trees are produced from seed; or grafts are taken from other roots, or they grow by putting forth shoots: in all this, human industry and labor are involved. But, at that time, the method was different: God clothed the earth, not in the same manner as now (for there was no seed, no root, no plant that could germinate), but each suddenly sprang into existence at the command of God and by the power of His word.

They possessed durable vigor, so that they could stand by the force of their own nature, and not by that life-giving influence which is now perceived, not by the help of rain, nor by human irrigation or cultivation; but by the vapor with which God watered the earth.

For he excludes these two things: the rain from which the earth derives moisture, so that it may retain its native sap; and human cultivation, which is the assistant of nature. When he says that God had not yet caused it to rain, he at the same time intimates that it is God who opens and shuts the cataracts of heaven, and that rain and drought are in His hand.