The Garden and Creation of Woman

The Home Yahweh Built (4-14)

The Bible states that God planted a garden, something enclosed from the rest of the world, likely using a natural fence. He planted the garden by a river, which seems to have divided as it left the plain of Eden and became four rivers. 

The garden seems to be a perfect place for a home filled with abundant natural beauty. It was not only a place loaded with precious stones and metals, but it was also filled with beautiful forests, orchards, and a central plaza, where two magnificent trees were planted and named—one the Tree of Life and the other the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (5-14). 

Man Commanded (15-17)

Yahweh placed man, Adam, in the garden, and he was assigned the task of working the garden and keeping it (15). Adam thus knew the conditions outside the garden compared to the garden that God had planted and given him as home. Adam was told to eat everything he wanted and to do so freely, with the exception of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (16-17). This eating freely would have included the Tree of Life, which implied that taking nourishment from it would cause Adam, as he ate, to sustain an immortal existence. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, came with an emphatic consequence: if the forbidden food was eaten, death would occur. 

Yahweh Makes a Mate for Adam (18-20)

After God gave the garden to Adam, and after He gave Adam the plants to eat and the command not to eat the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, He determined Adam needed a mate. 

God had placed Adam in a paradise; God had given Adam an abundant food supply; God had given Adam all animal life; God had even given Adam advanced communication skills; God had given Adam Himself; but in all the giving, God recognized Adam being “alone” was not a good state. Adam could not fulfill his gardener role, nor be a fully realized person, without another. He needed a “helper,” not a servant but a “helper,” in the sense of the Holy Spirit’s being a Helper. Adam needed the wisdom, strength, and comfort of another (18-20).

The Creation of Woman (21-25)

God put Adam to sleep and while he slept, God surgically removed one of Adam's ribs and fashioned a woman, then brought her to Adam (21-22). This woman had an immediate claim on Adam for his protection and affection.