Garden of Eden and Adam’s Work – Lesson 21 2025

Genesis chapter 2 focuses on more details about the creation of the first man, the garden God placed him in, and the work God gave him to do.

Before man was created, there were no cultivated crops, and the land was watered by mist rising up from the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. KJV

 

God created man on Day 6 of the Six Days of Creation, forming him out of the dust of the ground and breathing the “breath of life” into him. Man becomes a living being. God placed Adam into His newly planted garden in the region of Eden, a garden with abundant fruit-bearing trees. Two trees in the middle of the garden stand out; The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

 

There are debates over which aspects of Genesis are meant to be literal, and which are meant to be symbolic. The Garden of Eden is not difficult to interpret. The writer of Genesis clearly intends it to be understood as a real place. Scripture (Genesis 2: 9-14) describes the river that runs out of it and divides into four separate rivers. Those rivers run through places that would have been familiar to Genesis’ first readers. They include the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers that still flow through the lands of Mesopotamia.

The Tree of Life stood in the center of the Garden. It was a real tree, but I suggest that it was also symbolic of the fact that God was, and is, the source of eternal life and blessing. Adam and Eve were to have their lives centered in God, even as the Tree of Life was in the center of His Garden.

God placed the man in the garden with specific work to do, including maintaining the garden and the task of naming the animals. God also issues a single command: never eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or you will die (both physically and spiritually).

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

 

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

 

In two weeks we will begin looking at Chapter 3 with man being tempted to eat fruit from the forbidden tree with mankind’s disobedience bringing sin and rebellion into God’s beautiful creation.

Next week we will finish Chapter 2 with discussion of God’s design for marriage.