God Planted a Garden
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
3/1 Reading Portions: Exodus 12:22-51; Luke 15; Job 30; 1 Corinthians 16
Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
EDEN
YHVH God planted a garden in Eden. Dr. Gill suggested that this was done before the creation of man in verse 7, stating,
“Or ‘had planted,’ for this was not now done after the formation of man, but before;” John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, 1766
He cites Franciscus Junius (1545-1602) and Immanuel Tremellius (1510-80), Reformation theologians who translated the Scriptures into Latin. Well, I could not disagree with Drs. Gill, Junius, and Tremellius more. They suggest that the verb form of the first word in this verse, the Hebrew וַיִּטַּ֞ע (vay-YIT-ta) could be translated as “had planted,” implying what Dr. Gill stated above. Just ridiculous, because the first Hebrew word in the previous verse, “formed” uses the same verb tense as in our verse today. Therefore, we may well consider that on this sixth day of creation, after YHVH God created man, He planted the garden in front of the living man, and then when He was finished planting it, He placed Adam in that garden. There are several reasons and gospel implications for this, but we will only meditate upon two today.
First, by planting the garden in front of the man, Satan could not come along and say, “You know, God didn’t tell you this, but the garden has been here for billions of years.” Adam could easily answer, “No. I saw Him plant it.”
Second, the planting of the garden in front of that living soul, the נפשׁ חיה (NEF-esh chaiy-YAH) of Genesis 2:7, prophetically proclaims the gospel to come in a very special way. Once man is alive, or in our case redeemed from sin, the garden is planted. This is what Jesus did by His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and soon-coming restitution of all things. Once He has saved us by His grace, His work now is not the planting of the garden before us, but building His church and preparing a place for us which He will put us into once He returns. In building His church, it is like turning the soil to plant the lush beauty of the garden, eastward in Eden. Jesus said,
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:8
Of His preparing a place for us, Jesus said,
“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2, KJV
In the restitution of all things at Christ’s coming, He’s not taking us back to Eden. Eden was a mere foreshadow of the best that is yet to come. Hallelujah! What a Savior!