Where, O where is the "I didn't know!" clause . . .

Gen. 2:15-17, "Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.'”

• "Eden": Hebrew ‘ê-ḏen (Strong's 5731) - after the Fall in Gen. 3, the exact word reappears in: Gen. 4:16, where Cain "settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden."; Ezekiel 31:9-18, where Assyria is described as a tree excelling in beauty beyond all the trees in the garden of Eden; and Joel 2:3, where a great multitude is advancing on Zion, with the land before them appearing as Eden, while they leave behind them desolate wilderness.

• "cultivate": Hebrew lə-‘ā-ḇə-ḏāh (Strong's 5647) - only occurrence of exact word in Scripture. Compare to la-‘ă-ḇōḏ  in the post "Contradictory Creation account? (Gen. 2:5-7)".

• 1st "eat": Hebrew tō-ḵêl (Strong's 398) - Exact word occurs a total of 17 times in Scripture. Outside of Genesis the word is translated 9 out of 16 times as eating food for one's physical body. The 7 exceptions are: devouring/consuming fire in II Sam. 22:9, Job 31:12, Psalm 18:8 (which quotes II Sam. 22:9), and Psalm 50:3; "you shall eat of the fruit of your hands" in Psalm 128:2; "does not eat the bread of idleness" in Proverbs 31:27; "For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns" in Isaiah 9:18.

[1/10/2016 update:

• 2nd "eat": Hebrew ṯō-ḵal (Strong's 398) - Out the 35 occurrences in Scripture, the word 29 times refers to eating food for physical nourishment. The 6 exceptions are: ". . . And dust you will eat all the days of your life;" (Gen. 3:14), ". . . the ashes [to] which the fire reduces the burnt offering . . ." (Lev. 6:10), and a devouring sword (Deut. 32:42, 2 Samuel 2:26, 2 Samuel 11:25, and Nahum 2:13).

• 3rd "eat": Hebrew ’ă-ḵā-lə-ḵā (Strong's 398) - Only occurrence of exact word in Scripture.

]

• "knowledge": Hebrew had-da-‘aṯ (Strong's 1847) - Seven total occurrences of exact word in Scripture. Outside of the 2 occurrences in Genesis 2, where it refers to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the word is translated as: skill in craftmanship (I Kings 7:14), "what it means to know [God]" (Jer. 22:16), "'many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.'" (Daniel 12:4), and knowledge of God and/or His laws (Hosea 4:6--had-da-‘aṯ appears twice).

• "good": Hebrew ṭō-wḇ (Strong's 2896) - Exact word occurs 271 times in Scripture. The only other time the word is associated with the same word for evil is in reference to little children with no knowledge of good or evil (Deut. 1:39).

•  "evil": Hebrew wā-rā‘ (Strong's 7451) - Exact word occurs 7 times in Scripture. Outside of the Genesis Fall of Man passage, the word is translated: Judah's fear that evil (or death) will befall his father Jacob if his youngest brother Benjamin does not return from Egypt (Gen. 44:34), the above Deut. 1:39 passage, and "Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer . . ." (Psalm 10:15).

• "day": Hebrew bə-yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - Not necessarily a specific, 24-hour day. The word is also used to refer to a longer period of time, a recurring sabbath day, the 1st or another day of a month, "when", etc. See post "Just 31 verses until Creation climax--and then?".

• "die": Hebrew tā-mūṯ (Strong's 4191) - Exact word occurs 33 times in Scripture. The word predominantly refers to physical death meted out as punishment, except in: Job 12:2, "with you wisdom will die"; Isaiah 66:24, "For their worm will not die . . ."; Jer. 34:5, "You [King Zedekiah of Judah] will die in peace . . ."; and perhaps Zechariah 11:9, "What is to die, let it die . . ."

We see physical death all around us. How could mankind inherit death, and not inherit an understanding of what is good and what is evil? The two seem inseparable to me.

Contradictory Creation account? (Gen. 2:5-7)

Gen. 2:5-6, "Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground."

• "Now . . . yet": Hebrew ṭe-rem (Strong's 2962) - exact word is translated as "before", "now before", or "that before" 9 out of 14 times in the NASB; can also mean "ere" or "not yet"; the word comes from a root word meaning to interrupt or suspend; the word is first used in Gen. 2:5--all remaining NAS translations in Genesis (Gen. 19:4, 24:15, and 24:45) read as "Before . . .", with the word placed at the beginning of the sentence.

• "of the field": Hebrew haś-śā-ḏeh (Strong's 7704) - when associated with plant(s) refers to agricultural field (25 times out of 131 total instances of the word); this excludes instances of association with plants in II Kings 4:39, Psalm 103:15, Isaiah 40:6 (which appears to quote Psalm 103:15), Isaiah 55:12 (prophecy), Ezekiel 17:24 (prophecy), and Ezekiel 31:4 (prophecy).

• "to cultivate": Hebrew la-‘ă-ḇōḏ (Strong's 5647) - means to work or serve; the only other translation as to "cultivate" or "till" in the NAS, KJV, and INT is in Gen. 3:23, "therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken."

Gen. 2:7, "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

• "Then . . . formed": Hebrew way-yî-ṣer (Strong's 3335) - formed/fashioned by human hands (i.e. by a potter or wood-carver), or formed/fashioned by God; the exact word is used only twice, here in Gen. 2:7 and in Gen. 2:19.

• "and breathed": Hebrew way-yip-paḥ (Strong's 5301) - means to breathe or blow; the exact word only occurs in this verse, Gen. 2:7.

• "the breath": Hebrew niš-maṯ (Strong's 5397) - only three other instances of exact word: Gen. 7:22, "breath of the spirit of life" (Noah's flood); Prov. 20:27, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD"; Isaiah 30:33, " . . . The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire."

• "of life": Hebrew ḥay-yîm (Strong's 2416) - exact word first occurs in Gen. 2:7; the word's following occurrences in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, I Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, and II Chronicles all refer to either physical aliveness, physically dwelling in a land, flowing water, or the living God. 

Set off by the transitional word ṭe-rem, these verses appear to jump back to the sixth day, similar to a literary flashback. The chronologizing of passing days with morning and evening is no longer seen in the text. Instead, one sees a much more detailed picture of God at work. 

Just 31 verses to Creation climax--and then?

Immediate Context:

Gen. 1:31-2:3, "31) God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 1) Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2) By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

• ‘ā-śāh (Strong's 6213) - Gen. 1:31, Gen. 2:2--Gen. 1:31 is the first occurrence of this exact word; see below for definition

• la-‘ă-śō-wṯ (Strong's 6213) - Gen. 2:3--first occurrence of this exact word in Genesis; see below for definition

Focus Verse:

Gen. 2:4, "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven."

• "account": Hebrew ṯō-wl-ḏō-wṯ (Strong's 8435) - genealogical succession or begettings (see the Genesis geneologies: Gen. 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, etc.)

• "of the heavens": Hebrew haš-šā-ma-yim (Strong's 8064) - apparently starry heavens when unaccompanied by "expanse" (see post "Are there multiple 'heavens'?")

• "and the earth": Hebrew wə-hā-’ā-reṣ (Strong's 776) - apparently means the whole earth (see post "Whoah (slow down) . . . double-check the Hebrew.")

• "when they were created": Hebrew bə-hib-bā-rə-’ām (Strong's 1254) - only occurrence for exact word; from root word bā-rā (Strong's 1254), meaning to shape or create (heaven & earth, Gen. 1:1; man, Gen. 1:27)

• "in the day that": Hebrew bə-yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - same word as used for the sun governing the day and the 7th day of creation's completion (see post "Day, night, morning, and evening--here comes controversy . . . ")

[1/2/2016

First occurrence of exact word in Genesis. Remaining occurrences of exact word in Genesis are translated "in the day", ". . . in time", "on the day". Genesis usage is illustrated in Gen. 2:17 (God's injunction about the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"), Gen. 21:8 (". . . Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned."), and Gen. 35:3 (". . . I [Jacob] will make an alter there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress").           ]

• "made": Hebrew ‘ă-śō-wṯ (Strong's 6213) - only occurrence of exact word in Genesis--to accomplish; do or make (doing right or wrong, "writing" in Eccl 12:12, or "produced" in Isaiah 7:22)

• "earth": Hebrew ’e-reṣ (Strong's 776) - apparently dry land (see post "Whoah (slow down) . . . double-check the Hebrew.")

• "and heaven": Hebrew wə-šā-mā-yim (Strong's 8064) - only occurrence in Genesis; same word as in Isaiah 40:12, where it says that God has "marked off the heavens by the span" (where a "span" is the width of a man's spread hand from the thumb-tip to the tip of the little finger). 

I think the coming verses of Genesis might be a little clearer if Genesis 2:1-4 were included in Genesis 1.