The Literal Meaning of Genesis
erally since the four rivers in Genesis flow from the one river of Paradise? But as we have no knowledge at all about the location of Paradise, we should rather assume that the river there is divided into four rivers, precisely as Scripture says, and that those rivers whose sources are said to be known have flowed somewhere under the earth and after flowing a great distance have sprung forth in other places which have been designated as their sources. For it is common knowledge that this sort of thing happens in the case of certain rivers, although it is known to us only when the underground courses are short.
A river, therefore, went out from Eden, that is, from the delightful place, and it watered Paradise, that is, all the beautiful and fruit-bearing trees which shaded all the land of that region.
CHAPTER 8
Why God wished man to cultivate the soil in Paradise (Gen. 2.15).
15. And the Lord God took the man whom He made and placed him in Paradise to cultivate and guard it. And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, "You may eat of every tree that is in Paradise, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. In the day that you eat of it you shall die."'*>
Having previously stated briefly that God had planted Paradise and placed there the man whom He had formed,*® the sacred writer repeats this in order to tell how Paradise was established. Now, therefore, in his repetition he also has recounted under what conditions God had placed there the man whom He made. Let us, then, look into the meaning of the expression "to cultivate and guard."
What was the man to cultivate and guard? Did the Lord wish that the first man should work at tilling the soil? Surely he was not condemned to labor before he sinned. This is what we should think, did we not see certain men cultivating the land with such pleasure that it is a severe punishment for them to be called away from it to something else. Whatever delight there is,