Go to Related Reading
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 Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9 and Genesis Rabbah 15:6

Hebrew Bible · Targum · Rabbinic

Share:

Summary

Genesis shows the tree of life as one tree among many in the garden, yet the Aramaic Targums and Genesis Rabbah describe it as impossibly huge and placed in the middle. Their picture connects it to the idea of a world tree at the center of creation.

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

Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9

Targum
8 Before the creation of the world, a garden had been planted by the Memra of the Lord God from Eden for the righteous, and He made Adam dwell there when He created him. 9 And the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is desirable to see and good to eat, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, whose height was a journey of five hundred years, and the tree whose fruit enables those who eat it to distinguish between good and evil. 10 A river goes out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four river-heads.
300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan Genesis

Genesis Rabbah 15:6

Rabbinic · Aggadah
“The Lord God grew from the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). “The Lord God grew from the ground […and the tree of life]” – it is taught: [The tree of life is] a tree that spreads out over all the living. Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai said: [The extent of] the tree of life is a walking distance of five hundred years and all the waters of creation branch out from beneath it. Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai: It is not merely that [the extent of] its branches are a walking distance of five hundred years, but even [the extent of] its trunk is a walking distance of five hundred years.
500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis Rabbah

References

"... Genesis 2:9 ... compare Targum Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9; Genesis Rabbah 15:6; j. Berakhot 1:2 and Song of Songs Rabbah 6:9 which all state that the tree of life covered a five hundred years’ journey ..."
Michael Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, ArBib 1B (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 23.

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

Tags

Your feedback

Genesis 2:9 and Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9 and Genesis Rabbah 15:6

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library