Genesis 2:4-25

These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,  and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—  then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.  And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.  The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.  And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.  The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.  And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.  The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.  So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
    because she was taken out of Man.”
 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

-Genesis 2:4-25

Now we get a zoomed in look at the creation of man.  Yes, chapter 1 went over creation and how God created everything in 6 days.  However, now there is a more fleshed out story, which arguably conflicts with chapter 1.  Did God create certain things before or after he created man?  I don't know much about this, but a quick search shows that some answers can be found in the fact that Genesis 2 describes certain things as have already being created.  So, when we read about the animals or trees being created seemingly after man was created, it really is describing how God had already created those things.  I'm no expert, but I will continue to trust in the truth of God's word as it seems to stand the test of time in spite of different criticisms.

I think many people forget that there are actually 2 prominent trees in the Garden of Eden.  Everyone knows about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but most forget about the tree of life.  We read ahead in chapter 3 that after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God restricts them from eating from the tree of life.  Apparently, if they do so after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they will live forever.  I guess this would be bad for them in their current state.  Reading verse 17 of chapter 2 we know that the result of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil results in death.  Maybe that's why they should be restricted from eating from the tree of life.

I don't think it's as if their eating of the tree of life is out of God's control.  It may sound like God needed to scramble to ensure such a thing didn't happen.  Nothing is outside God's control and God isn't sweating or biting his nails worried about what will happen next.  I guess this means that God knew what man would do and arguably ordained it to happen.  Recently, I've been reading "Does God Desire All to Be Saved?" by John Piper and it has been helpful for things like this (and it's free online!).

The purpose of man being put in the garden was to work it.  Even in the paradise of the Garden of Eden, there is still work to be done.  I don't think that's a bad thing.  Some thing heaven will be boring.  I don't think that we'll be bored.  There'll be things to do and work to be done.  If you think about your own day to day work, it may not sound very good.  Work can be a good thing.  We should trust that Jesus is preparing a place for us and know that it's good.

What's interesting that the man really only has one thing to worry about, and that's to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Even with only that one thing, man still fails.  It's really too bad and perhaps is a sign or showing us how depraved man really is.  Fortunately, we have a good God in spite of how bad we are.

Reading chapter 1, we keep reading how "God saw that it was good".  I remember listening to a sermon by Voddie Baucham highlighting the fact that the first time that God says that something is not good is when he sees the man alone.  Fortunately, God does something and makes a helper fit for him.  We see the first marriage which God ordains and notice that it was even set before the fall.  What a beautiful thing marriage is and praise be to God.  This isn't to take away from singleness, which is also a good thing.  Whatever God's calling or gifting is a good thing and thanks be to God for marriage as well as singleness.

Adam is tasked with naming all the animals.  In doing so, he did not find a helper suitable for him.  I know that a dog is man's best friend, but he is still not a helper suitable for Adam.  For him, God created Eve.  This is a beautiful picture before the fall.