Genesis 2:4, 5, 6 Commentary
THOMAS SCOTT COMMENTARY
Verse 4. This is the real and true account of the origin of the heavens and the earth: and may therefore be opposed to the fables of poets, and the fancies of speculating philosophers.—The word JEHOVAH, the peculiar name of the living God, is here first used. It seems to mean Self-existence, underived, independent, and immutable.
Verses 4-5. Perceiving his advantage, the tempter grew bolder, and gave a direct contradiction to the divine denunciation; and, to gain the more credit by his daring assertions, he proceeded to confirm them by an oath, blasphemously calling on God to attest his horrid falsehoods: or rather, he insinuated that the Lord knew his own threatening would not be executed, at least in the sense in which Adam and Eve had understood it; but that, on the contrary, most abundant advantage would accrue to them from the violation of the Creator’s law: no less than a vast advance in knowledge, and an independent felicity, without subjection to the will, or dread of the displeasure, of a superior. This he insinuated, that God forbade this fruit, in order to keep them in ignorance, and in a mean state of dependence and subjection. There is likewise an equivocation in the words; a latent truth, the reverse of their apparent meaning. “your eyes,” says Satan, “shall be opened;” that is, “When you have eaten the fruit, you will too late see your own folly.” “Ye shall be as gods,” ‘revolted from God, and losing this image and favour, you will proudly and ambitiously affected independency; demand the homage of flattery and praise; aspire at the pinnacle of pre-eminence, seek your own glory, and grasp at dominion; act as if you were your own masters and avengers; and thus attempt to usurp the throne of God. By this conduct you will be left to make trial of your ability to contrive, effect, and secure a happiness to yourselves, as if ye were gods, till you find death and misery seize upon you “knowing good and evil;” by losing the good and experiencing the evil.’—Of such a paraphrase the words will admit, and such have been the effects of eating the forbidden fruit; but nothing could be further form Eve’s thoughts than this interpretation.—Thus the assertions of the tempter resembled the ancient heathen oracles, of which, in one way or other, this “father of lies” was the author: for these were generally couched in such ambiguous language, as might afterwards be accommodated to the event, though often in direct opposition to the disappointed expectations of the deluded votaries.—Nothing is more common, than for the most false and pernicious doctrines to be advanced with a boldness, which stuns the minds of the simple, and induces a doubt; ‘Surely I must be in the wrong, and they in the right, or they would not be so confident!’—Fuller.
THOMAS HAWEIS COMMENTARY
Verses 4-6: We had God before in his triune character, as the Elohim; now he calls himself Jehovah, alone self-existent, while all beside is of him and from him. To us there is but one God; the unity of the divine Essence is as much an article of our creed, as the trinity of persons. –As we have seen the generations of the heaven and earth, with their various furniture, here a more distinct notice is taken of some of the productions of the earth to the praise of the great Creator.
Observe 1. The state of perfection in which things were made; the plants and trees in full growth, fit for immediate use; nor sun nor rain had yet contributed to their produce. When God pleases, he can work without means, as well as with them. Though it becomes us not to tempt him, it is our duty always to trust him.
2. The provision God makes for the continuance of vegetation: before the rain fell, a mist from the earth watered it. Where God hath planted divine grace in any heart, he will take care to water it, and make it grow. The increase, as well as the formation, is wholly from him.
3. That the ground is made for cultivation, and that it is man’s proper business to till it. Though grace in the heart be a new creation, brought forth without man’s labor, yet it is designed that we should cultivate the heavenly plant; and, with dependence on God’s blessing, be seeking to grow in grace, and bring forth fruit unto perfection.
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