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ancient Greek and Latin MSS., and in almost all the rabbinical writings. When these numeral letters became changed for words at full length, two letters nearly similar might be mistaken for each other; vau stands for six, 1 zain for seven; how easy to mistake these letters for each other when writing the words at full length, and so give birth to the reading in question.

Verse 3. And God blessed the seventh day] The original word a barach, which is generally rendered to bless, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in scripture in the sense of speaking good of or to a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint evλoynoev, from eu, good or well, and Xɛyw, I speak. So God has spoken well of the sabbath, and good to them who conscientiously observe it. Blessing is applied both to God and man: when God is said to bless, we generally understand by the expression that he communicates some good; but when man is said to bless God, we surely cannot imagine that he bestows any gift or confers any benefit on his Maker. When God is said to bless, either in the Old or New Testament, it signifies his speaking good To man; and this comprises the whole of his exceeding great and precious promises. And when man is said to bless God, it ever implies that he speaks good of him, for the giving and fulfilment of his promises. This observation will be of general use in considering the various places where the word occurs in the sacred writings. Reader, God blesses thee when by his promises he speaks good to thee; and thou dost bless him when, from a consciousness of his kindness to thy body and soul, thou art thankful to him, and speakest good or his

name.

Because that in it he had rested] na shabath, he rested; hence sabbath, the name of the seventh day, signifying a day of rest-rest to the body from labour and toil, and rest to the soul from all worldly care and anxieties. He who labours with his mind by worldly schemes and plans on the sabbath day is as culpable as he who labours with his hands in his accustomed calling. It is by the authority of God that the sabbath is set apart for rest and religious purposes, as the six days of the week are appointed for labour. How wise is this provision! It is essentially necessary, not only to the body of man, but to all the animals employed in his service; take this away and the labour is too great, both man and beast would fail under it. Without this consecrated day religion itself would fail, and the human mind, becoming sensualized, would soon forget its origin and end. Even as a political regu

state of perfection.

created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

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5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field

c Ch. i. 12. Ps. civ. 14.

lation, it is one of the wisest and most beneficent in its effects of any ever instituted. Those who habitually disregard its moral obligation are, to a man, not only good for nothing, but are wretched in themselves, a curse to society, and often end their lives miserably. See the notes on Exod. xx. 8; xxiii. 12; xxiv. 16; and xxxi. 13; to which the reader is particularly desired to refer.

As God formed both the mind and body of man on principles of activity, so he assigned him proper employment; and it is his decree that the mind shall improve by exercise, and the body find increase of vigour and health in honest labour. He who idles away his time in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh. The idle person is ordinarily clothed with rags, and the sabbath-breakers frequently come to an ignominious death. Reader, beware.

Verse 4. In the day that the Lord God made, &c.] The word m Yehovah is for the first time mentioned here. What it signifies see on Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6. Wherever this word occurs in the sacred writings we translate it LORD, which word is, through respect and reverence, always printed in capitals. Though our English term Lord does not give the particular meaning of the original word, yet it conveys a strong and noble sense. Lord is a contraction of the AngloSaxon hlafoɲd, Hlaford, afterwards written Loveɲd, Loverd, and lastly Lord, from hlaf, bread; hence our word loaf, and foɲd, ford, to supply, to give out. The word, therefore, implies the giver of bread, i. e. he who deals out all the necessaries of life. Our ancient English noblemen were accustomed to keep a continual open house, where all their vassals, and all strangers, had full liberty to enter and eat as much as they would; and hence those noblemen had the honourable name of lords, i. e, the dispensers of bread. There are about three of the ancient nobility who still keep up this honourable custom, from which the very name of their nobility is derived. We have already seen, chap. i. 1, with what judgment our Saxon ancestors expressed Deus, the Supreme Being, by the term God; and we see the same judgment consulted by their use of the term Lord to express the word Dominus, by which terms the Vulgate Version, which they used, expresses Elohim and Jehovah, which we translate LORD GOD. GOD is the good B ing, and LORD is the dispenser of bread, the giver of every good and perfect gift, who liberally affords the bread that perisheth to every man, and has amply provided the bread that endures unto eternal life for every human soul. With what propriety then does this word apply to the Lord Jesus,

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had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

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7 And the LORD God formed man of the 'dust of the ground, and 'breathed into his

*Job xxxviii. 26, 27, 28.- b Ch. iii. 23.- c Or, a mist which went up from, &c. Heb. dust of the ground. Ch. 19, 23. Ps. ciii. 14. Eccles. xii. 7. Isai. lxiv. 8. 1 Car. xv. 47.——f Job xxxiii. 4. Acts xvii. 25. - Ch. vi 22. Isai. ii, 22.- h1 Cor. xv. 45. Ch. xiii. 10.

who is emphatically called the bread of Life; the bread of God which cometh down from heaven, and which is given for the life of the world! John vi. 33, 48, 51. What a pity that this most impressive and instructive meaning of a word in such general use were not more extensively known, and more particuby regarded! See the postscript to the general price. I know that Mr. H. Tooke has endeavoured to render this derivation contemptible; but this has Ettle weight with me. I have traced it through the most accredited writers in Saxony and on Saxon affairs, and I am satisfied that this, and this only, is its proper etymology and derivation.

Garden of Eden.

nostrils the breath of life; and

b man became a living soul.

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8 And the LORD God planted a garden * eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow "every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life Isai. li. 3. Ezek. xxviii. 13. Joel ii. 3.- Ch. iii. 24. Ch. iv. 16. 2 Kings xix. 12. Ezek. xxvii. 23.--m Ver. 15.- n Ezek. xxxi. 8.- o Ch. iii. 22. Prov. iii. 18. xi. 30. Rev. ii. 7. xxii. 2, 14.

the dust; hence because it is earthy it is decomposable and perishable. Of the soul it is said, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; on awɔ nishmath chaiyim, the breath of LIVES, i. e. animal and intellectual. While this breath of God expanded the lungs and set them in play, his inspiration gave both spirit and understanding.

Verse 8. A garden eastward in Eden] Though the wordy Eden signifies pleasure or delight, it is certainly the name of a place. See chap. iv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 12; Isai. xxxvii. 12; Ezek. xxvii. 23; Amos i. 5. And such places probably received their name from their fertility, pleasant situation, &c. In Verse 5. Every plant of the field before it was in the this light the Septuagint have viewed it as they earth] It appears that God created every thing, not render the passage thus: Epurevσev & Oɛoç Tapadeiσov only perfect as it respects its nature, but also in a Ev Edeμ, God planted a paradise in Eden. Hence the state of maturity, so that every vegetable production word paradise has been introduced into the New appeared at once in full growth; and this was ne- Testament, and is generally used to signify a place of cessary that man, when he came into being, might exquisite pleasure and delight. From this the find every thing ready for his use. ancient heathens borrowed their ideas of the gardens Verse 6. There went up a mist] This passage ap- of the Hesperides, where the trees bore golden fruit; pears to have greatly embarrassed many commen- the gardens of Adonis, a word which is evidently deLators. The plain meaning seems to be this, that the rived from the Hebrew Eden; and hence the aqueous vapours, ascending from the earth, and be- origin of sacred gardens or enclosures dedicated to coming condensed in the colder regions of the atmo- purposes of devotion, some comparatively innocent, sphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of dews, others impure. The word paradise is not Greek; in and by this means an equal portion of moisture was Arabic and Persian it signifies a garden, a vineyard, distributed to the roots of plants, &c. As Moses and also the place of the blessed. The Mohamhad said, verse 5, that the Lord had not caused it to medans say that God created the gl rain upon the earth, he probably designed to teach us, Jennet al Ferdoos, the garden of paradise, from in verse 6, how rain is produced, viz., by the condensa-light, and the prophets and wise men ascend thither. tion of the aqueous vapours which are generally through the heat of the sun and other causes raised a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, eeting with cold air, the watery particles which were before so small and light that they could float in the air, becoming condensed, i. e. many drops being driven into one, become too heavy to be any longer suspended, and then, through their own gravity, fall down in the form which we term rain.

Verse 7. God formed man of the dust] In the most distinct manner God shows us that man is a compound being, having a body and soul distinctly and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. Does not this strongly mark that the soul and body are not the same thing? The body derives its origin from the earth, or, as y aphar implies,

Wilmet places it after the root farada to separate, especially a person or place for the purposes of devotion, but supposes it to be originally a Persian word, vox originis Persicæ quam in sua lingua conservarunt Armeni. As it is a word of doubtful origin, its etymology is uncertain.

Verse 9. Every tree that is pleasant to the sight, &c.] If we take up these expressions literally, they may bear the following interpretation: the tree pleasant to the sight may mean every beautiful tree or plant which for shape, colour, or fragrance, delights the senses, such as flowering shrubs, &c.

And good for food] All fruit-bearing trees, whether of the pulpy fruits, as apples, &c., or of the kernel or nut kind, such as dates, and nuts of different sorts, together with all esculent vegetables.

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The tree of life]" chaiyim; Of lives, or life-giving tree, every medicinal tree, herb, and plant, whose healing virtues are of great consequence to man in his present state, when through sin diseases of various kinds have seized on the human frame, and have commenced that process of dissolution which is to reduce the body to its primitive dust. Yet by the use of these trees of life-those different vegetable medicines, the health of the body may be preserved for a time, and death kept at a distance. Though the exposition given here may be a general meaning for these general terms, yet it is likely that this tree of life which was placed in the midst of the garden was intended as an emblem of that life which man should ever live, provided he continued in obedience to his Maker. And probably the use of this tree was intended as the means of preserving the body of man in a state of continual vital energy, and an antidote against death. This seems strongly indicated from chap. iii. 22.

And the tree of knowledge of good and evil.] Considering this also in a merely literal point of view, it may mean any tree or plant which possessed the property of increasing the knowledge of what was in nature, as the esculent vegetables had of increasing bodily vigour; and that there are some aliments which from their physical influence have a tendency to strengthen the understanding and invigorate the rational faculty more than others, has been supposed by the wisest and best of men; yet here much more seems intended, but what is very difficult to be ascertained. Some very eminent men have contended that the passage should be understood allegorically! and that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means simply that prudence, which is a mixture of knowledge, care, caution, and judgment, which was prescribed to regulate the whole of man's conduct. And it is certain that to know good and evil, in different parts of scripture, means such knowledge and discretion as leads a man to understand what is fit and unfit, what is not proper to be done and what should be performed. But how could the acquisition of such a faculty be a sin? Or can we suppose that such a faculty could be wanting when man was in a state of perfection? To this it may be answered: The prohibition was intended to exercise this faculty in man that it should constantly teach him this moral lesson, that there were some things fit and others unfit to be done, and that in reference

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Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone 13 And the name of the second river i Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

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14 And the name of the third river is Hid dekel: that is it which goeth toward the

d Heb. Cush.-e Dan. x. 4.- f Or, eastward to Assyria. Ch. x. 22.

to this point the tree itself should be both a constant teacher and monitor. The eating of its fruit would not have increased this moral faculty, but the prohibition was intended to exercise the faculty he already possessed. There is certainly nothing unreasonable in this explanation, and viewed in this light the passage loses much of its obscurity. Vitringa, in his dissertation De arbore prudentiæ in Paradiso, ejusque mysterio, strongly contends for this interpretation. See more on chap. iii. 6.

Verse 10. A river went out of Eden, &c.] It would astonish an ordinary reader, who should be obliged to consult different commentators and critics on the situation of the terrestrial Paradise, to see the vast variety of opinions by which they are divided. Some place it in the third heaven, others in the fourth; some within the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself; some in the middle regions of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction; some on the earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth; some have fixed it at the north pole, others at the south; some in Tartary, some in China; some on the borders of the Ganges, some in the island of Ceylon; some in Armenia, others in Africa, under the equator; some in Mesopotamia, others in Syria, Persia, Arabia, Babylon, Assyria, and in Palestine ; some have condescended to place it in Europe, and others have contended it either exists not, or is invisible, or is merely of a spiritual nature, and that the whole account is to be spiritually understood! That there was such a place once there is no reason to doubt; the description given by Moses is too parti| cular and circumstantial to be capable of being understood in any spiritual or allegorical way. As well might we contend that the persons of Adam and Eve were allegorical, as that the place of their residence was such.

The most probable account of its situation is that given by Hadrian Reland. He supposes it to have been in Armenia, near the sources of the great rivers Euphrates, Tigris, Phasis, and Araxes. He thinks Pison was the Phasis, a river of Colchis, emptying itself into the Euxine Sca, where there is a city called Chabala, the pronunciation of which is nearly the same with that of Havilah, or 7 Chavilah, according to the Hebrew, the vau being changed in Greek to beta B. This country was famous for gold, whence the fable of the Golden Fleece attempted to be carried away from that country by the heroes of Greece.

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Verse 12. There is bdellium (777 bedolach) and the myr stone, onun 18 eben hashshoham.] Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the pearl-oyster; and shoham is generally understood to mean the onyx, or species of agate, a precious stone which has its name from ovv, a man's nail, to the colour of which it nearly approaches. It is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words; and at this distance of time and place it is of little consequence.

Verse 15. Put him into the garden-to dress it, and to keep it.] Horticulture, or gardening, is the first kind of employment on record, and that in which man was engaged while in a state of perfection and innocence. Though the garden may be supposed to produce all things spontaneously, as the whole vegetable surface of the earth certainly did at the creation, yet dressing and tilling were afterwards necessary to maintain the different kinds of plants and vegetables in their perfection, and to repress luxuriance. Even in a state of innocence we cannot conceive it possible that man could have been happy if inactive. God him work to do, and his employment contriated to his happiness; for the structure of his body, as well as of his mind, plainly proves that he was never intended for a merely contemplative life. Verse 17. Of the tree of the knowledge-thou shalt not ext] This is the first positive precept God gave to man; and it was given as a test of obedience, and a proof of his being in a dependant, probationary state. It was necessary that, while constituted lord of this lower world, he should know that he was only God's ricegerent, and must be accountable to him for the use of his mental and corporeal powers, and for the

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18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

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19 And out of the ground the LORD God. formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto "Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

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20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast

i Ch. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xi. 9. 1 Tim. ii. 13.Ch. i, 20, 24.before him.m Ps. viii. 6. 20.

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_n Or, the man.- Heb. called.

k Heb. as See ch. vi.

use he made of the different creatures put under his care. The man from whose mind the strong impression of this dependance and responsibility is erased, necessarily loses sight of his origin and end, and is capable of any species of wickedness. As God is sovereign, he has a right to give to his creatures what commands he thinks proper. An intelligent creature, without a law to regulate his conduct, is an absurdity; this would destroy at once the idea of his dependancy and accountableness. Man must ever feel God as his sovereign, and act under his authority, which he cannot do unless he have a rule of conduct. This rule God gives; and it is no matter of what kind it is, as long as obedience to it is not beyond the powers of the creature who is to obey. God says: There is a certain fruit-bearing tree; thou shalt not eat of its fruit; but of all the other fruits, and they are all that are necessary for thee, thou mayest freely, liberally eat. Had he not an absolute right to say so? And was not man bound to obey?

Thou shalt surely die.] on moth tamuth ; Literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shalt die. Thou shalt not only die spiritually, by losing the life of God, but from that moment thou shalt become mortal, and shalt continue in a dying state till thou die. This we find literally accomplished ; every moment of man's life may be considered as an act of dying, till soul and body are separated. Other meanings have been given of this passage, but they are in general either fanciful or incorrect.

Verse 18. It is not good that the man should be alone] 775 lebaddo; Only himself. I will make him an help meet for him; ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself. As man was made a social creature, it was not proper that he should be alone; for to be alone, i. c. without a matrimonial companion, was

Woman formed, and

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23 And Adam said, This is now was not found an help meet for him.bone of my bones, and flesh of 21 ¶ And the LORD God caused a deep my flesh: she shall be called Woman, besleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept and cause she was taken out of Man. he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, I made he a woman, and

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< brought her unto the man.

a Ch. xv. 12. 1 Sam. xxvi. 12. b Heb. builded. • Prov. xviii. 22. Hebr. xiii. 4.- d Ch. xxix. 14. Judg. ix. 2. 2 Sam. v. 1. xix. 13. Eph. v. 30.-e Heb. Isha.

not good. Hence we find that celibacy in general is a thing that is not good, whether it be on the side of the man or of the woman. Men may, in opposition to the declaration of God, call this a state of excellence and a state of perfection; but let them remember that the word of God says the reverse.

Verse 19. Out of the ground, &c.] Concerning the formation of the different kinds of animals, see the preceding chapter.

Verse 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle] Two things God appears to have had in view by causing man to name all the cattle, &c. 1. To show him with what comprehensive powers of mind his Maker had endued him; and 2. To show him that no creature yet formed could make him a suitable companion. And that this twofold purpose was answered we shall shortly see; for,

1. Adam gave names; but how? From an intimate knowledge of the nature and properties of each creature. Here we see the perfection of his knowledge; for it is well known that the names affixed to the different animals in scripture always express some prominent feature and essential characteristic of the creatures to which they are applied. Had he not possessed an intuitive knowledge of the grand and distinguishing properties of those animals, he never could have given them such names. This one circumstance is a strong proof of the original perfection and excellence of man, while in a state of innocence; nor need we wonder at the account. Adam was the work of an infinitely wise and perfect Being, and the effect must resemble the cause that produced it. 2. Adam was convinced that none of these creatures could be a suitable companion for him, and that therefore he must continue in the state that was

not good, or be a further debtor to the bounty of his Maker; for among all the animals which he had named there was not found an help meet for him. Hence we read,

Verse 21. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, &c.] This was neither swoon nor ecstasy, but what our translation very properly terms a deep sleep.

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24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

1 Cor. xi. 8.- - Heb. Ish. h Ch. xxxi. 15. Ps. xlv. 10. Matt. xix. 5. Mark x. 7. 1 Cor. vi. 16. Eph. v. 31. Ch. iii. 7, 10, 11.— k Exod. xxxii. 25. Isai. xlvii. 3.

matters not; though it is likely, from verse 23, that a part of both was taken; for Adam, knowing how the woman was formed, said, This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone. God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the earth, as he had formed the man; but had he done so, she must have appeared in his eyes as a distinct being, to whom he had no natural relation. But as God formed her out of a part of the man himself, he saw she was of the same nature, the same identical flesh and blood, and of the same constitution in all respects, and consequently having equal powers, faculties, and rights. This at once insured his affection, and excited his esteem.

Verse 23. Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, &c.] There is a very delicate and expressive meaning in the original which does not appear in our version. When the different genera of creatures were brought to Adam, that he might assign them their proper names, it is probable that they passed in pairs before him, and as they passed received their names. To this circumstance the words in this place seem to refer. Instead of this now is, zoth happaam, we should render more literally this turn, this creature, which now passes or appears before me, is flesh of my flesh, &c. The creatures that had passed already before him were not suitable to him, and therefore it was said, For Adam there was not an help meet found, ver. 20; but when the woman came, formed out of himself, he felt all that attraction which consanguinity could produce, and at the same time saw that she was in her person and in her mind every way suitable to be his companion. See Parkhurst, sub voce.

ish signifies איש

She shall be called Woman] A literal version of the Hebrew would appear strange, and yet a literal version is the only proper one. man, and the word used to express what we term woman is the same with a feminine termination, Mex ishshah, and literally means she-man. Most of the ancient Versions have felt the force of the term, and have endeavoured to express it as literally as possible. The intelligent reader will not regret to see some of them here. The Vulgate Latin renders the Hebrew virago, which is a feminine form of vir, a man. Symmachus uses avopic, andris, a female form of Our own term is equally proper

And he took one of his ribs] It is immaterial whether we render yx tsela a rib, or a part of his side, for it may mean either: some part of man was to be used on the occasion, whether bone or flesh it | avyo, aner, a man.

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