We learn more about what happened on the Sixth Day of Creation in the Second Chapter of Genesis. It contains more of the “history” (Hebrew – toledot – “record, account, history, generations”) of the Creation Week .

Sixth Day of Creation (cont)

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 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 being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Genesis 2:4-8

The Sixth Day was a busy one for God and man. God “planted” a “garden” eastward in Eden. The word for “planted” is nata and means “to plant, establish.” God lived in Eden and Adam lived next door in the garden God planted for him. Keeping in mind that God Created the human race to rule with Him on earth. Eden was God’s Throne on earth and the Garden of Eden was man’s throne on earth. God the Creator had total dominion of Heaven, the heavens and the earth and shared that dominion with man and woman (Genesis 1:28).

“And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9

The garden God planted for Adam was magnificent. It contained every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food. The garden also included the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Does that seem a bit strange to you that on the final Day of Creation God would plant a tree that contained the knowledge of good and “evil?” What is this evil? Where did it come from? It seems so out of place in what God would call “very good.” There is no mistake here. God planted the trees of “life” and the “knowledge of good and evil” for a reason we will soon understand.

When God took Adam from Eden eastward to the Garden of Eden, He gave Adam specific instructions as to his responsibility in the garden. He would “tend and keep it.” The Hebrew words are abad and samar. The word abad means “to work, serve, make, do.” In the context of a garden, it means “to work the ground, till the ground, dress a vineyard.” The word samar means “to guard, keep safe, protect, preserve, watch over.” That’s an interesting combination: to serve and protect. Sounds like the motto of law enforcement, and that’s exactly what God expected Adam to do. God was the Lawgiver and Adam was to be the enforcer. God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to serve it and protect it. The garden was to be a safe place based on Adam’s protective care.

God then gave Adam instructions that would help him protect the garden.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17

There’s that tree again – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam not to eat from that tree “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” It seems from our reading that there was something magical about that tree. God Created Adam to live forever, but there was something about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that could bring about the death of Adam and the entire human race. On the Day God Created Adam and placed him in the newly planted Garden of Eden – the first human learned that death was a real possibility if he didn’t obey God.

I wonder what Adam thought about that. Even though God Created Adam as an adult, he had been alive for only a matter of minutes or hours. Everything was new to him, but he was going to have to learn fast. What was this thing called evil and how could it take Adam’s life? We’re not told if Adam asked God any questions about evil or if God explained more about evil at that time, but it is clear that Adam had an important job as guardian and protector of the garden.

“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.’ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” Genesis 2:18-20

God Created man to have dominion over the earth, but he was not to do this alone. The first time God uses the phrase “not good” during Creation is about Adam not having a helper comparable to him. Everything else about Creation had been “good” so far. What wasn’t good was man being “alone.” God was going to give Adam a “helper comparable to him.” God brought every beast of the field and every bird of the air to Adam to see what he would call them. Whatever Adam called each living creature was their name. Given the number of animals, creeping things and birds of the air, the task of giving them names would have been a large undertaking to even the brightest people on earth and would probably take months to accomplish even with the help of a high-speed computer. However, Adam had complete use of his brain as an immortal – unlike us mortals who have access to only a small percentage of our brain’s ability – so he was able to name all of the animals and birds in a matter of minutes or a few hours. All of this was accomplished on the Sixth Day of Creation and we’ll learn more about it in the next part of our study.

Scripture references in this book are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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