The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of death to man (Heb. 2:14). It also signifies all things apart from God, for anything that is not God Himself, including good things and even scriptural things and religious things, can be utilized by Satan, the subtle one, to bring death to man. Even the Scriptures inspired by God and the law given by God can be utilized by Satan as the tree of knowledge to bring in death (John 5:39-40; 2 Cor. 3:6).

The tree of life causes man to be dependent on God (John 15:5), whereas the tree of knowledge causes man to rebel against God and to be independent from Him (cf. Gen. 3:5). The two trees issue in two lines — the line of life and the line of death — that run through the entire Bible and end in the book of Revelation. Death begins with the tree of knowledge (v. 17) and ends with the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 14). Life begins with the tree of life and ends in the New Jerusalem, the city of the water of life (Rev. 22:1-2).

The second step of God’s procedure in fulfilling His purpose was to place the created man in front of the tree of life, which signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ as life to man in the form of food. God’s placing man in front of the tree of life indicates that God wanted man to receive Him as man’s life by eating Him organically and assimilating Him metabolically, that God might become the very constituent of man’s being. According to John 1:1, 4, life is in the Word, who is God Himself. This life — the divine, eternal, uncreated life of God — is Christ (John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4), who is the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9). The tree of life grows along the two sides of the river of water of life (Rev. 22:1-2), indicating that it is a vine. Since Christ is a vine tree (John 15:1) and is also life, He is the tree of life. He was processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection that man might have life and live by eating Him (John 10:10; 6:51, 57, 63).

Heb. neshamah, translated spirit in Prov. 20:27, indicating that the breath of life breathed into man’s body became the spirit of man, the human spirit (cf. Job 32:8). Man’s spirit is his inward organ for him to contact God, receive God, contain God, and assimilate God into his entire being as his life and his everything. It was specifically formed by God and is ranked in importance with the heavens and the earth in God’s holy Word (Zech. 12:1). The spirit of man is for man to worship God (John 4:24), to be regenerated by God (John 3:6), and to be joined to God (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22) that man may walk and live in an organic union with God (Rom. 8:4) to fulfill God’s purpose.

The breath of life breathed into man’s nostrils was not the eternal life of God nor the Spirit of God. See note Luke 3:38². Man did not receive the Spirit of God until the Lord breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples on the day of His resurrection (John 20:22). Nevertheless, because the human spirit came out of God’s breath of life, it is very close to the Spirit of God. Thus, there can be a transmission between God the Spirit and man’s spirit, and the human spirit is able to contact God and be one with God (Rom. 8:16 and note Rom. 8:16²; 1 Cor. 6:17 and note 1 Cor. 6:17^2b).

Within man’s spirit there are three functions: conscience, enabling man to know what God justifies and what He condemns (Rom. 9:1 and note Rom. 9:1²); fellowship, that man may contact God, worship God, and commune with God (John 4:24; Eph. 6:18; Rom. 1:9); and intuition, giving man a direct sense of God and a direct knowledge from God (Mark 2:8; 1 Cor. 2:11).

Heb. adamah.

Man’s body, formed from the dust of the ground, is man’s outward form and an organ for him to contact the material realm.

Heb. adam. The first step of God’s procedure in fulfilling His purpose was to create man as a vessel to contain Himself as life (Rom. 9:21, 23; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:21).

Or, shaped (as a potter would). See note Gen. 1:1^4b, par. 1.

This signifies that there was no man to work with God by human labor in coordination with His divine labor (cf. John 5:17; 1 Cor. 3:9). When man labors in coordination with God’s labor, God has the basis to send the rain, signifying His Spirit of life (Joel 2:23, 28-29), to mingle with man, the dust of the earth (v. 7), to produce life.

Elohim (Gen. 1:1) is the name of God in His relationship to creation, whereas Jehovah is God’s name in His relationship with man. Jehovah means I am who I am (Exo. 3:14; cf. John 8:24, 28, 58), indicating that Jehovah is the self-existing and ever-existing eternal One, the One who was in the past, who is in the present, and who will be in the future forever (Rev. 1:4).

Lit., In the day.

See note Gen. 1:1^4b, par. 1. First, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1); then He made the earth and the heavens. In God’s creation, it was first the heavens and then the earth (Gen. 1:1), whereas in God’s restoration and further creation, it was first the earth and then the heavens.

God’s desire and purpose to have a corporate man to express Him in His image and to represent Him with His authority is unveiled in Gen. 1:1-31; 2:1-3. The remainder of Gen. 2:4-25 is an added record to reveal the way, the procedure, God takes to accomplish His purpose. This way is life. In order for man to express God and represent God, he must have God as his life, signified by the tree of life in v. 9.

Lit., created to make.

God rested because He had finished His work and was satisfied. God’s glory was manifested because man had His image, and His authority was about to be exercised for the subduing of His enemy, Satan. As long as man expresses God and deals with God’s enemy, God is satisfied and can rest.

Later, the seventh day was commemorated as the Sabbath (Exo. 20:8-11). God’s seventh day was man’s first day. God had prepared everything for man’s enjoyment. After man was created, he did not join in God’s work; he entered into God’s rest. Man was created not to work but to be satisfied with God and rest with God (cf. Matt. 11:28-30). The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

The rest here is a seed that develops through the Bible and is harvested in Revelation. The development of this seed includes the rest of the Sabbath day (Exo. 20:8-11) and the rest of the good land (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 4:8) in the Old Testament, the rest of the Lord’s Day in the New Testament (Rev. 1:10; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2), and the rest of the millennial kingdom (Heb. 4:1, 3, 9, 11). The consummation of rest is the rest of the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem, in which all the redeemed saints will express God’s glory (Rev. 21:11, 23) and reign with God’s authority (Rev. 22:5) for eternity. See note Heb. 4:9¹.

Indicating that God wanted to please man and make him happy. God wants man to be pleased with Him and satisfied with Him (Psa. 100; Phil. 4:4).

A Hebrew word meaning pleasure.

Man’s soul, which is his person, his very self (Exo. 1:5; Acts 2:41), was not formed from a certain element but was produced by the combining of the human spirit and the human body. The soul, composed of man’s mind, emotion, and will, has the psychological consciousness to contact the psychological realm.

God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19) — and man is tripartite — spirit and soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23). The Triune God created such a tripartite man to be a living vessel that man may have the capacity to contain God and be joined to God organically (John 15:4-5; Rom. 11:17-24) to be His organism for His expression in humanity. See note 1 Thes. 5:23⁵ and note Heb. 4:12^2d and note Heb. 4:12³.

The flow of the river issued in three precious materials: gold, bdellium, and onyx. These materials typify the Triune God as the basic elements of the structure of God’s eternal building. Gold typifies God the Father with His divine nature, which man may partake of through God’s calling (2 Pet. 1:3-4), as the base of God’s eternal building; bdellium, a pearl-like material produced from the resin of a tree, typifies the produce of God the Son in His redeeming and life-releasing death (John 19:34) and His life-dispensing resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3), as the entry into God’s eternal building (cf. Rev. 21:21 and note Rev. 21:21^1b, par. 1); and onyx, a precious stone, typifies the produce of God the Spirit with His transforming work (2 Cor. 3:18) for the building up of God’s eternal building. The New Jerusalem is constructed of these three categories of materials — gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:11, 18-21). See note Rev. 21:21^1b, par. 2.

The breastplate of the high priest, a symbol of Israel as God’s Old Testament people, was constructed of gold and precious stones (Exo. 28:6-21), and the church in the New Testament is built with gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12 — there silver, signifying Christ’s redemption, is listed instead of bdellium or pearl because of man’s need of redemption after the fall). This indicates that the New Jerusalem includes the totality of God’s chosen and redeemed people — Israel plus the church (see note Rev. 21:12⁴ and note Rev. 21:14²).

The flowing of the divine life in man brings the divine nature into man (2 Pet. 1:4), regenerates man (1 Pet. 1:3), and transforms man into the glorious image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Thus, man, who was created of dust (v. 7), becomes transformed precious materials for God’s building, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.

Lit., heads.

The number four signifies man, the creature (Ezek. 1:5). The one river becoming four branches signifies that the river flows out of the unique God (signified by the number one) as the source and center to reach man in every direction.

The river going forth from Eden signifies the river of water of life flowing forth from God (Rev. 22:1), indicating that God is the source of the living water for man to drink (cf. John 4:10; 7:37).

Heb. Ish. So also in v. 24. Different from the word adam, translated man elsewhere in the chapter.

See note Gen. 2:22³. Adam and Eve becoming one flesh, one complete unit, is a figure of God and man being joined as one. The coming New Jerusalem will be the eternal union of God and man, a universal couple as a complete unit composed of divinity and humanity.

The river here signifies the river of water of life, along which the tree of life grows (Rev. 22:1-2 and note Rev. 22:1^2b, note Rev. 22:1^3c, and note Rev. 22:2^1b). This river quenched man’s thirst and watered the garden that life might grow. At the beginning and the end of the Bible there are the tree of life and the river flowing with living water.

In order to produce a complement for Himself, God first became a man (John 1:14), as typified by God’s creation of Adam (Rom. 5:14). Here Adam’s deep sleep for the producing of Eve as his wife typifies Christ’s death on the cross for the producing of the church as His counterpart (Eph. 5:25-27). Through Christ’s death the divine life within Him was released, and through His resurrection His released divine life was imparted into His believers for the constituting of the church (see note John 19:34^1b). Through such a process God in Christ has been wrought into man with His life and nature so that man can be the same as God in life and nature in order to match Him as His counterpart.

The rib taken from Adam’s opened side typifies the unbreakable, indestructible eternal life of Christ (Heb. 7:16), which flowed out of His pierced side (John 19:34) to impart life to His believers for the producing and building up of the church as His complement. See note John 19:36² and note Heb. 7:16¹.

It does not say that Eve was created but that she was built. The building of Eve with the rib taken from Adam’s side typifies the building of the church with the resurrection life released from Christ through His death on the cross and imparted into His believers in His resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). The church as the real Eve is the totality of Christ in all His believers. Only that which comes out of Christ with His resurrection life can be His complement and counterpart, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:28-30).

Lit., caused him to rest.

Man’s working the ground was that life, especially the tree of life (v. 9), might grow for the fulfillment of the first aspect of God’s purpose, i.e., to express God in His image. The ground typifies the human heart, into which Christ as the seed of the tree of life is sown (Matt. 13:3-23). To work the ground signifies to loosen and break our hard heart, to open our heart to the heavens that the Spirit as the rain (see note Gen. 2:5^1b) may descend for the growth of Christ as the tree of life within us.

Or, guard. This is to protect the garden from God’s enemy that the second aspect of God’s purpose might be fulfilled, i.e., to deal with Satan by God’s authority. We need to work the ground that God as the tree of life might enter into us. We also need to keep the ground, leaving no opening for Satan as the tree of knowledge.

God’s first commandment to man concerned man’s eating, not man’s conduct. Eating is critical to man, a matter of life or death. Man’s outcome and destiny before God depends altogether on what he eats. If man eats the tree of life, he will receive God as life and fulfill God’s purpose; if he eats the tree of knowledge, he will receive Satan as death and be usurped by him for his purpose.

God’s forbidding commandment given as a warning to man indicates:
1) God’s greatness in creating man with a free will that man may choose God willingly and not under coercion;
2) God’s love for man;
3) God’s desire that man would eat the tree of life to receive God into him as life.

Referring not to the death of man’s body but to the deadening of man’s spirit (Eph. 2:1), which leads ultimately to the death of man’s entire being — spirit, soul, and body (Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:14). See note Eph. 2:1^2a.

The third step of God’s procedure in fulfilling His purpose was to work Himself into man to make man His complement. Adam here typifies God in Christ as the real, universal Husband, who is seeking a wife for Himself (Rom. 5:14; cf. Isa. 54:5; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7; 21:9). Adam’s need for a wife typifies and portrays God’s need, in His economy, to have a wife as His complement.

Or, his complement; lit., his parallel. So also in v. 20.

The wife must be the same as the husband in life, nature, and expression. Among the cattle, the birds, and the animals Adam did not find a complement for himself, one that could match him.

As Eve was taken out of Adam and brought back to Adam to be one flesh with him (v. 24), so the church produced out of Christ will go back to Christ (Eph. 5:27; Rev. 19:7) to be one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). See note Eph. 5:32¹.

Heb. Ishshah, as also in v. 22. Just as Eve was the increase of Adam, the church as the bride is the increase of Christ as the Bridegroom (John 3:29-30).

Adam and Eve, being one, lived a married life together as husband and wife. This portrays that in the New Jerusalem the processed and consummated redeeming Triune God as the universal Husband will live a married life with the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified humanity as the wife, forever. See note Rev. 22:17^1a, par. 2.

The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, and the revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, reflect each other. Both contain four things:
1) the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (v. 9; Rev. 22:2);
2) the river flowing to reach the four directions of the earth (v. 10; Rev. 22:1);
3) three kinds of precious materials (vv. 11-12; Rev. 21:11-14, 18-21);
4) a couple (vv. 18-25; Rev. 21:9-10; 22:17). What is revealed in these two parts of the Scriptures is the central line of the divine revelation of the entire Holy Scriptures and should be a controlling principle of the interpreting and understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

At the end of the Bible is a city, New Jerusalem, the ultimate and eternal woman, the corporate bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9; 22:17), built with three precious materials (Rev. 21:18-21), fulfilling for eternity the type shown in this chapter. Thus, in type all the precious materials mentioned in vv. 11-12 are for the building of the woman (see note Gen. 2:12¹).