The Garden of Eden (Chaps 2,3)

25 verses. Creation lasted six days, and in the seventh day God came to rest, and blessed this day as the day of rest. This marks the remarkable notion of stopping the race ahead, turning into rest, and contemplation. The opportunity to take stock at what was done, what happened. If God does so, surely should humans -- stop plowing and examining what they plow, what they plow with, what they plow for. All this is captured in the first three verses.

Creation went through a foggy period, where things were not sharp and distinct, but rather covered with cloudy blanket that nurtured creation. It seems that the original chaos gradually took form, what is not clear from Genesis Chapter 1. And then comes verse 7: "And God created man using grains of dirt from the earth, to which a Godly wind was blown to make the earth alive, like the previously created animals". What a remarkable observation: Human beings originate in unanimated grains of the dust that makes up the universe. it is perfectly consistent with modern science. The divine act to bringing the dust into dreams -- consciousness, life, is described in a way that suggests the image of an "old man" representing God, blowing through His lips into the ream of dirt, and a man emerges. But once we chuck this image we are left with the mystery that science wrestles with today: how did bouncing molecules assemble into conscious life?

Once man was created God set up an environment for him. The interesting point here is that God did not designate the full expanse of His 6 days creation as a place for man to roam and live. God created a restricted area, a garden in a place called Eden. This resonates with the modern ideas of 'alternative universe' way beyond our reach. What is most curious is that while the designated garden was rich with plants and resources, it also had a tree that armed people who eat its fruit with the ability to distinguish between good and bad, and this tree, surprisingly, was verboten. Why? A clue may be found in the mention of a second tree "the tree of life" -- which was not restricted. Subsequent text suggests that by eating the tree of life, life will be eternal. Presumably then, as man had roamed the garden he would randomly bite from the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. Was that the plan? Based on subsequent text, God was concerned with this eternal life prospect. It's a lingering mystery.

Verse 15 describes man's commission: to be the gardner and the guard of the designated garden -- routine maintenance. No long term goal to be achieved, who was man to guard against? Was man seen in a random walk, like grazing cows? Let's pick up this thread. Animals roam around without any strategic goal to engage them. Man was possibly in the same category. Without a sense of good and bad, all actions are random. God, according to this script, planned for man to be a 'random walker', not a 'planned path walker'. In the context of modern science, God planned for randomness to move man onward -- which is exactly what science tells us today. Humanity is a product of a random walk. And the verboten tree represented the alternative: man moving according to a clear sense of right and wrong, good and bad. God did not wish it so. Of course, it is not clear why then plant this restricted tree? Perhaps as a test to the rebellious curiosity of man?

Another explanation is that by eating the good/bad fruit man will readily realize that it is a good idea to bite into the fruit of life and live forever. God did not wish it. God wanted random roaming to arrive at the tree of life.

In verses 18, and 19 God concludes than man need a counterpart, and a woman is created -- derived from the flesh of man. This description reflects the patriarchic notion of the time.