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The text teaches several things concerning God.

I. HIS POWER.

1. Physical. The might involved in the creation and maintenance of the universe. As much power displayed in preservation of universe as in its creation.

2. Intellectual. The thought and intelligence involved in the works of nature; the unity of design, harmony of motion, and proportion of parts visible everywhere, from the majesty of revolving worlds to the structure and polish of an insect's wing, all attest the work and power of a boundless intelligence.

II. HIS WISDOM.

1. We see God's wisdom here in the order of events.

(1) He planted a garden.

(2) There He put the man. Every man has his own God-appointed work.

2. In providing so bountifully for the wants of man, both present and future.

(1) Present. In causing all manner of fruits and vegetables to spring out of the earth, and in stocking the earth, air, and water with creatures for man's food and happiness.

(2) Future. In filling the bowels of the earth with those priceless treasures which He saw he would be required, in order to man's highest civilization and wellbeing.

III. HIS GOODNESS.

1. In providing a home for man.

2. God's goodness is also seen in the size of Adam's home. "A garden." Why not something larger? God's idea of human vocation is not distribution, but concentration. Not farming a township, but tilling a garden. No man can be a gardener, a doctor, a lawyer, a banker, and a preacher, and succeed in either.

3. In putting him in possession of his new home. "There He put the man." I am pleased to find this statement, especially as Adam got into trouble so soon afterwards. If the Lord had only pointed out the garden, and left Adam to find it, he might have doubted, after the Fall, whether he had not gotten into the wrong place, and whether such a calamity could have befallen him in a God-selected residence. Learn, here, that however clearly we may be able to trace the Divine hand in bringing us into any position or calling, we may there yield to the tempter, and fall. That God can build no Eden this side the gates of glory which man cannot curse and wither, by listening to the suggestions of the devil.

4. In providing a wife for Adam. "Brought her unto him." The composition of the first divinely ordained home was husband and wife.

(T. Kelly.)

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KJV: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

WEB: Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.