Mark 2

Mar 2:1 And again He entered into Capernaum after some days. And it was heard that He was in a house.

In the house – Possibly the house of Peter, with whom Christ lodged when at Capernaum.

Mar 2:2 And immediately many were gathered, so that none any longer had room, even to the door. And He proclaimed the Word to them.

not so much as about the door; or the places before the door, the porch, the court, or courtyard. The crowd was so great, that neither the house, nor the out places before, could hold them, nor could they come even near the door;

Mar 2:3 Then they came to Him, bringing one who was paralyzed, who was carried by four.

Borne of four - Carried upon a couch Four men, one at each corner of the sofa or couch on which he lay: this sick man appears to have been too feeble to come himself, and too weak to be carried in any other way. Matthew 9:2 And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Child, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you.

Mar 2:4 When they could not come near to Him because of the crowd, they unroofed the roof where He was. And digging through, they let down the cot on which the paralytic was lying.

They uncovered the roof where he was – Lit., scooped it out. They would have uncovered the dirt and thatch over the beams of wood that comprised the roof of typical homes of that time and place. . A composition of mortar, tar, ashes, and sand is spread upon the roofs, and rolled hard, and grass grows in the crevices. On the houses of the poor in the country the grass grows more freely, and goats may be seen on the roofs cropping it. In some cases, as in this, stone slabs are laid across the joists. Luke 5:19 And not finding a way by which they might bring him in through the crowd, going up on the housetop, they let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst, before Jesus where it is said they let him down through the tiles; so that they would be obliged, not only to dig through the grass and earth, but also to pry up the tiles.

The bed - A rude pallet, merely a thickly padded quilt or mat, held at the corners.

Mar 2:5 And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, Child, your sins are forgiven to you.

Son - Literally, “child.” The Hebrews used the words “son” and “child” with a great latitude of signification. They were applied to children, to grandchildren, to adopted children, to any descendants, to disciples, followers, young people, and to dependents. In this place it denotes affection or kindness. It was a word of consolation - an endearing appellation, applied by the Savior to the sick man to show his “compassion,” to inspire confidence, and to assure him that he would heal him.

thy sins be forgiven thee; pointing and striking at the root of his disorder, his sins. The blessing Christ conferred on this poor man is of the greatest consequence and importance, forgiveness of sin: it is what springs from the grace and mercy of God; it is provided in a promise in the covenant of grace; Christ was sent to shed his blood to procure it, in a way consistent with the holiness and justice of God; and this being done, it is published in the Gospel, and is a most considerable article in it, and than which, nothing can be more desirable to a sensible sinner: and blessed are they that are partakers of it, their sins will never be imputed to them; they will never be remembered more; they are blotted out of God's book of debts; they are covered out of his sight, and are removed as far as the east is from the west, even all their sins, original and actual, secret or open, of omission, or commission.

thy sins be forgiven thee - The Jews believed that not only death but all disease was the consequence of sin. “There is no death without sin, nor any chastisement without iniquity;” and that “no diseased person could be healed of his disease till his sins were blotted out.” Our Lord, therefore, as usual, appeals to their received opinions, and asserts his high dignity, by first forgiving the sins, and then healing the body of the paralytic.

Mar 2:6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

Reasoning - The word dialogue is derived from this, and the meaning literally is, that they held a dialogue with themselves

Mar 2:7 Why does this one speak such blasphemies? Who can forgive sins except God only?

Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? - They took Christ to be a mere man, and reasoned with themselves, that he must be a blasphemer, in assuming that to himself, which was peculiar to God: they seem astonished at his words, and wonder at his arrogance, and to be filled with indignation and resentment at him.

He blasphemeth - This is the unspoken charge in their hearts which Jesus read like an open book. They justify the charge with the conviction that God alone has the power to forgive sins. It was, they held, blasphemy for Jesus to assume this divine prerogative. Their logic was correct. The only flaw in it was the possibility that Jesus held a peculiar relation to God which justified his claim. In Jewish teaching, not even the Messiah could forgive sins, only the Lord can. Jesus here asserts His divinity in forgiving sins. So the two forces clash here as now on the deity of Christ Jesus. Knowing full well that he had exercised the prerogative of God in forgiving the man’s sins he proceeds to justify his claim by healing the man.

Mar 2:8 And instantly knowing in His spirit that they reasoned so within themselves, He said to them, Why do you reason these things in your heart?

And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his Spirit - by his divine nature, in which he knew all things, even the most sacred thoughts of men's hearts: and as soon as ever the above thoughts were conceived in the minds of the Scribes and Pharisees, they were perceived by him, and told to them.

Mar 2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and take up your cot and walk?

Mar 2:10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority upon earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic,

Power - authority. The word means it is permitted or lawful. It combines the ideas of right and might. Authority or right is the dominant meaning in the New Testament.

Mar 2:11 I say to you, Arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house.

Mar 2:12 And immediately he arose and took up his cot and went out before all. So that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw it this way.

We never saw it on this fashion - Jesus had acted with the power of God and claimed equality with God and had made good his claim.

Mar 2:13 And He went out again by the seaside. And all the crowd came to Him, and He taught them.

By the sea-side - That is, by the Sea of Tiberias, The sea of Galilee, on the shore of which Capernaum was situated.

Mar 2:14 And as He passed on, He saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the tax-office. And He said to him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him.

Levi, the son of Alpheus - The same as “Matthew,” the writer of the gospel which bears his name. It was not uncommon among the Jews to have two names. Matthew appears to have been a Jew, though employed in the odious office of a tax-gatherer. He was a publican who collected toll for Herod Antipas. The Jews hated or despised these publicans and considered them traitors. They were considered sinners.

sitting at the tax-office - sitting at the receipt of custom; the toll booth, or custom house, where he sat to take toll of passengers that came, or went in ships or boats,

Mar 2:15 And it happened as Jesus reclined in his house, many tax-collectors and sinners also reclined with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many, and they followed Him.

Mar 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with tax-collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, How is it that He eats and drinks with tax-collectors and sinners?

Sinners - the Gentiles or heathens are generally to be understood in the Gospels, for this was a term the Jews never applied to any of themselves.

And when the Scribes and Pharisees saw him eat - They were offended at his eating and drinking, though it was in moderation; because he did not fast as they, and their disciples did; and especially, that he eat with publicans and sinners; men of very infamous characters, and bad lives, with whom the Pharisees disdained to keep company:

It was an offence for a Jew to eat with Gentiles as even many of the early Jewish Christians felt Acts 11: 2-3 And when Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. and publicans and sinners were regarded like Gentiles. 1Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written to you not to associate intimately, if any man called a brother and is either a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one not to eat.

Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard, He said to them, They who are strong have no need of a physician, but the ones who have illness. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

they that are whole, have no need of the physician, which seems to be a proverbial expression, signifying that he was a physician; that these publicans and sinners were sick persons, and needed his company and assistance; but that they, the Scribes and Pharisees, were whole, and in good health, in their own esteem, and so wanted no relief; and therefore ought not to take it amiss, that he attended the one, and not the other. These words give a general view of mankind, in their different sentiments of themselves and of Christ; and of the usefulness of Christ to one sort, and not another.

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus for the sake of argument accepts the claim of the Pharisees to be righteous, though, as a matter of fact, they fell very far short of it. It appears from hence, that by "the whole" are meant, "righteous" persons; not such who are made righteous, by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, but such who were outwardly righteous before men, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, depended on their own righteousness, and fancied themselves, with respect to the righteousness of the law, blameless; and so, in their own apprehensions, stood in no need of Christ and his righteousness: yea, even needed not repentance, according to their own thoughts of things, and therefore were not called to it, but were left to their own stupidity and blindness; these were the Scribes and Pharisees

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance – In this statement, Jesus also shows that to have that share in salvation, there must be a recognition of need (repentance). Self righteous people do not recognize that need. They do not seek the physician and His salvation.

Mar 2:18 The disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting. And they came and said to Him, Why do John's disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

Mar 2:19 And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

can the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? Suggesting that he was the bridegroom, as John their master had called him, John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Then my joy is fulfilled, and that his disciples were the children of the bride chamber; and that it was very unsuitable for them, and very unreasonable to desire them to fast at such a time, and under such a character:

the bridegroom - Jesus identifies himself with the bridegroom of the O.T. Hosea 2:20- 21 I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. And it will be, in that day I will answer, says the LORD. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, God in his covenant relation with Israel. Mourning does not suit the wedding feast. Mark, Matthew, and Luke all give the three parables (bridegroom, unfulled cloth, new wineskins) illustrating and defending the conduct of Jesus in feasting with Levi on a Jewish fast-day. Luk_5:36 calls these parables. Jesus here seems iconoclastic to the ecclesiastics and revolutionary in emphasis on the spiritual instead of the ritualistic and ceremonial.

Mar 2:20 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

Mar 2:21 And no one sews a patch of new cloth on an old garment, else it takes away from its fullness, the new from the old, and a worse tear occurs.

On an old garment; the moral and ceremonial righteousness of the Jews, in obedience to the law of God; signifying, that the former were not to be joined with these, to make up a justifying righteousness before God; which were not sufficient for such a purpose, either singly, or both together: The traditions of the elders are meant, particularly concerning eating and drinking, and fasting, things before spoken of; and which occasioned this parable, and which were new things in comparison of the commands of God: some of them were of very short standing, devised in, that age; and most, if not all of them, were since the times of Ezra.

else the new piece that filled it up, taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse; for by attendance to the traditions of the elders, the Jews were taken off from, and neglected the commandments of God; oftentimes the commands of God were made void by these traditions, so that the old garment of their own righteousness, which was very ragged and imperfect of itself, instead of being purer and more perfect, became much the worse, even for the purpose for which it was intended;

Mar 2:22 No one puts new wine into old wineskins, else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine spills, and the wineskins will be ruined. The new wine must be put into new wineskins.

No one puts new wine into old wineskins - but new wine must be put into new bottles; into the hearts of sinners, who are called to repentance, and are renewed in the Spirit of their minds; are newborn babes, that desire the sincere milk of the word, and wine of the Gospel; in these the love of God is exceeding abundant, and it comes in with full flows into their souls; all grace is made to abound towards them, and the word of Christ richly dwells in them; in whom these things remain and abide, and they themselves are saved with an everlasting salvation.

Mar 2:23 And it happened that He went through the grainfields on the sabbath day. And as they walked His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.

The cornfields - The fields sown with wheat or barley. The word “corn,” in the Bible, refers only to grain of that kind, and never to “maize” or “Indian corn.”

To pluck the ears of corn - They were hungry. They therefore gathered the wheat or barley as they walked and rubbed it in their hands to shell it, and thus to satisfy their appetite. Though our Lord was with them, and though he had all things at his control, yet he suffered them to resort to this method of supplying their wants. When Jesus, thus “with” his disciples, suffered them to be “poor,” we may learn that poverty is not disgraceful; that God often suffers it for the good of his people; and that he will take care, in some way, that their wants shall be supplied. It was “lawful” for them thus to supply their needs. Though the property belonged to another, yet the law of Moses allowed the poor to satisfy their desires when hungry. Deuteronomy 23:25 When you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not move a sickle into your neighbor's standing grain.

Mar 2:24 And the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the sabbath day?

That which is not lawful - That is, that which they esteemed to be unlawful on the “Sabbath day.” It was made lawful by Moses, without any distinction of days, but “they” had denied its lawfulness on the Sabbath. Christ shows them from their own law that it was “not” unlawful. Reaping is not permitted on the Sabbath.

Mar 2:25 And He said to them, Have you never read what David did, when he had need and was hungry, he, and those with him?

Mar 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave to those with him?

Abiathar the priest - It appears from 1Samuel 21:1 And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you? which is the place referred to here, that Ahimelech was then high priest at Nob: and from 1Samuel 22:20 And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. 1Samuel 23:6 And it happened when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand 1Chronicles 18:16 And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests. And Shavsha was scribe it appears that Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. Some difficulty has been felt in reconciling these accounts. The probable reason as to why Mark says it was in the days of “Abiathar” is that Abiathar was better known than Ahimelech. The son of the high priest was regarded as his successor, and was often associated with him in the duties of his office. It was not improper, therefore, to designate him as high priest even during the life of his father, especially as that was the name by which he was afterward known. “Abiathar,” moreover, in the calamitous times when David came to the throne, left the interest of Saul and fled to David, bringing with him the ephod, one of the special garments of the high priest. For a long time, during David’s reign, he was high priest, and it became natural, therefore, to associate “his” name with that of David; to speak of David as king, and Abiathar the high priest of his time. This will account for the fact that he was spoken of rather than his father. Others have suggested that the two shared the same names and were often called by one or the other name.

ate the showbread – From 1 Samuel 21:1-6 that David had servants in company with him when he fled, though they did not attend him when he went to the high priest; and that he asked bread, and it was given him, not only for himself, but for the young men that he had appointed to be at such a place: and therefore, if this was allowed to David and his men, when hungry, it ought not to be charged as an evil upon the disciples, for plucking and rubbing a few ears of corn to satisfy their hunger, though on a sabbath day; and especially when he, who was Lord of the sabbath, was present, and admitted of it;

The shewbread - Lit., the loaves of proposition, i.e., the loaves which were set forth before the Lord. The Jews called them the loaves of the face, i.e., of the presence of God. The bread was made of the finest wheaten flour that had been passed through eleven sieves. There were twelve loaves, or cakes, according to the number of tribes, ranged in two piles of six each. Each cake was made of about five pints of wheat. They were anointed in the middle with oil, in the form of a cross. According to tradition, each cake was five hand-breadths broad and ten long, but turned up at either end, two hand-breadths on each side, to resemble in outline the ark of the covenant. The shewbread was prepared on Friday, unless that day happened to be a feast-day that required sabbatical rest; in which case it was prepared on Thursday afternoon. The renewal of the shewbread was the first of the priestly functions on the commencement of the Sabbath. The bread which was taken off was deposited on the golden table in the porch of the sanctuary, and distributed among the outgoing and incoming courses of priests (compare save for the priests). It was eaten during the Sabbath, and in the temple itself, but only by such priests as were Levitically pure. This old bread, removed on the Sabbath morning, was that which David ate.

Mar 2:27 And He said to them, The sabbath came into being for man's sake, and not man for the sabbath's sake.

The sabbath was made for man - For his rest from toil, his rest from the cares and anxieties of the world, to give him an opportunity to call off his attention from earthly concerns and to direct it to the affairs of eternity. It was a kind provision for man that he might refresh his body by relaxing his labors; that he might have undisturbed time to seek the consolations of religion to cheer him in the anxieties and sorrows of a troubled world; and that he might render to God that homage which is most justly due to him as the Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer of the world.

Not man for the sabbath - Man was made “first,” and then the Sabbath was appointed for his welfare, Gen_2:1-3. The Sabbath was not “first” made or contemplated, and then the man made with reference to that. Since, therefore, the Sabbath was intended for man’s “good,” the law respecting it must not be interpreted so as to oppose his real welfare. It must be explained in consistency with a proper attention to the duties of mercy to the poor and the sick, and to those in peril. It must be, however, in accordance with man’s “real good on the whole,” and with the law of God. The law of God contemplates man’s “real good on the whole;” and we have no right, under the plea that the Sabbath was made for man, to do anything contrary to what the law of God admits. It would not be for our “real good,” but for our real and eternal injury, to devote the Sabbath to vice, to labor, or to amusement. By "man", is not meant all mankind; for the sabbath was never appointed for all mankind, nor binding upon all; only the Jews, who are emphatically called "man", or "men".

Mar 2:28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the sabbath.

Mark 1

Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

The Son of God - This title was used here to attract attention, and secure the respect of those who should read the gospel. It is no common history. It does not recount the deeds of man - of a hero or a philosopher - but the doctrines and doings of the Son of God. The history, therefore, “commands” respect.To point out his Divine origin; and thus glancing at his miraculous conception. This was an essential character of the Messiah.

The beginning of the gospel - The word “gospel” literally signifies good news, and particularly the good tidings respecting the way of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was very customary thus to prefix a title to a book. By the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ here is evidently meant the blessed Story which our Evangelist is about to tell of His Life, Ministry, Death, Resurrection, and Glorification, and of the begun Gathering of Believers in His Name.

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Not that the Gospel first began to be preached at this time, for it was preached by Isaiah, and other prophets before; and long before that, was preached unto Abraham; yea, it was preached as early as the times of our first parents, in Eden's garden; and is indeed that mystery, which was hid in God before the creation of the world; and was ordained before that was, to the glory of the saints: but the sense is, that this narrative Mark was about to write, began with the ministry of John the Baptist, and of Christ; which was a Gospel one, and was the beginning of the Gospel dispensation, in distinction from the legal one: the law and the prophets were until John, and they ceased and ended in him; when the world to come, the kingdom of God, or Gospel state, took place.

The design of this evangelist, is not to give an account of the genealogy of Christ, of his conception and birth, of what befell him in his infancy, or of any actions and sayings of his from thence, to his appearance in Israel; but to give an account of his ministry and miracles, sufferings and death: which is introduced with the preaching and baptism of John his forerunner, and which he chiefly intends by "the beginning of the Gospel": he first points out Christ, who is the author and substance, as well as the great preacher of the Gospel; the sum of which is, that he is Jesus, the Savior and Redeemer of lost sinners; the Christ, the Messiah, that was to come; the Mediator between God and man, the prophet that has declared the whole mind and will of God; the great high priest, who has offered himself a sacrifice for his people, made peace, procured pardon, brought in everlasting righteousness, and obtained eternal redemption, and now lives to make intercession for them; and King of saints, who reigns over them, protects and defends them, and is no other than the Son of God; equal with his Father; of the same nature with him, possessed of the same perfections, and enjoying the same glory; and which is a grand article of the Gospel, and without which he could not be an able Savior, nor the true Messiah. Mark begins his account of the Gospel, and which he calls the beginning of it, with the same article of the divine sonship of Christ, as the Apostle Paul began his ministry with, Acts 9:19-20 And taking food, he was strengthened. And Saul was certain days with the disciples in Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Matthew began his Gospel with the humanity, Mark with the divinity of Christ: the one calls him the son of David, the other the Son of God, both true: Christ is the son of David according to his human nature, the Son of God according to his divine nature; so a testimony is bore to the truth of both his natures, which are united in one person.

Beginning - the expression is a kind of title. It is the beginning, not of his book, but of the facts of the Gospel. He shows from the prophets that the Gospel was to begin by the sending forth of a forerunner.

Jesus - is the Greek form of Joshua which means salvation of Yahweh.

Christ - is Greek for Messiah

Mar 1:2 as it is written in the Prophets, "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who shall prepare Your way before You.

As it is written in the prophets - Mark mentions “prophets” here without specifying which. Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight a highway in the desert for our God. The citations show, that according to the writings of the Old Testament, John the Baptist was to be the harbinger of Christ, to come before him, and prepare his way; and also the propriety of the method the evangelist takes, in beginning his Gospel with the account of John's ministry and baptism.

I send my messenger - John the Baptist is here called a messenger, because he was sent, and sanctified by him; he was called unto, and qualified for his work by Him John 1:6 There was a man sent from God; his name was John. The work of this messenger was no other, than to declare that the long expected Messiah was born; that he would quickly make his public appearance in Israel; that the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of the Messiah, was at hand; and that it became the Jews to repent of their sins, and believe in Christ:

before thy face – This is not in the original text of Malachi, nor in the Septuagint version, but are inserted by the evangelist; who might do it with authority, since Christ had done it before him, Matthew 11:10 For this is the one of whom it is written, "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who shall prepare Your way before You."

Mar 1:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight a highway in the desert for our God.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. (Septuagint)

The voice of one crying - So the prophet cries like a voice in the wilderness to make ready for the coming of God. When the committee from the Sanhedrin came to ask John who he was, he used this very language of Isaiah John1:23 He said, I am "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord," as the prophet Isaiah said. The language is such as was familiar to the Jews. and such as they would understand. It was spoken at first with reference to the return from the captivity at Babylon. In ancient times, it was customary in the march of armies to send messengers, or pioneers, before them to proclaim their approach; to provide for them; to remove obstructions; to make roads, level hills, fill up valleys, etc. Isaiah, describing the return from Babylon, uses language taken from that custom. A crier, or herald, is introduced. John prepared the way by calling people to repentance, by pointing the way to Jesus.

Mar 1:4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

For the remission of sins - Or, toward the remission. This is a difficult phrase to translate accurately. Certainly John did not mean that the baptism was the means of obtaining the forgiveness of their sins or necessary to the remission of sins. The trouble lies in the use of eis which sometimes is used when purpose is expressed, but sometimes when there is no such idea as in Mat_10:41 and Mat_12:41. Probably “with reference to” is as good a translation here as is possible. The baptism was on the basis of the repentance and confession of sin and, as Paul later explained Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life was a picture of the death to sin and resurrection to new life in Christ. This symbol was already in use by the Jews for proselytes who became Jews. John is treating the Jewish nation as pagans who need to repent, to confess their sins, and to come back to the kingdom of God. The baptism in the Jordan was the objective challenge to the people. They were to repent, and be baptized in reference to the remission of sins.

unto the remission of sins: not for the obtaining the remission of sins, as if either repentance, or baptism, were the causes of pardon of sin; but the sense is, that John preached that men should repent of their sins, and believe in Christ, who was to come; and upon their repentance and faith, be baptized; in which ordinance, they might be led to a fresh view of the free and full forgiveness of their sins, through Christ; whose blood was to be shed for many, to obtain it: Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Mar 1:5 And all the land of Judea, and those of Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

Confessing their sins - It was an invariable custom among the Jews to admit no proselyte to baptism, till he had, in the most solemn manner, declared that he forever had renounced all idolatrous worship, all heathenish superstitions, and promised an entire and unreserved submission to the law of Moses. This was necessary for a proselyte adult - a child dedicated to God by baptism must be brought up in this faith.

Mar 1:6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a leather girdle about his loin. And he ate locusts and wild honey.

And John was clothed with camel's hair - This is a description of John by his clothes; It was not camel’s skin, but rough cloth woven of camel’s hair. It was usual for penitents, and men of austere lives, and of the first class for holiness and religion, to live in deserts, to fare hard, and wear coarse apparel. The prophets used to wear, Zechariah 13:4 And it shall be in that day, the prophets shall be ashamed, each one of his vision, when he prophesies. And they shall not wear a hairy garment to deceive or of camels hair not softened but undressed; and so was very coarse and rough, and which was suitable to the austerity of his life, and the roughness of his ministry. And it is to be observed he appeared in the same dress as Elijah or Elias did, 2Kings 1:8 And they answered him, He was a hairy man and was bound with a girdle of leather around his loins. And he said, He is Elijah the Tishbite in whose spirit and power he came, and whose name he bore, Luke 1:17 And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Mar 1:7 And he proclaimed, saying, There is One coming after me who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down to loosen.

The latchet of whose shoes - The shoe of the ancients was properly only a sole tied round the foot and ankle with strings or thongs.

the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose; When the guest comes into the house, this is performed by a slave before one enters the bath. This phrase is expressing the great veneration he had for him, and the great sense he had of his own unworthiness, to be concerned in the lowest and meanest service of life for him; and that he was far from being worthy of the high honor done him, to be his messenger and forerunner

Mar 1:8 I indeed have baptized you in water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Mar 1:9 And it happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Mar 1:10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him.

the heavens opened - Split like a garment. Jesus saw the heavens parting as he came up out of the water, a more vivid picture than the “opened” in Mat_3:16 and Luk_3:21. Evidently the Baptist saw all this and the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus as a dove because he later mentions it (Joh_1:32). This may have been done for the manifestation of the Messiah to John the Baptist, and the confirmation of his faith in him, and that he might bear record of him.

and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. The position of these words here, is a little different from that in Mat_3:16, there it is, "the Spirit of God descending like a dove"; which seems rather to point out the manner of his descent, than the form in which he descended: here it is put, "the Spirit like a dove descending on him"; which seems rather to incline to such a sense, that the Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, as well as descended like one. The form of a dove was a very suitable one: the dove is a very proper emblem of the Spirit of God: "the voice of the turtle", in Song of Solomon 2:12 the flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; is by the Targum interpreted, the voice of the Holy Spirit: he may be likened to a dove, for its simplicity and sincerity; he guides into all truth as it is in Jesus, and teaches to speak the word in all plainness, openness, and sincerity, and preserves the saints in the simplicity of the Gospel; and for its mildness and meekness; one of the fruits of the Spirit of God is meekness, Gal_5:23. And this it produces in converted persons, making them meek; humble, and gentle: and also for its harmlessness and innocence; and which appears, or at least should, in those who mind the things of the Spirit: hence that advice of Christ, "be harmless as doves", Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Likewise for its purity and cleanness; the Spirit of God is a Spirit of holiness, he is the author of sanctification; such as are washed, sanctified, and justified, are so in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. The dove is a mournful and bemoaning creature; and the Spirit of God makes intercession for the saints, with groanings which cannot be uttered, Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. To which may be added, that Noah's dove bringing the olive leaf in its mouth, as a sign, of peace and reconciliation, fitly resembled the Holy Spirit, one of whose fruits is peace, Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, and which he produces, by leading to the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, whereby peace is made, and reconciliation obtained: and his descending upon Christ here, points him out as the peacemaker, through whom was come peace on earth, good will towards men, and glory to God. Christ, on whom he lighted, is comparable to a dove; he is said to have doves' eyes, Song of Solomon 5:12 His eyes are as doves' eyes on the rivers of waters, washed with milk, sitting on a setting. and he has all the fruits and graces of the dove like Spirit of God, which rested on him; like the dove, he is humble, meek, and lowly; in which characters, he is to be followed and imitated by his people: and as that creature is a very loving one to its mate, so is Christ to his church; whom he has so loved, as to give himself for her: and as that is a lovely beautiful creature, so is Christ; he is altogether lovely; and especially his eyes of love, as they are set and fixed upon his church and people. With this descent of the Spirit as a dove on Christ, compare Isaiah 11:1-2 And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.

Mar 1:11 And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: it is in Matthew, "this is my beloved Son", Mat_3:17; as if the words were spoken to others, to John, the administrator of baptism to him, and to those that were spectators; directing them to Christ, on whom the Spirit now descended, and testifying to them. Here they are delivered as an immediate address to Christ himself, "thou art my beloved Son". Christ, as he was the only begotten Son of God from eternity, so his filiation was owned and declared to him as early, Psalms 2:7 I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You.

Mar 1:12 And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.

The Spirit driveth - The word “driveth” does not mean that he was compelled forcibly against his will to go there, but that he was inclined to go there by the Spirit, or was led there. The Spirit of God, for important purposes, caused him to go.

Driveth him - Stronger than Matthew's “was led up”, and Luke's “was led”. It is also the word used of our Lord's expulsion of demons, Mar_1:34, Mar_1:39. The expression does not necessarily imply any violence; but seems to intimate the energy of that impulse on our Lord, by which he was inwardly constrained to retire from society.

Mar 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.

tempted by Satan - So in all the children of God, extraordinary manifestations of his favor are often to be followed by extraordinary temptations.

And the angels ministered unto him - From Luk_4:2 we learn that in those days he did eat nothing. When Mark says, therefore, that the angels ministered to him, it means after the days of temptation had expired, as is said by Mat_4:11.

With the wild beasts - This is a curious circumstance, which is mentioned by none of the other evangelists; and seems to intimate that he was in the most remote, unfrequented, and savage part of the desert; which, together with the diabolic influence, tended to render the whole scene the more horrid.

Mar 1:14 And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God,

Mar 1:15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God draws near. Repent, and believe the gospel.

The time is fulfilled - That is, the time appointed for sending the Messiah; and particularly the time specified by Daniel, Daniel 9:24-27 Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction. And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war. And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator.

And saying, the time is fulfilled - Either that which was fixed for the end of the law and prophets, the legal and Mosaic dispensation, and the Jewish church state; or the fulness of time for the Messiah's appearance in the world; which was agreed upon between the Father and the Son, was predicted in various prophecies.

The time - That is, the period completed by the setting up of Messiah's kingdom. Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, coming into being out of a woman, having come under Law,

Mar 1:16 And walking along beside the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

he saw Simon: whose surname was Peter, the son of Jonas:

Mar 1:17 And Jesus said to them, Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men.

Mar 1:18 And immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Mar 1:19 And when He going farther from there a little, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.

he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. The former was he whom afterwards Herod killed with the sword, and the latter the beloved disciple; these were also fishermen:

Mar 1:20 And immediately He called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after Him.

Mar 1:21 And they went into Capernaum. And immediately on the sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and taught.

The synagogue and taught - In the synagogue, the presiding elder, after reading the Scriptures, invited anyone who chose to address the people, Acts 13:15 And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men, brothers, if you have any word of comfort for the people, speak.

Mar 1:22 And they were astonished at His doctrine. For He taught them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

As one that had authority - From God, to do what he was doing; and to teach a pure and beneficent system of truth.

And not as the scribes - He did not go about to establish what he said by the authority of the Rabbins, as the Scribes did; saying, Hillell says so, or Shammai says thus, or such a doctor says thus and thus; but he spoke as from himself, as one sent of God, that had an authority from him, and was independent of man; and this was what they had not observed in others, and wonder at it; Who had no such authority, and whose teaching was not accompanied by the power of God to the souls of the people:
1. because the matter of the teaching did not come from God; and
2. because the teachers themselves were not commissioned by the Most High.

And they were astonished at his doctrine - The nature and importance of it, it being what they had not been used to hear; only at best the doctrine of the law, and sometimes only the traditions of the elders, or an allegorical and traditional sense of the Scriptures, and things very trifling and unedifying: and also they were amazed at the manner of his preaching, which was with so much gracefulness, gravity, and majesty, and was attended with so much evidence and power:

They were astonished - describing the amazement of the audience, “meaning strictly to strike a person out of his senses by some strong feeling, such as fear, wonder, or even joy”

Mar 1:23 And in their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,

A man with an unclean spirit - This demoniac is only mentioned by Mark and Luke, Luk_4:33.

Unclean or impure spirit - a common epithet for those fallen spirits:

with an unclean spirit--literally, "in an unclean spirit"--that is, so entirely under demoniacal power that his personality was sunk for the time in that of the spirit. The frequency with which this character of "impurity" is ascribed to evil spirits--some twenty times in the Gospels--is not to be overlooked.

Mar 1:24 saying, What is to us and to You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God.

Let us alone - Though only one impure spirit is mentioned as possessing this man, yet that spirit speaks also in the name of others.

What have we to do with thee - or, What business hast thou with us? An expression of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament There is a phrase exactly like it in 2Samuel 16:10 And the king said, What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah? Let him curse, because Jehovah has said to him, Curse David. Who then shall say, Why have you done so? See also 1Ki_17:18; 2Ki_3:13; 2Ch_35:21. It denotes entire separation of interests:--that is, "Thou and we have nothing in common; we want not Thee; what wouldst Thou with us?" For the analogous application of it by our Lord to His mother, see on John 2:4 Jesus said to her, Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. Here Jesus plainly shows that His interest, in saving mankind from sin, in the spiritual fulfillment of man, is at odds with His mother’s desire to fulfill an earthly need (the wine at the wedding in Cana).

What have we to do with thee? - By this the spirit meant to say that, if Jesus cast him out, he would use an improper interference. But this was untrue. The possession of the man was a direct assault upon God and his works. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and Jesus had a right, therefore, to liberate the captive, and to punish him who had possessed him. So Satan still considers it an infringement of his rights when God frees a “sinner” from bondage and destroys his influence over the soul. So he still asks to be let alone, and to be suffered to lead people captive at his will.

Art thou come to destroy us? - Implying that the time of their destruction had not come, and that he ought not to destroy them before that. In the case of the Gadarene demoniac the question was, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Mat_8:29). Themselves tormentors and destroyers of their victims, they discern in Jesus their own destined tormentor and destroyer, anticipating and dreading what they know and feel to be awaiting them! Conscious, too, that their power was but permitted and temporary, and perceiving in Him, perhaps, the woman's Seed that was to bruise the head and destroy the works of the devil, they regard His approach to them on this occasion as a signal to let go their grasp of this miserable victim.

The Holy One of God - The Messiah.

I know thee who thou art: he whom God had called his Holy One, Psalms 16:10 For You will not leave My soul in hell; You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption, and who is so, both in his divine nature, as the Son of God, the Holy One of Israel; and as the Son of man, being the holy thing born of the virgin, and is without the least stain of original sin, or blemish of actual transgression; and also as the mediator, whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, the true Messiah; and all this the devil knew from his wonderful incarnation, by the voice from heaven at his baptism, from the conquest over him in the wilderness, and by the miracles he had already wrought.

thou Jesus of Nazareth--"Jesus, Nazarene!" an epithet originally given to express contempt, but soon adopted as the current designation by those who held our Lord in honor (Luk_18:37; Mar_16:6; Act_2:22).

Mar 1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him.

And Jesus rebuked him - Chided him. This was not the man that Jesus rebuked, but the spirit, for he instantly commanded the same being to come out of the man. In all this, Jesus did not once address the man. His conversation was with the evil spirit, proving conclusively that it was not a mere disease or mental derangement - for how could the Son of God hold converse with “disease” or “insanity?” - but that he conversed with a “being” who also conversed, reasoned, felt, resisted, and knew him. There are, therefore, evil spirits, and those spirits have taken possession of human beings.

Hold thy peace - Greek, “Be muzzled.” This was a very signal proof of the power of Jesus, to be able by a word to silence an evil angel, and, against his will, to compel him to leave a man whom he delighted to torment.

Mar 1:26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him, and crying with a loud voice, he came out of him.

And when the unclean spirit - Still malignant, though doomed to obey - submitting because he was obliged to, not because he chose - he exerted his last power, inflicted all the pain he could, and then bowed to the Son of God and came out. This is the nature of an evil disposition. Though compelled to obey, though prevented by the command and providence of God from doing what it “would,” yet, in seeming to obey, it does all the ill it can, and makes even the appearance of obedience the occasion for increased crime and mischief.

Mar 1:27 They all were amazed, so as to question among themselves, saying, What is this? What new doctrine is this? For He even commands the unclean spirits with authority, and they obey Him.

And they were all amazed - The people that were in the synagogue, who were met together for divine worship, were astonished, not only at his doctrine, as before, but at this miracle and power of his in casting out devils:

what new doctrine is this? - They had never heard of this from their Rabbins and Scribes, and which was confirmed by miracles;

Mar 1:28 And immediately His fame went out into all the Galilean neighborhood.

Mar 1:29 And immediately after they had come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

The house of Simon and Andrew - Peter was married and both he and Andrew lived together in “Peter’s house” (Mat_8:14) with Peter’s wife and mother-in-law. Peter was evidently married before he began to follow Jesus. This incident followed immediately after the service in the synagogue on the sabbath. All the Synoptics give it. Each Gospel gives touches of its own to the story. Mark has “lay sick of a fever,” lay prostrate burning with fever. Matthew puts it “stretched out with a fever.” Luke has it “holden with a great fever,” a technical medical phrase. They all mention the instant recovery and ministry without any convalescence. Mark and Matthew speak of the touch of Jesus on her hand and Luke speaks of Jesus standing over her like a doctor. It was a tender scene.

Mar 1:30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and at once they told Him about her.

lay sick of a fever - "A great fever", Luke says, Luk_4:38; a very violent one, which threatened with death, and must be very dangerous to an old person.

Mar 1:31 And He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And instantly the fever left her, and she served them.

Mar 1:32 And at evening, when the sun set, they brought all those who were diseased to Him, and those who had been demon-possessed.

And at even, when the sun did set - At which time the Jews' sabbath was ended; for this was a sabbath day, Mar_1:21, when according to them, it was not lawful to heal; nor did they offer to bring their sick to him on that day; but the last of the two evening days being come, and the sun set, the sabbath was over; and therefore being under no restraint on account of that. Our Lord afterwards took repeated occasion to teach the people by example, even at the risk of His own life, how superstitious a straining of the sabbath rest this was.

Mar 1:33 And all the city had gathered at the door.

Mar 1:34 And He healed many who were sick of different diseases, and cast out many demons. And He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

And suffered not the devils to speak - They knew that he was the Messiah. If they had spoken, they would have made that known to the people. The time had not come when he wished it to be promulgated that he was the Messiah, and he therefore imposed silence on the evil spirits. Testimony from such a source was not calculated to help the cause of Christ with the people.

This evil sense the words always bear in the New Testament as well as in the Septuagint. Demons are synonymous with unclean spirits (Mar_5:12, Mar_5:15; Mar_3:22, Mar_3:30; Luk_4:33). They appear in connection with Satan (Luk_10:17, Luk_10:18; Luk_11:18, Luk_11:19); they are put in opposition to the Lord (1Co_10:20, 1Co_10:21); to the faith (1Ti_4:1). They are connected with idolatry (Rev_9:20; Rev_16:13, Rev_16:14). They are special powers of evil, influencing and disturbing the physical, mental, and moral being (Luk_13:11, Luk_13:16; Mar_5:2-5; Mar_7:25; Mat_12:45).

Mar 1:35 And rising up quite early in the night, He went out and went away into a deserted place, and He was praying there.

And rising up quite early in the night - the time before it was fully light, or just at daybreak, the whole space of three hours, which finished the fourth watch of the night (from 3-6 am).

and there prayed -
1. that the Saviour, though perfectly holy, regarded the duty of secret prayer as of great importance.
2. that he, sought a solitary place for it - far away from the world and even from his disciples.
3. if Jesus prayed, how much more important is it for us!

Mar 1:36 And Simon, and those with him, searched for Him.

Mar 1:37 And finding Him, they said to Him, All are seeking You.

Mar 1:38 And He said to them, Let us go into the next towns so that I may proclaim there also. For that reason I came forth.

For therefore came I forth - That is, came forth from God, or was sent by God. Luke, says Luke 4:43 And He said to them, I must proclaim the gospel, the kingdom of God, to other cities, because I was sent on this mission John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father.

Mar 1:39 And He proclaimed in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out demons.

And he preached - He continued preaching The proper meaning of the words is that he never slackened his pace - he continued proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation to all - there was no time to be lost - immortal souls were perishing for lack of knowledge; and the grand adversary was prowling about, seeking whom he might devour.

Mar 1:40 And a leper came to Him, begging Him and kneeling down to Him, and saying to Him, If You will, You can make me clean.

If thou wilt - This was an acknowledgment of the almighty power of Jesus, and an appeal to his benevolence. Here was a most manifest proof of his divine power. None but God can work a miracle; yet Jesus does it by his “own will” - by an exertion of his own power. Another example of Jesus’ divinity.

If thou wilt - Note the submission of the leper. He doesn’t demand to be healed, but asks to be healed as Jesus wills.

Leper - A leper didn’t have just leprosy, but could have had any one of many serious skin diseases. Lepers were forbidden from having contact with those who were clean (who were not lepers). The leper was breaking the Law of Moses in approaching Jesus.

Mar 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, I will; be clean!

touched him - It was by the law considered as unclean to touch a leprous man. The fact that Jesus touched him was evidence that the requisite power had been already put forth to heal him; that Jesus regarded him as already clean. In this action, Jesus placed love and compassion above ceremonial law.

Mar 1:42 And He having spoken, the leprosy instantly departed from him and he was cleansed.

as soon as he had spoken - immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed; from it, and which seems to be done not by touching him, but by the words spoken, which were accompanied with such power, as to effect the cure in an instant;

Mar 1:43 And He strictly charged him and immediately sent him away,

Strictly charged - Only in Mark. It is a strong word for the snorting of a horse and expresses powerful emotion as Jesus stood here face to face with leprosy, itself a symbol of sin and all its train of evils. The command to report to the priests was in accord with the Mosaic regulations and the prohibition against talking about it was to allay excitement and to avoid needless opposition to Christ.

Mar 1:44 and He said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone. But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer those things which Moses commanded for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.

See thou say nothing to any man - The law of Moses required that a man who was healed of the leprosy should be pronounced clean by the priest before he could be admitted again to the privileges of the congregation, Lev. 14. Christ, though he had cleansed him, yet required him to be obedient to the law

Offer for thy cleansing those things - Two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; and after eight days, two he-lambs, without blemish, and one ewe-lamb, and fine flour, and oil, Lev_14:4, Lev_14:10.

For a testimony unto them - Not to the priest, but to the people, that they may have evidence that it is a real cure. The testimony of the priest on the subject would be decisive.

show yourself to the priest - The priests seeing him, pronouncing him clean, Lev_13:17, Lev_13:23, Lev_13:28, Lev_13:37, and accordingly allowing him to offer as Moses commanded, Lev_14:2, Lev_14:7, was such a proof against them, that they durst never say the leper was not cleansed; which out of envy or malice against our Savior they might have been ready to say, upon his presenting himself to be viewed, according to the law, if by the cleansed person's talking much about his cure, the account of it had reached their ears before he came in person. This is one great reason why our Lord commanded this man to say nothing.

Mar 1:45 But going out, he began to proclaim it very much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was outside in deserted places. And they came to Him from every quarter.

Genesis 2

Gen 2:1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

And all the host of them. - All the array of luminaries, plants, and animals by which the darkness, waste, and solitude of sky and land were removed, has now been called into unhindered action or new existence. The whole is now finished. Exodus 20:10-11 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.

were finished--brought to completion. No permanent change has ever since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals been formed, no law of nature repealed or added to. They could have been finished in a moment as well as in six days, but the work of creation was gradual for the instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as of higher creatures.

Note that this day is different than the previous days in that God doesn’t speak or make, He blesses and sanctifies this day.

Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

Then finished. - To finish a work, in Hebrew conception, is to cease from it, to have done with it.

On the Seventh day God ended - It is the general voice of Scripture that God finished the whole of the creation in six days, and rested the seventh giving us an example that we might labor six days, and rest the seventh from all manual exercises. It is worthy of notice that the Septuagint read the sixth day instead of the seventh. Genesis 2:2 And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made. (Septuagint)

Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work which God created to make.

Genesis 2:3 And God blessed (853) the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made

He had rested - The rest here, it is to be remembered, is God’s rest. The refreshment is God’s refreshment, which arises rather from the joy of achievement than from the relief of fatigue. Man’s rest, therefore, on this day is not only an act of communion with God in the satisfaction of resting after his work was done, but, at the same time, a thankful commemoration of that auspicious event in which the Almighty gave a noble origin and a happy existence to the human race. It is this which, even apart from its divine institution, at once raises the Sabbath above all human commemorative festivals, and imparts to it, to its joys and to its modes of expressing them, a height of sacredness and a force of obligation which cannot belong to any mere human arrangement.

And God blessed the seventh day - The original word 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 good or well, and 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 gifts 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 fulfillment of his promises.

blessed and sanctified the seventh day--a peculiar distinction put upon it above the other six days, and showing it was devoted to sacred purposes. The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation. It is a wise and beneficent law, affording that regular interval of rest which the physical nature of man and the animals employed in his service requires, and the neglect of which brings both to premature decay. Moreover, it secures an appointed season for religious worship.

Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth - That is, the above account, delivered in the preceding chapter, is a history of the production of the heavens and earth, and of all things in them; the creation of them being a kind of generation. The generations are the posterity or the progress of events relating to the posterity of the party to whom the term is applied Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. See also Gen_10:1; Gen_11:10; Gen_37:2.

Jehovah - This word (YHWH, the tetragrammaton) occurs about six thousand times in Scripture. It is obvious from its use that it is, so to speak, the proper name of God. It never has the article. It is never changed for construction with another noun. It is never accompanied with a suffix. It is never applied to any but the true God.

the Lord God - yehovâh 'ĕlohîym This phrase is here for the first time introduced. 'ĕlohîym, as we have seen, is the generic term denoting God as the Everlasting, and therefore the Almighty, as he was before all worlds, and still continues to be, now that he is the sole object of supreme reverence to all intelligent creatures. Yahweh is the proper name of God to man, self-existent himself, the author of existence to all persons and things, and manifesting his existence to those whom he has made capable of such knowledge.

The union of these two divine names, then, indicates him who was before all things, and by whom now all things consist. It also implies that he who is now distinguished by the name Jehovah yehovâh is the same who was before called ‘Elohiym. The combination of the names is specially suitable in a passage which records a concurrence of creation and development. The apposition of the two names is continued by the historian through this and the following chapter. The abstract and aboriginal name then gives way to the concrete and the historical.

the Lord God - Wherever this word (YHWH) occurs in the sacred writings most translations have Lord.

1) The primary meaning of the name LORD (Jehovah) is the "self-existent One." Literally Exodus 3:13-14 And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the sons of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And He said, So you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. But Havah, from which Jehovah, or Yahweh, is formed, signifies also "to become," that is, to become known, thus pointing to a continuous and increasing self-revelation. Combining these meanings of Havah, we arrive at the meaning of the name Jehovah. He is "the self-existent One who reveals Himself." The name is, in itself, an advance upon the name "God" (El, Elah, Elohim), which suggests certain attributes of Deity, as strength, etc, rather than His essential being.

2) It is significant that the first appearance of the name Jehovah in Scripture follows the creation of man. It was God (Elohim) who said, "Let us make man in our image" (Gen_1:26); but when man, as in the second chapter of Genesis, is to fill the scene and become dominant over creation, it is the Lord God (Jehovah Elohim) who acts. This clearly indicates a special relation of Deity, in His Jehovah character, to man, and all Scripture emphasizes this.

3) Jehovah is distinctly the redemption name of Deity. When sin entered and redemption became necessary, it was Jehovah Elohim who sought the sinning ones (Gen_3:9-13) and clothed them with "coats of skins" (Gen_3:21) a beautiful type of righteousness provided by the Lord God through sacrifice (Rom_3:21); (Rom_3:22). The first distinct revelation of Himself by His name Jehovah was in connection with the redemption of the covenant people out of Egypt (Exo_3:13-17). As Redeemer, emphasis is laid upon those attributes of Jehovah which the sin and salvation of man bring into exercise.
These are:
a) His holiness
Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the LORD your God, and you shall sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of swarming thing that swarms on the earth. For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Leviticus 19:1-2 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
Leviticus 20:26 And you shall be holy to Me. For I, the LORD, am holy, and have severed you from the nations, so that you should be Mine.
Habakkuk 1:12-13 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have ordained them for judgment; and, my Rock, You have established them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look upon vexation. Why do You look upon those who deal deceitfully? Will you be silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he?
b) His hatred and judgment of sin;
Deuteronomy 32:35-42 Vengeance and retribution belong to Me. Their foot shall slide in time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come on them make haste. For the LORD will bring His people justice; and He shall have compassion on His servants, for He sees that their power is gone, and only the imprisoned and abandoned remain And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted? Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it be your hiding place. See now that I, I am He, and there is no god with me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is no deliverer out of My hand. For I lift up My hand to Heaven and say, I live forever! If I sharpen My glittering sword, and if My hand takes hold in judgment, I will give vengeance to My enemies and will reward those that hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the hairy scalp of the enemy.
Genesis 6:5-7 And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was angry to His heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. For I repent that I have made them.
Psalms 11:4-6 The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD's throne is in Heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids examine the children of men. The LORD tries the righteous; but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence, On the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and a horrible tempest shall be the portion of their cup.
Psalms 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear;
Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah! Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty , visiting the iniquity of fathers on the sons, and on the sons of sons, to the third and to the fourth generation.
c) His love for and redemption of sinners, but always righteously;
Genesis 3:21 And for Adam and his wife the LORD God made coats of skins, and clothed them.
Genesis 8:20-21 And Noah built an altar to the LORD. And he took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet odor. And the LORD said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. And I will not again smite every living thing as I have done.
Exodus 12:12-13 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are . And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you for a destruction when I smite in the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 16:2-3 and the LORD said to Moses, Speak to Aaron your brother, that he does not come at all times into the sanctuary within the veil before the mercy-seat, which is on the Ark, so that he will not die. For I will appear in the cloud on the mercy-seat. Aaron shall come into the sanctuary this way: with a bull, a son of the herd, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
Isaiah 53:5-6 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Salvation by Jehovah apart from sacrifice is unknown to Scripture.

4) In his redemptive relation to man, Jehovah has seven compound names which reveal Him as meeting every need of man from his lost state to the end.
These compound names are:
a) Jehovah-jireh; "the Lord will provide" i.e, will provide a sacrifice;
Genesis 22:13-14 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked. And, behold, a ram behind him was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Will See; so that it is said until this day, In the mount of Jehovah it will be seen. Gen 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen (KJV)
b) Jehovah-rapha; "the Lord that healeth"
Exodus 15:26 And he said, If you will carefully listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His Laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah who heals you.
That this refers to physical healing the context shows, but the deeper healing of soul malady is implied.
c) Jehovah-nissi; "the Lord our banner"
Exodus 17:8-15 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out to fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it happened when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy. And they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going of the sun. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people by the edge of the sword. And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this, a memorial in a book, and set it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heavens. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah My Banner.
Exo 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: (KJV)
The name is interpreted by the context. The enemy was Amalek, a type of the flesh, and the conflict that day stands for the conflict of Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do the war of the Spirit against the flesh. Victory was wholly due to divine help.
d) Jehovah-Shalom; "the Lord our peace," or "the Lord send peace"
Judges 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom. It is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites to this day.
Almost the whole ministry of Jehovah finds expression and illustration in that chapter. Jehovah hates and judges sin Gen_2:1-5 Jehovah loves and saves sinners Gen_2:7-18 but only through sacrifice Gen_2:19-21
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:14 For He is our peace, He making us both one, and He has broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
Colossians 1:20 And through Him having made peace through the blood of His cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in Heaven.
e) Jehovah-ra-ah; "the Lord my shepherd"
Psalms 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. In Ps. 22 Jehovah makes peace by the blood of the cross; in Ps 23. Jehovah is shepherding His own who are in the world.
f) Jehovah-tsidkenu; "the Lord our righteousness"
Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, JEHOVAH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This name of Jehovah occurs in a prophecy concerning the future restoration and conversion of Israel. Then Israel will hail him as Jehovah-tsidkenu -- "the Lord our righteousness."
g) Jehovah-shammah; "the Lord is present"
Ezekiel 48:35 All around it shall be eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city from that day shall be JEHOVAH IS THERE.
This name signifies Jehovah's abiding presence with His people;
Exodus 33:14-15 And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here.
1Chronicles 16:27 Glory and honor are in His presence, strength and gladness in His place.
1Chronicles 16:33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing out at the presence of Jehovah, because He comes to judge the earth.
Psalms 16:11 You will make Me know the way of life; in Your presence is fullness of joys. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 97:5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of Jehovah of the whole earth.
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your way of life be without the love of money, and be content with such things as you have, for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!"

5) Lord (Jehovah) is also the distinctive name of Deity as in covenant with Israel
Exodus 19:3 And Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called to him out of the mountain, saying, You shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel:
Exodus 20:1-2 And God spoke all these words, saying, I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah; but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.

6) Lord God (Hebrew, Jehovah Elohim) is the first of the compound names of Deity. Lord God is used distinctly:
A) of the relation of Deity to man
a) as Creator Gen_2:7-15
b) as morally in authority over man Gen_2:16-17
c) as creating and governing the earthly relationships of man; Gen_2:18-24
Genesis 3:16-19 To the woman He said, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bear sons, and your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it! The ground is cursed for your sake. In pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
Genesis 3:22-24 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever, therefore Jehovah God sent him out from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken. And He drove out the man. And He placed cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
d) as redeeming man
Genesis 3:8-15 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God in the middle of the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself. And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
Genesis 3:21 And for Adam and his wife Jehovah God made coats of skins, and clothed them.
B) of the relation of Deity to Israel
Genesis 24:7 Jehovah, the God of Heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: He shall send His Angel before you. And you shall take a wife to my son from there.
Genesis 28:13 And behold! Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac! The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed.
Exodus 3:15 And God said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My title from generation to generation.
Exodus 3:18 And they shall listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt. And you shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. And now let us go, we beseech you, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
Exodus 4:5 so that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.
Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.
Exo_7:6 And Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded them; so they did.
Deuteronomy 1:11 May Jehovah, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you as He has said to you!
Deuteronomy 1:21 Behold, Jehovah your God has set the land before you. Go up. Possess it, even as Jehovah, the God of your fathers has said to you. Do not fear, neither be troubled.
Deuteronomy 4:1 And now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you, in order to do them, so that you may live and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers gives you.
Deuteronomy 6:3 Then hear, O, Israel, and be careful to do it, so that it may be well with you, and that you may greatly multiply, as Jehovah, the God of our fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 12:1 These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers gives you to possess it, all the days that you live upon the earth.
Joshua 7:13 Up! Sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, A cursed thing is in the midst of you, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the cursed thing from among you.
Joshua 7:19-20 And Joshua said to Achan, My son, I pray you, give glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. And tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against Jehovah, the God of Israel, and this I have done.
Joshua 10:40-42 And Joshua struck all the land, the hills, and the south, and the valley, and the springs, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen, even to Gibeon. And Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time, because Jehovah, the God of Israel fought for Israel.
Judges 2:12 And they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods of the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked Jehovah to anger.
1Samuel 2:30 And Jehovah, the God of Israel says, I said indeed, Your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever. But now Jehovah says, Be it far from Me! For those who honor Me I will honor, and those that think little of Me shall be lightly regarded.
1Kings 1:48 And also the king said, Blessed is Jehovah, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.
2Kings 9:6 And he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head and said to him, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel.
2Kings 10:31 But Jehu did not care to walk in the Law of Jehovah, the God of Israel with all his heart, for he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.
1Chronicles 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek Jehovah your God. Arise therefore and build the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.
2Chronicles 1:9 Now, O Jehovah God, Your promise to David my father has been fulfilled. For You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.
Ezra 1:3 Who is there among you of all His people? Let his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel (He is God) which is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 21:17 and the rest of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be cut down; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Gen 2:5 And every shrub of the field was not yet on the earth, and every plant of the field had not yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till (853) the ground.

Not a plant of the field was yet in the land. - Here it is to be remembered that the narrative has reverted to the third day of the preceding creation. At first sight, then, it might be supposed that the vegetable species were not created at the hour of that day to which the narrative refers. But it is not stated that young trees were not in existence, but merely that plants of the field were not yet in the land. Of the herbs it is only said that they had not yet sent forth a bud or blade. And the actual existence of both trees and herbs is implied in what follows. The reasons for the state of things above described are the lack of rain to water the soil, and of man to cultivate it. These would only suffice for growth if the vegetable seeds, at least, were already in existence. Now, the plants were made before the seeds Gen_1:11-12, and therefore the first full-grown and seed-bearing sets of each kind were already created. Hence, we infer that the state of things described in the text was this: The original trees were confined to a center of vegetation, from which it was intended that they should spread in the course of nature. At the present juncture, then, there was not a tree of the field, a tree of propagation, in the land; and even the created trees had not sent down a single root of growth into the land. And if they had dropped a seed, it was only on the land, and not in the land, as it had not yet struck root.

And not an herb of the field yet grew. - The herbage seems to have been more widely diffused than the trees. Hence, it is not said that they were not in the land, as it is said of field trees. But at the present moment not an herb had exhibited any signs of growth or sent forth a single blade beyond the immediate product of creative power.

Rain upon the land - and man to till it, were the two needs that retarded vegetation.

The account in vv. 5-25 is not a second, complete and independent history of the creation, nor does it contain mere appendices to the account in Gen 1; but it describes the commencement of the history of the human race. This commencement includes not only a complete account of the creation of the first human pair, but a description of the place which God prepared for their abode, the latter being of the highest importance in relation to the self-determination of man, with its momentous consequences to both earth and heaven. Even in the history of the creation man takes precedence of all other creatures, as being created in the image of God and appointed lord of all the earth, though he is simply mentioned there as the last and highest link in the creation. To this our present account is attached, describing with greater minuteness the position of man in the creation, and explaining the circumstances which exerted the greatest influence upon his subsequent career. These circumstances were-the formation of man from the dust of the earth and the divine breath of life; the tree of knowledge in paradise; the formation of the woman, and the relation of the woman to the man. The more exact account of the creation of Adam is subordinated to, and inserted in, the description of paradise (Gen_2:7). In Gen_2:5 and Gen_2:6, with which the narrative commences, there is an evident allusion to paradise: “And as yet there was (arose, grew) no shrub of the field upon the earth, and no herb of the field sprouted; for Jehovah El had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; and a mist arose from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” Although the growth of the shrubs and sprouting of the herbs are represented here as dependent upon the rain and the cultivation of the earth by man, we must not understand the words as meaning that there was neither shrub nor herb before the rain and dew, or before the creation of man, and so draw the conclusion that the creation of the plants occurred either after or contemporaneously with the creation of man, in direct contradiction to Gen_1:11-12. The creation of the plants is not alluded to here at all, but simply the planting of the garden in Eden. The growing of the shrubs and sprouting of the herbs is different from the creation or first production of the vegetable kingdom, and relates to the growing and sprouting of the plants and germs which were called into existence by the creation, the natural development of the plants as it had steadily proceeded ever since the creation. This was dependent upon rain and human culture; their creation was not. Moreover, the shrub and herb of the field do not embrace the whole of the vegetable productions of the earth. It is not a fact that the field is used in the second section in the same sense as the earth in the first.” It is not “the widespread plain of the earth, the broad expanse of land,” but a field of arable land, soil fit for cultivation, which forms only a part of the “earth” or “ground.” Even the “beast of the field” in Gen_2:19 and Gen_3:1 is not synonymous with the “beast of the earth” in Gen_1:24-25, but is a more restricted term, denoting only such animals as live upon the field and are supported by its produce, whereas the “beast of the earth” denotes all wild beasts as distinguished from tame cattle and reptiles. In the same way, the “shrub of the field” consists of such shrubs and tree-like productions of the cultivated land as man raises for the sake of their fruit, and the “herb of the field,” all seed-producing plants, both corn and vegetables, which serve as food for man and beast.

Gen 2:6 But there went up from the earth a mist and watered all the face of the ground.

Genesis 2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered (853) the whole face of the ground.

As in the former narrative, so here, the remaining part of the chapter is employed in recording the removal of the two hinderances to vegetation. The first of these is removed by the institution of the natural process by which rain is produced. The atmosphere had been adjusted so far as to admit of some light. But even on the third day a dense mass of clouds still shut out the heavenly bodies from view. But on the creation of plants the Lord God caused it to rain on the land. This is described in the verse before us. “A mist went up from the land.” It had been ascending from the steaming, reeking land ever since the waters retired into the hollows. The briny moisture which could not promote vegetation is dried up. And now he causes the accumulated masses of cloud to burst forth and dissolve themselves in copious showers. Thus, “the mist watered the whole face of the soil.” The face of the sky is thereby cleared, and on the following day the sun shone forth in all his cloudless splendor and fostering warmth.

There went up a mist - This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators. They are divided between whether it rained before the flood or not. One commentator says the plain meaning seems to be, that the aqueous vapors, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of dews, and by this means an equal portion of moisture was distributed to the roots of plants, etc. As Moses had said, Gen_2:5, that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, he probably designed to teach us, in Gen_2:6, how rain is produced, viz., by the condensation of the aqueous vapors, which are generally through the heat of the sun and other causes raised to a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, meeting 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.

But there went up a mist from the earth - After the waters had been drained off from it, and it was warmed by the body of light and heat created on the first day, which caused a vapor, which went up as a mist, and descended:

Gen 2:7 And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed (853) man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Breath - applied to God and man only. Notice how none of the other living creatures had His breath breathed into them.

And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. - The word neshāmâh is invariably applied to God or man, never to any irrational creature. The “breath of life” is special to this passage. It expresses the spiritual and principal element in man, which is not formed, but breathed by the Creator into the physical form of man. This rational part is that in which he bears the image of God, and is suited to be his vicegerent on earth. As the earth was prepared to be the dwelling, so was the body to be the organ of that breath of life which is his essence, himself.

formed man of the dust of the ground - Science has proved that the substance of his flesh, sinews, and bones, consists of the very same elements as the soil which forms the crust of the earth. But from that mean material what an admirable structure has been reared in the human body.

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life-- respiration being the medium and sign of life, this phrase is used to show that man's life originated in a different way from his body--being implanted directly by God Ecclesiastes 12:7 then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. Note the new creation Christ breathed on His disciples John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. As God breathed life into man, Christ breathed new life into His apostles.

Then Jehovah God formed man from dust of the ground - does not indicate the order of time, or of thought; so that the meaning is not that God planted the garden in Eden after He had created Adam, nor that He caused the trees to grow after He had planted the garden and placed the man there. The process of man's creation is described minutely here, because it serves to explain his relation to God and to the surrounding world. He was formed from dust, and into his nostril a breath of life was breathed, by which he became an animated being. Hence the nature of man consists of a material substance and an immaterial principle of life.

The breath of life - breath producing life, does not denote the spirit by which man is distinguished form the animals, or the soul of man from that of the beasts, but only the life-breath 1Kings 17:17 And it happened after these things the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. It generally signifies the human soul, but in Genesis 7:22 all who breathed the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died it is used of men and animals both. Should any one claim that the allusion is chiefly to men, and the animals are connected by implication, or should he press that the ruach is attached, and deduce from this the use of neshamah in relation to men and animals, there are several passages in which neshamah is synonymous with ruach Isaiah 42:5 So says Jehovah God, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading out the earth and its offspring; He who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. Job 32:8 But a spirit is in man giving them perception, even the breath of the Almighty Job 33:4 The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life or applied to animals Genesis 6:17 And behold! I, even I, am bringing a flood of waters upon the earth in order to destroy all flesh (in which is the breath of life) from under the heavens. Everything which is in the earth shall die. Genesis 7:15 And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, in which is the breath of life or again neshamah used as equivalent to nephesh Joshua10:40 And Joshua struck all the land, the hills, and the south, and the valley, and the springs, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel commanded.

Please note that this shows how man may have been divinely made, but is still a mere creation. Our origin is the dust in the ground. The Garden of Eden was a place where man could experience the fellowship and presence of God, as the tabernacle was later.

Gen 2:8 And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed.

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put (853) the man whom he had formed.

And put there the man whom he had formed. - The writer has still the formation of man in thought, and therefore proceeds to state that he was thereupon placed in the garden which had been prepared for his reception, before going on to give a description of the garden. This verse, therefore, forms a transition from the field and its cultivator to the garden and its inhabitants.

Eden - Though the word Eden signifies pleasure or delight. It was a “garden in Eden,” also called “the garden of Eden” Gen_2:15 Gen_3:23-24, or Eden Isa_51:3 Eze_28:13 Eze_31:9. Eden, i.e., delight is the proper name of a particular district, the situation of which is described in Gen_2:10.; but it must not be confounded with the Eden of Assyria 2Ki_19:12, etc. and Coelesyria Amo_1:5, which is written differently. The garden (lit., a place hedged round) was to the east, i.e., in the eastern portion, and is generally called Paradise from the Septuagint version. In the garden itself God caused all kinds of trees to grow out of the earth; and among them were two, which were called “the tree of life” and “the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” on account of their peculiar significance in relation to man.

Elsewhere in Genesis, eastward is associated with judgment and separation from God. Genesis 3:24 And He drove out the man. And He placed cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 11:2 And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they lived there. (The tower of Babel) Genesis 13:11 And Lot chose all the circuit of Jordan for himself. And Lot journeyed east; and they separated themselves from one another.

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Every tree that is pleasant to the sight - 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, color, or fragrance, delights the senses, such as flowering shrubs, etc.

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

the tree of life - also in the midst of the garden; set where it might be most conspicuous, before Adam sinned, there was no prohibition of his eating of it, so there was no obstruction to it; and as he had a grant to eat of it, with the other trees, it was designed for his use, to support and maintain his natural life, which would have been continued, had he persisted in his obedience and state of innocence, and very probably by means of this chiefly: it is the tree of immortality,and it might be also a sign, token, and symbol to him of his dependence on God; that he received his life from him; and that this was preserved by his blessing and providence, and not by his own power and skill; and that this would be continued, provided he transgressed not the divine law: and it seems to have a further respect, even to eternal life; by Christ; for though it might not be a symbol of that life to Adam in his state of innocence, yet it became so after his fall: hence Christ is sometimes signified by the tree of life, Pro_3:18 who is not only the author of natural and spiritual life, but the giver of eternal life; the promise of it is in him, and the blessing itself; he has made way for it by his obedience, sufferings, and death, and is the way unto it; it is in his gift, and he bestows it on all his people, and it will lie greatly in the enjoyment of him. The situation of this tree in the midst of the garden well agrees with him who is in the midst of his church and people, Rev_1:13 stands open, is in sight, and is accessible to them all now, who may come to him, and partake of the fruits and blessings of his grace, which are many, constant, and durable, Rev_22:2 and who will be seen and enjoyed by all, to all eternity:

Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became four heads.

Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water (853) the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

Gen 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which surrounds all the land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth (853) the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Havilah - where there is gold; this country had its name from Havilah, who could be one of the sons of Cush, Genesis 10:7 And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan or the son of Joktan, Genesis 10:29 and Ophir and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good. There is bdellium and the onyx stone.

There is bdellium and the onyx stone - bedolach and 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 “a man’s nail”, to the color 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. Numbers 11:7 And the manna was like coriander seed, and the color of it was like the color of bdellium.

Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that surrounds the whole land of Cush.

Genesis 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth (853) the whole land of Ethiopia.

the second river is Gihon - There was one of this name in the land of Israel, which, or a branch of it, flowed near Jerusalem, 1Kings 1:33 The king also said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. It is unknown if the reference in 1 Kings is the same place.

Gen 2:14 And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is that which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

The name of the third river is Hiddekel - Daniel 10:4 And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Tigris. Daniel 10:4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; (KJV)

Gen 2:15 And Jehovah God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took (853) the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

put him into the garden of Eden to work it and keep it - Gardening was the first occupation of man. One commentator suggests that a more appropriate meaning isn’t gardening but rather that man was to worship and obey Him. That view is in keeping with the major themes in the first 5 books of the bible: worship and Sabbath rest.

The word “put” in Hebrew is a word that only has 2 special uses:
God’s rest which He gives to us in the land
Genesis 19:16 And he lingered, the angel laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters (the LORD being merciful to him), and they brought him forth and set him outside the city; Deuteronomy 3:20 until the LORD has given rest to your brothers, as well as to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God has given them beyond Jordan. And then you shall each one return to his possessions which I have given you. Deuteronomy 12:10 But when you go over Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, and Deuteronomy 25:19 And it shall be when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heavens. You shall not forget.
And “dedication” of something in the presence of God
Exodus 16:33-34 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. Leviticus 16:23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall strip off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the sanctuary, and shall leave them there. Numbers 17:4 And you shall lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. Deuteronomy 26:4 And the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 26:10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which You, O LORD, have given me. And you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

In this verse, man is seen as resting safely in the presence of the Lord where he has fellowship with God. This is what was lost when man fell from grace.

Gen 2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden,

Gen 2:17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

thou shalt not eat - This is the first positive precept God gave to man; and it was a test of obedience, and a proof of his being in a dependent, probationary state.

Thou shalt surely die - 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

Gen 2:18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

I will make him a help meet for him;- 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.

Creation of the Woman. - As the creation of the man is introduced in Gen_1:26-27, with a divine decree, so here that of the woman is preceded by the divine declaration, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help of his like. Of such a help the man stood in need, in order that he might fulfil his calling, not only to perpetuate and multiply his race, but to cultivate and govern the earth. In Gen_1:27 the creation of the woman is linked with that of the man; but here the order of sequence is given, because the creation of the woman formed a chronological incident in the history of the human race, which commences with the creation of Adam.

Gen 2:19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

that was its name - To name is also the prerogative of the owner, superior, or head. Man has dominion over the animals.

Gen 2:20 And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field. But there was not found a suitable helper for Adam.

a suitable helper for Adam - perhaps this might be one reason of their being brought unto him, that he might become sensible that there was none among all the creatures of his nature, and that was fit to be a companion of his; and to him must this be referred, and not to God; not as if God looked out an help meet for him among the creatures, and could find none; but man could not find one for himself; and this made it the more grateful and acceptable to him, when God had formed the woman of him, and presented her before him. The design of this singular scene was to show him that none of the living creatures he saw were on an equal footing with himself, and that while each class came with its mate of the same nature, form, and habits, he alone had no companion.

Gen 2:21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh underneath.

He took one of his ribs – it means the side, and, as a portion of the human body, the rib. The woman was created, not of dust of the earth, but from a rib of Adam, because she was formed for an inseparable unity and fellowship of life with the man, and the mode of her creation was to lay the actual foundation for the moral ordinance of marriage. As the moral idea of the unity of the human race required that man should not be created as a genus or plurality, This ordinance of God forms the root of that tender love with which the man loves the woman as himself, and by which marriage becomes a type of the fellowship of love and life, which exists between the Lord and His Church (Eph_5:32). If the fact that the woman was formed from a rib, and not from any other part of the man, is significant; all that we can find in this is, that the woman was made to stand as a helpmate by the side of the man, not that there was any allusion to conjugal love as founded in the heart; for the text does not speak of the rib as one which was next the heart. It is worthy of note: from the rib of the man God builds the female, through whom the human race is to be built up by the male (Gen_16:2; Gen_30:3).

The Almighty has called intelligent beings into existence in two ways. The angels he seems to have created as individuals Mar_12:25, constituting an order of beings the unity of which lies in the common Creator. Man he created as the parent of a race about to spring from a single head, and having its unity in that head. A single angel then stands by himself, and for himself; and all his actions belong only to himself, except so far as example, persuasion, or leadership may have involved others in them. But the single man, who is at the same time head of a race, is in quite a different position. He stands for the race, which is virtually contained in him; and his actions belong not only to him as an individual, but, in a certain sense, to the whole race, of which he is at present the sum. An angel counts only for the unit of his order. The first man counts for the whole race as long as he is alone. The one angel is responsible only for himself. The first man is not only an individual, but, as long as he is alone, the sum total of a race; and is therefore so long responsible, not only for himself, but for the race, as the head of which he acts. This deep question of race will meet us again at a future stage of man’s history.

Man’s original unity is the counterpart of the unity of God. He was to be made in the image of God, and after his likeness. If the male and the female had been created at once, an essential feature of the divine likeness would have been missing. But, as in the absolute One there is no duality, whether in sex or in any other respect, so is there none in the original form and constitution of man. Hence, we learn the absurdity of those who import into their notions of the deity the distinction of sex. Secondly, the natural unity of the first pair, and of the race descended from them, is established by the primary creation of an individual, from whom is derived, by a second creative process, the first woman.

took one of his ribs--"She was not made out of his head to surpass him, nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to him, and near his heart to be dear to him."

Gen 2:22 And Jehovah God made the rib (which He had taken from the man) into a woman. And He brought her to the man.

Genesis 2:22 And (853) the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

He brought her to the man - so it was a type of the marriage of Christ, the second Adam, between him and his church, which sprung from him, from his side; and is of the same nature with him, and was presented by his divine Father to him, who gave her to him; and he received her to himself as his spouse and bride; Ephesians 5:25-32 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord loves the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man.

This is now bone of my bones - He is perfectly aware of the nature of her who now for the first time appears before his eyes. This is evinced in his speech on beholding her: “This, now” - in contrast with the whole animal creation just before presented to his view, in which he had failed to find a helpmeet for him - “is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh;” whence we perceive that the rib included both bone and flesh. This lovely creature, now presented to him, was a piece of himself and was to be his companion, and the wife of his covenant

shall be called woman - the word in the original being a feminine form of “man,” to which we have no exact equivalent.

This is now bone of my bones - 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. We should render more literally this turn, this creature, which now passes or appears before me, is flesh of my flesh, etc. The creatures that had passed already before him were not suitable to him, and therefore it was said, For Adam there was not a help meet found, Gen_2:20; 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. A literal version of the Hebrew would appear strange, and yet a literal version is the only proper one. ish signifies man, and the word used to express what we term woman is the same with a feminine termination, ishshah, and literally means she-man.

Eve, type of the Church as bride of Christ 2Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one Man, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. Joh_3:28-29 Eph_5:25-32

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave (853) his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Adam on seeing the woman had given prophetic utterance to his perception of the mystery of marriage, he could not with propriety have spoken of father and mother. They are the words of Moses, written to bring out the truth embodied in the fact recorded as a divinely appointed result, to exhibit marriage as the deepest corporeal and spiritual unity of man and woman, and to hold up monogamy before the eyes of the people of Israel as the form of marriage ordained by God. But as the words of Moses, they are the utterance of divine revelation; and Christ could quote them, therefore, as the word of God (Mat_19:5). By the leaving of father and mother, which applies to the woman as well as to the man, the conjugal union is shown to be a spiritual oneness, a vital communion of heart as well as of body, in which it finds its consummation. This union is of a totally different nature from that of parents and children; hence marriage between parents and children is entirely opposed to the ordinance of God. Marriage itself, notwithstanding the fact that it demands the leaving of father and mother, is a holy appointment of God; hence celibacy is not a higher or holier state. This is shown in Gen_2:25 : “They were both naked the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Their bodies were sanctified by the spirit, which animated them. Shame entered first with sin, which destroyed the normal relation of the spirit to the body, exciting tendencies and lusts which warred against the soul, and turning the sacred ordinance of God into sensual impulses and the lust of the flesh.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother - There shall be, by the order of God, a more intimate connection formed between the man and woman, than can subsist even between parents and children.

And they shall be one flesh - These words may be understood in a twofold sense.
1. These two shall be one flesh, shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent rights, privileges, cares, concerns, etc., each being equally interested in all things that concern the marriage state.
2. These two shall be for the production of one flesh; from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other.

Our Lord quotes these words, Matthew 19:5 and said, For this cause a man shall leave father and mother and shall cling to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh? with some variation from this text: So in Mark10:8 And the two of them shall be one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Paul quotes in the same way, 1Corinthians 6:16 Or do you not know that he being joined to a harlot is one body? For He says, The two shall be one flesh, and in Ephesians 5:31 "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh." The Septuagint reads the word Two. Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (Septuagint) Of what consequence is it? In the controversy concerning polygamy, it has been made of very great consequence. Without the word, some have contended a man may have as many wives as he chooses, as the terms are indefinite, They shall be, etc., but with the word, marriage is restricted. A man can have in legal wedlock but One wife at the same time.

We have here the first institution of marriage, and we see in it several particulars worthy of our most serious regard.
1. God pronounces the state of celibacy to be not a good one; the Lord God said, It is not good for man to be alone. This is God’s judgment.
2. God made the woman for the man, and thus he has shown us that every son of Adam should be united to a daughter of Eve to the end of the world. God made the woman out of the man

Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife; and they were not ashamed.

Two hallowed institutions have descended to us from then - the wedding and the Sabbath. The former indicates communion of the purest and most perfect kind between equals of the same class. The latter implies communion of the highest and holiest kind between the Creator and the intelligent creature. The two combined import communion with each other in communion with God.

Two words meaning naked are used here and in 3:7. Arom here, erom in 3:7. Erom is also seen in Deut 28:48 where it shows the state of the exiles who have been punished for their failure to trust and obey the Lord. Deuteronomy 28:48 therefore you shall serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the lack of all things . And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. Naked in 3:7 includes the aspect of being under God’s judgment.