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About this book

Genesis

About this book

The Seventh Day

Chapter 2

1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.⁠ 2 By the seventh day God finished the work⁠ that he had been doing,⁠ and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.⁠ 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.⁠

The Garden and the First Humans

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.⁠ 5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.⁠ 7 The Lord God formed the man⁠ from the soil of the ground⁠ and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,⁠ and the man became a living being.⁠ 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden;⁠ and there he placed the man he had formed.⁠ 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food.⁠ (Now the tree of life⁠ and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil⁠ were in the middle of the orchard.)⁠ 10 Now a river flows from Eden⁠ to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is Gihon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.⁠ 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”⁠ 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.⁠ I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”⁠ 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air.⁠ He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field,⁠ but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.⁠ 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man,⁠ and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;⁠ this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”⁠ 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife,⁠ and they become one family.⁠ 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 2:9 and 2 Enoch 8:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

Genesis places the tree of life in the middle of the garden of Eden. 2 Enoch reshapes this imagery into a heavenly cosmic tree at the center of paradise where God himself rests, indescribable in fragrance and beauty.

Passages

Genesis 2:9

Hebrew Bible
8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

2 Enoch 8:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
2 And I saw all the sweet-flowering trees and saw their fruits, which were sweet-smelling, and all the food they produced bubbling and giving off a sweet fragrance. 3 And among the trees was the tree of life, in that place on which the Lord rests, when he goes up into paradise; and this tree is so good and fragrant that words cannot describe it, and adorned more than every existing thing; 4 and on all sides its form is gold-looking and vermilion and fire-like and covers all, and it has produce from all fruits. Its root is in the garden at the earth's end.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

References

“... The tree of life is first mentioned in the Old Testament in Genesis 2:9; 3:23-24 (where the phrase is articular and refers to a well-known concept, and where the Yahwist writer uses it to frame the story of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; see Westermann, Genesis 1:211-14). A more mythological poetic description of the primal garden of God is found in Ezekiel 31:2-9, in which verse 8 specifically refers to trees in the Garden of God. The tree of life is not simply a symbol for eternal life alone but also represents the cosmic center of reality where eternal life is present and available, and where God dwells. The cosmic tree or tree of life represents the sacrality of the world in terms of its creation, fertility, and continuation and, therefore, is a tree of immortality. ...”
David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, WBC 52 (Dallas: Word Books, Publisher, 1997), 390–391.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 2:9 and 2 Enoch 8:3

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