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The Beginning: Genesis Chapter Two, An Overview
And God Said
Genesis Chapter Two: An Overview
Genesis 2 opens with a summary statement: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array” (Gen. 2:1, NIV). In the original Hebrew, the term heavens refers to the entire cosmos, indicating that the creative work of God encompassed the whole universe.
Verse 3 marks the divine sanctification of the seventh day: “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” This consecration of the Sabbath day establishes a theological precedent for rest and renewal. The implication for contemporary faith practice is that believers may enter into this sanctification by ceasing from routine labor, thereby receiving spiritual restoration.
Genesis 2:8 notes that “the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden,” suggesting that Eden refers to a broader region, within which the garden was specifically situated. Verse 10 adds that “a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden,” implying the garden was downstream from a central water source in the district. Historical references from early Western travellers describe a region in Mesopotamia — north of the Persian Gulf — as “Eden.” Based on geographic and hydrological data, one plausible location for the Garden of Eden is in present-day southern Iraq, near…
