Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 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.”
Welcome back to the garden in Eden. In this article, we will examine God’s commandment to “the man” and the highly controversial consequence. Believe it or not, there are theologians out there who claim God lied. Others claim God did mean what he said. Others change God’s words to mean something else. Once again, I will break away from traditional theology (you should be used to this by now) and show you what the Bible claims. Hang on to your seats, because here we go.
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
The combined phrase YHWH Elohim emphasizes a personal yet benevolent God. First, YHWH is a proper noun, the personal name of God. Second, Elohim is a common noun, used to refer to deity. The name YHWH cannot be readily interpreted.1 Because the context looks backward and forward, it is legitimate to translate it as “I am who I am.” In other words, God is declaring, “I was God, I will be God, and I always and forever am God.”2 By joining YHWH with Elohim, the author conjoins the concept of a personal God who rules over Israel, is at the same time the universal God (Elohim) who rules over all.3
In Genesis chapters 1-5, the word “adam” occurs 31 times, sometimes as a proper noun and sometimes as a personal name. When the “adam” has the definite article (ha-'adam), it means mankind or humanity.4 The term “the man” is the representative nature of Adam that is indicated by his name, which means “mankind or humanity.”5 Adam’s success or failure at obeying God’s commands will have profound implications on all of humanity. However, the agricultural detail of “the man” is also important. It is the introductory purpose for the man’s existence and the feature captured in his name. Note that (a) adam (“man”) is derived from adama (“arable soil, dirt”), (although traditionally translated by a general term, such as ‘ground.’) and (b) adama is ... arable land, fertile soil that can be cultivated.6
We don’t know where God formed “the man” from the dust, but from verse fifteen, it wasn’t in the garden. God may have formed him in Havilah (a land of dust and sand), but we don’t know. We all know that after God made “the man,” God placed him in the garden.
Genesis 2:15
… to work it and keep it.
The word work (Strong’s H5647) means “to work, to serve.”7 Since working or serving is an everyday activity in any culture, this verb is deployed almost 300 times in the Old Testament. Curiously enough, this verb has the power to take meaning from whatever comes next. If the story tells of “dressing” vines, the Hebrew reads “working” vines. When a field is tilled, the Hebrew reads that the field is “worked.”8
The word keep (Strong’s H8104) means “to keep watch over, protect, preserve, guard.”9 This word is used in the famous blessing Aaron pronounced over Israel (Numbers 6:24-26): “The Lord bless you and keep you …” I think the word “protect” perfectly sums up the definition of “keep.”
Adam’s job was to serve and to protect.
The words “work and keep” are used together in the Old Testament elsewhere, referring to “serving” God and “guarding” (keeping) God’s word (approximately 10 times).10 These same words are used to describe how the priests cared for the Tabernacle in the wilderness (5 times). The implication is that the garden was a type of temple of God. The priests of Israel were to “work” and “keep” the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, just as Adam was to “work” and “keep” the garden. The terminology of “work” and “keep” is shared in common and deliberately so. Why? Not to show that the garden was a temple, but to give the Israelites something to look back on and understand why God set up the Tabernacle the way he did.11 The Tabernacle (and later the Temple) of Israel was a microcosm (a small version) of creation and Eden. The priests of Israel reflected Adam in his original priestly function.
Adam can “walk” with God and enter into God’s presence, something that is the role of the priests who enter the Tabernacle as the Tabernacle was where God’s divine presence resided ( Exodus 25:8). Adam was to draw near to God; he was to live holy before him; he was to promote the worship of God, and he was to keep the garden, driving away any who would attempt to defile its sanctity. He was, essentially, a type of role model for the priests who would follow much later.
Numerous scholars12 have noted the “royal” significance of the garden. In ancient times, gardens were reserved for royalty. Common people were not allowed in gardens. The ancient Israelites would have, therefore, seen Adam as being royalty. Since Adam was permitted in the royal garden, he may have had a “kingship” role.13
The Hebrew word garden (גַּנ - Strong’s H1588) translates as “garden, grove, orchard.”14 In the Ancient Near East (ANE), royal gardens were common. The ANE garden was closely related to the concept of paradise.15 Since Adam was placed in a royal garden when God spoke humanity into existence on day 6, Adam became their king. With Adam in the role of a king, any decision he made would definitely affect humanity as a whole. As king, Adam represented all of humanity. Humanity’s fate was in Adam’s hands. At this point, we see Adam in the role of priest and king, serving God in the garden.16
16a And the Lord God commanded the man,
The word commanded (Strong’s H6680) means “to lay a charge on, to command.”17 It is a military term. The word denotes the action of a superior stating something with authority and force to a subordinate to elicit a response. The subordinate affirms he received the order, and the superior expects that order to be carried out and obeyed. This interaction is standard military practice, but it shows how God views himself in relation to us, and how we should view ourselves in relation to God. He is our Commanding Officer.
It is interesting that the Lord God issued a command and not a suggestion. A command is more than just an order; an implied responsibility is that the person receiving the command will carry it out. To hear is to obey.18 But how often do we treat God’s commands as mere suggestions? Probably far more than we would ever admit. We probably do not see God as our Commanding Officer. We would much rather see ourselves in that role. As a result, we fool ourselves into thinking we are in control. The scariest words you will ever hear a 5-year-old child say are, “I got this, I don’t need you.” You know they don’t. The saddest words God ever hears us say are, “I got this, God, I don’t need you.”
16b “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
The word surely (Strong’s H398) (Hebrew word akol) means “to eat or consume or devour.”19 The word eat (Strong’s H398) (Hebrew word takol) is the same word used twice. The 2nd time the word akol is used, it has the prefix (תָּ) (letter “t”) in front, which adds the word “shall.” The two words transliterated would be “akol tokel.”
In Hebrew, when a word is used twice, it demonstrates emphasis, like an exclamation mark. The phrase (eat eat!) doesn’t make much sense in English. It would be better translated as “eat and feast.”20 To put this in perspective, the Israelites were out in the wilderness eating manna 7 days a week. The only thing on the menu was manna. How do you think the Israelites responded when they heard about Adam being given a smorgasbord, or buffet, of food? They were probably drooling at the prospect. Adam could eat whatever he wanted whenever he wanted; on top of that, he had a cool river of water from which to drink. Paradise!
Part 1 of the command shows God’s generous provision of food. However, God did not specifically promise to grant eternal life to Adam; access to the Tree of Life provided that possibility. We know this to be the case from Romans 5:12–21, which says that Jesus, the last Adam, secured eternal life for us by His obedience. It follows that if the first Adam had obeyed, he and his descendants would never have died.
17a but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat
Here, we have the one prohibition given Adam. There is one tree whose fruit is forbidden. The word not (Strong’s H3808) is not a soft “no” or “not.” It is not just a simple slap on the hand. It is “no” or “not” with force. In other words: “NO!” or “SHALL NOT!” Think of the word as having an exclamation mark for emphasis. There is no room to even question God’s intentions. No means no. It’s just like instructing a child not to stick their finger in an electrical socket. Why? There will be very unpleasant consequences.
Knowledge: The idea of “knowing” in Ancient Hebrew thought is similar to our understanding of knowing but is more personal and intimate.21 Knowledge (Strong’s H1847) is an intimate type of experiential knowledge. Intellectual knowledge will tell you that the stove is hot, and you decide not to touch it. (or) You can touch the hot stove and experience that it is hot (and decide you shouldn’t have touched it).
Good: (towb - Strong’s H2896) “always speaks of something pleasant, beautiful, pleasing, nice, positive, best, bountiful, harmony, etc.” The Hebrew word towb would best be translated as the word “functional”22 in terms of God’s order in contrast to this word is the Hebrew word “ra.” These two words, towb, and ra are used for the tree of the knowledge of “good” and “evil.” Towb becomes a one-word idiom to describe all things as intended by God with the idea of a journey to being what you were fully designed to be from the eyes of God both in the sense of your person and the community that represents God.23
Evil: Hebrew words are supposed to have a minimum of three letters, but here we have a word that is only two letters, resh ayin (רע). It is a loan word from the Middle Egyptian, which is only two letters long, and it happens to be the name of Egypt’s chief God, Ra.24 That cannot be a coincidence. The word evil (רע - ra) (Strong’s H7451) describes anything that is not in harmony with God or goes against his nature and character. While “ra” is often translated as evil it is can also be translated as “dysfunctional” or “chaotic.”25
We must be careful not to think of evil as the absence of good, just as darkness is the absence of light, or cold is the absence of heat. Evil is an active opposing force to good. For instance, the imagery of struggle and conflict in Ephesians 6:12 suggests evil is more than just an absence; it’s an adversarial power.
Since Adam was made in the image of God, he already knew what good and evil were according to God’s definitions and standards. Adam, at this point in the story, has not experienced evil. He had not yet internalized evil and made it part of his character. He knows the stove is hot, but, so far, hasn’t touched it.
17b … for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
The phrase in the day is the Hebrew word “yom” (Strong’s H3117) with the temporal preposition (בּ) (in, on) that expresses a moment or point in time when an action takes place.26 The phrase could be translated as “in that day” or “on that day,” either one is accurate. Theologians debate which one is the better one to use. We need to understand that the wording tells us that Adam should take God’s warning very seriously because it will happen.
There is a big difference between in the day
and on the day.
Determining which preposition to use depends on the context of the sentence. In the day
can refer to a determined amount of time or an undetermined period of time. For example, Genesis 2:4 states, These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
The phrase in the day refers to the entire creation week. In that context, the preposition in
is the correct one to use.
On the day refers to something happening during the 24 hours. For example, Leviticus 19:6, referencing the peace offering, states, It shall be eaten on the day you offer it.
The preposition on
makes the twenty-four-hour timeframe very specific.
As you can see, the phrase in the day gives us a lot of wiggle room, whereas the phrase on the day gives us no wiggle room. My personal opinion is that in verse 17, the phrase should be translated as on the day. I’ll explain why next.
The phrase shall surely die is one Hebrew word used twice (Strong’s H4191 מות - muth) which means to die, kill, or have one executed.
27 The 2nd time the word is used, it has the prefix (תּ) (letter t
) in front which adds the word shall.
The word used twice is a certain death sentence. The two words transliterated would be muth temuth.
A better way of phrasing this may be shall certainly die.
The phrase is similar to the standard idiom for the death penalty in a legal context.28 In other words, God made a legal contract with Adam. If Adam broke the contract, the penalty was death. The phrase is used in the Old Testament to refer to imminent physical death. The double wording is used four other times in the Old Testament.
The phrase shall surely die is an accurate way to translate these words. Some theologians like to water down the phrase by interpreting it as in dying you shall die.
That is a very clumsy translation that removes the emphatic and does not correctly convey the actual meaning and removes the actual threat. This tends to lead to incorrect interpretations. Unfortunately, Young’s Analytical Concordance (1879) published this translation of the words, and it quickly found its way into traditional theology. It is interesting that Young chose not to interpret the eat words this way from verse 16 (You may surely eat). Following his own logic (or the lack thereof), Young should have translated eat eat
as in eating you shall eat.
To prove my point I will show four more instances where muth temuth
is used. Reviewing these will provide more context on how the Old Testament used this phrase.
In Genesis chapter 20 is the story where Abraham lied to the Philistine king, Abimelech, that Sarah was his sister. King Abimelech then took Sarah to be his wife. Before Abimelech had sexual relations with her, God came to him that night in a dream and let him know that Abraham had deceived him. God instructed him to return Sarah to Abraham. God warned Abimelech that if he did not immediately give Sarah back to Abraham, he and his family would surely die (muth temuth). Abimelech was so afraid of this threat that he wasted no time returning Sarah (early the next morning). Abimelech understood the phrase muth temuth as imminent and immediate physical death. Apparently, Abimelech thought God would put him and his family to death that same day, so he rectified the situation within hours of God’s appearing to him.
In 1 Samuel 22 is the story of the priest Ahimelech, who gave bread to David and his men while they were running from King Saul. When Saul found out, he confronted the priest. In verse 16, Saul stated, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.
The phrase shall surely die
are the words muth temuth. The same day Saul uttered these words, Ahimelech and his family were put to death.
In 1 Kings 2:36-46, Solomon warned Shimei, an old enemy of King David, to stay in Jerusalem and never leave. In verse 37, Solomon stated, For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head.
The phrase shall die
are the words muth temuth. The same day Solomon found out Shimei had disobeyed the order, Shimei was executed.
Jeremiah chapter 26 tells the story of Jeremiah prophesying against the city of Jerusalem. The priests and prophets were furious. Verse 8 states, And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die!
The phrase shall die
are the words muth temuth. They had every intention of killing Jeremiah right there and then. Fortunately, Jeremiah was rescued, as stated in verse 24, But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.
In the four instances listed above, muth temuth refers to imminent physical death, implying immediacy. The only logical conclusion is that God was conveying this to Adam. Nowhere, anywhere, does this phrase refer to anything other than imminent physical death. There is also no reason to think that Adam did not understand what God was saying to him.
When discussing the phrase muth temuth, it is essential to keep it in context. From the above, it is evident that ordinary Biblical usage of the words muth temuth means putting to a judicial, premature death, usually in a violent manner, and not dying of a natural death. So I believe that if we are going to keep Genesis 2:17 in context with scripture, we should understand muth temuth in the same manner as it used everywhere else in the Old Testament.
Final thoughts
I am ending this article with a cliffhanger. God clearly told Adam he would physically be put to death if he disobeyed God. By the way, imminent physical death does not mean growing old and dying when you’re 930 years old. In the three examples I gave where muth temuth was used, nowhere was spiritual death implied, only physical death. In Adam’s case, there is no reason to think that God was referring to spiritual death. There is no reason to think that Adam even knew what spiritual death was or that he even understood the concept. If you keep the phrase muth temuth in context with the rest of Old Testament scripture, it can only mean physical death.
The original audience was very familiar with God dealing severely with their disobedience as they traveled through the wilderness. It is possible that they saw a common thread between their disobedience and Adam’s. It points to fact that God does not tolerate sin. Also keep in mind that as far as God is concerned, disobedience is sin.
The reason I’m not going to discuss what happened to Adam (or didn’t) in this article is because it will make much more sense to you if I wait until we get to the article about chapter 3, where we discuss the temptation and the corresponding results.
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