창세기 2:8의 주석

מקדם EASTWARD — In the east of Eden He planted the garden. Should you say, however, it is already written, (1:27) “and He created the man etc.”, then I say that I have seen the Baraitha of R. Eliezer the son of R. José the Galilean, dealing with the thirty two rules of interpretation according to which the Torah (Agada) can be interpreted, and the following is one of them: when a general statement of an action is followed by a detailed account of it, the latter is a particularisation of the former: — “And He created the man” is a general statement, but it does not explicitly state whence he was created and what God did unto him. Now it repeats it and explains these things: “And the Lord God formed man”, “and He made to grow for him the garden of Eden”, and He caused a deep sleep to fall upon him.” He who hears this might think that it is a different account entirely, whereas it is nothing else but the details of the former general statement. Similarly with reference to the cattle the creation of which has been mentioned above (1:27). it resumes and writes, (2:19) “and out of the ground the Lord [God] formed every beast of the field etc.”, for the purpose of explaining “and He brought them unto the man to give them names”, and also to state that the fowls were created from the swamps.

AND THE ETERNAL G-D PLANTED A GARDEN ‘MIKEDEM’ (EASTWARD) IN EDEN. Rashi explained that “in the east of Eden He planted the garden.” But Onkelos translated mikedem to mean “previously,” [that is, before man was created]. And so have the Rabbis said in Bereshith Rabbah,³¹⁰15:4. and this is the correct explanation.
The meaning of vayita (and He planted) is not that He brought the trees from another place and planted them here for it was from that place that He caused them to grow, just as it is said, And out of the ground the Eternal G-d caused to grow every tree.³¹¹Verse 9. But the purport of the expression, and the Eternal G-d planted, is to state that it was the planting of the Eternal,³¹²Isaiah 61:3. for before He decreed upon the earth, Let the earth put forth grass,³¹³Above, 1:11. He had already decreed that in that place there be a garden, and He further said: “Here shall be this tree, and here that tree,” like the rows of planters. It was unlike the rest of the places on the earth concerning which He said, Let the earth put forth grass… and fruit-tree,³¹³Above, 1:11. and it then grew without order. Now concerning the trees of the garden of Eden He decreed that they grow branches and bear fruit forever, the root thereof was never to wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof was never to die in the ground.³¹⁴See Job 14:8. These trees were not to need any one to tend and prune them. For if they were in need of cultivation, who tended them after man was driven therefrom? This also is the meaning of the expression, And the Eternal G-d planted, that they were His plantings, the work of His hands,³¹⁵See Isaiah 60:21. and existing forever, even as it is said, Its leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail … because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary.³¹⁶Ezekiel 47:12. If so, what then is the meaning of the verse: And He put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it?³¹⁷Further, Verse 15. He put him [man] there so that he should sow for himself wheat and all kinds of produce, and every herb bearing seed, and rows of spices, reaping and plucking and eating at his will. This also is the meaning of to cultivate it and to keep it³¹⁷Further, Verse 15. — to cultivate the ground of the garden by the rows he [man] would make there, for the part of the garden where the trees were was not to be cultivated.
It is possible that [in the words le’ovdah uleshomrah — literally, to cultivate her and to keep her,] He refers to the garden in the feminine gender, just as in the verses: And as the garden causeth the things that are sown in her to spring forth;³¹⁸Isaiah 61:11. And plant gardens.³¹⁹Jeremiah 29:5. Ganoth (gardens) is here in the feminine gender. Our Rabbis noted this use of the feminine gender, saying in Bereshith Rabbah:³²⁰16:8. “Le’ovdah uleshomrah (to cultivate her and to keep her) — these words refer to the sacrifices, as it is said, ‘Ta’avdun’ (Ye shall serve) G-d upon this mountain.³²¹Exodus 3:12. It is this which Scripture says, ‘Tishm’ru’ (Ye shall keep) to offer unto Me in its appointed season.”³²²Numbers 28:2. The intent of the Rabbis in this interpretation is that plants and all living beings are in need of primary forces from which they derive the power of growth and that through the sacrifices there is an extension of the blessing to the higher powers. From them it flows to the plants of the garden of Eden, and from them it comes and exists in the world in the form of “rain of goodwill and blessing,”³²³Taanith 19a. through which they will grow. This conforms to what the Rabbis have said:³²⁴Bereshith Rabbah 15:1. “The trees of the Eternal have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon, which He hath planted.³²⁵Psalms 104:16. Rabbi Chanina said: Their life shall have its fill; their waters shall have their fill; their plantings shall have their fill.” “Their life” refers to their higher foundations; “their waters” refer to His good treasure³²⁶Deuteronomy 28:12. which brings down the rain; and “their plantings” refer to their force in heaven, just as the Rabbis have said:³²⁷Bereshith Rabbah 10:7. This text is also quoted above 1:11 (Notes 135-6). “There is not a single blade of grass below that does not have a constellation in heaven that smites it and says to it, ‘Grow.’ It is this which Scripture says, Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish ‘mishtara’ (the dominion thereof) in the earth — [mishtara being derived from the root] shoter (executive officer).”

אשר יצר, after G’d had created man in a manner appropriate to his superior status on earth, He placed him in Gan Eden, a location which was suitable to equip him with the צלם אלוקים, the divine image, enabling him to also fulfill the intellectual tasks involving the air and food in the garden.

ויטע השם אלוקים. The Lord G'd planted. The reason the Torah interrupts the sequence of G'd's planting all kinds of trees in that garden (verses 8 and 9 respectively) by mentioning that G'd placed Adam in גן עדן, is to make it clear that גן עדן had been created specifically in Adam's honour, in order to place him there. After having given us this information the Torah continues and tells us that G'd made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, that these trees looked attractive and were good as food, that G'd made rivers and the function of those rivers which emanated from גן עדן. The Torah then resumes its narrative about man in verse 15, telling us that G'd placed Adam there and assigned a function to him. The Torah repeats that G'd placed man in גן עדן only to confirm that the first time this was mentioned it was only to tell us that G'd had planted גן עדן in man's honour. Had this fact been mentioned only once we would have thought that G'd intended this garden also for other creatures, such as His angels, and that man was placed there temporarily. We would have thought that after man's expulsion, the garden would have remained as be a home for other creatures and for holy spirits. The Torah therefore is at pains to make us understand that the garden was planted exclusively for man's sake and awaits man's return at a suitable time in the future and that no other creature inhabits it in the meantime.

ויטע, the planting of Gan Eden is reported with the same verb ויטע as has been used by David in Psalms 104,16 for describing G’d as planting the cedar trees in Lebanon. At that point David described what G’d had done on the third day of creation; here too the Torah describes a garden whose origin G’d had planted already on the third day of creation. The distinction of Gan Eden is clear from the fact that no other region on earth was deemed worthy of being singled out as warranting G’d’s personal involvement.

ויטע ה' אלוקים גן בעדן מקדם, “The Lord G’d planted a garden in Eden, in the east.” He planted the garden to the east of an area known as Eden. Some commentators believe that the country was called “Eden,” as in Kings II Onkelos understands the word מקדם as מלקדמין, as of ancient times, which Nachmanides equates with G’d not transplanting the trees in that garden from another location, but making them grow from the very roots, as indicated by the words ויצמח ה' אלוקים, the Lord G’d made grow, etc.” In other words, the directive for these trees to grow was given long before G’d instructed the earth on the third day to produce vegetation. G’d had decreed already at that early stage of creation that this spot would become the site of גן עדן. He had even selected the precise spot for each tree in that garden, personally. The earth had not had any leeway in the matter as it had elsewhere on the globe. As to the Torah writing that G’d placed Adam in that garden in order to work it and preserve it, this means that Adam was to sow and make additional rows of trees, etc. If the trees of the original garden had required tending, who would have done this after Adam had been expelled?

East of Eden. This explanation is contrary to Targum Onkelos who translates מקדם as “previously.” [Rashi rejects this] because a simple reading of the verse implies that vegetation and trees did not sprout in Gan Eden, or anywhere else, before man’s creation. Rashi added the extra words “where He planted the Garden” so we will not mistakenly explain the verse as: “To the east He placed the man He had formed.”

Nicht א׳, sondern ד׳א׳, die menschenerziehende Gottes-Fürsorge pflanzte den Garten. גן von גנן, schützen, wahren: ein eingefriedigter, für Menschenzwecke eingehegter Ort. (Auch im Deutschen und in anderen Sprachen hat der Garten, garden, jardin, seinen Namen von gard, schützen, wahren.) עדן bezeichnet die höchste Befriedigung meistens der sinnlichen Anforderungen des Menschen. Verwandt mit אדן, dem Säulenfuß, der Basis, scheint der Grundbegriff die Behaglichkeit zu sein, die ein Zustand unsern Sinnen gewährt, etwas worauf oder worin wir gerne unsere Sinne ruhen lassen. Es ist hier durchaus an einen irdischen, räumlichen Ort zu denken, der ja im Verfolg topographisch genau bestimmt wird. — וישם שם ist nicht blos ein räumliches Versetzen, sondern ein Einsetzen, Stellung anweisen. Was hier zuerst allgemein, כלל, erzählt wird, wird im folgenden spezieller ausgeführt. Der Garten wird beschrieben, und uns auch mitgeteilt, dass die Einsetzung in den Garten nicht bedingungslos geschehen. Wir erfahren aber schon hier, und es wird Raw Hirsch on Genesis 2: 15 nochmals wiederholt, dass der Mensch außerhalb des Paradieses geschaffen und die Bestimmung erhielt, schon hienieden in einem Paradiese zu leben. Dieses irdische Paradies ist schon diesseits die Bestimmung des Menschen und der Erde. Es ist uns gezeigt, was wir würden, wie wir lebten, wie die irdische Welt sich uns zum Paradiese gestaltete, wenn wir wären, was wir sein sollten. Eine solche Belehrung wiederholt sich in verjüngtem Maßstabe für eine verjüngte Musterauswahl aus der Menschheit in ארץ ישראל, das auch für das Volk des göttlichen Gesetzes ein גן עדן sein, und in dessen segensreichem Gedeihen sich zum zweiten Male zeigen sollte, welch eine Fülle des Segens und des Heiles schon auf Erden erreichbar sei, wenn der göttliche Wille als alleiniger Maßstab für die Gestaltung aller menschlichen Verhältnisse zur Geltung komme.

וישם שם את האדם, “He placed Adam inside it.” When Adam had been created he did not find himself in the garden, for if he had been created in the garden he would have thought that the entire earth is such a garden. G-d deliberately created him outside the garden in order to show him that the rest of the earth was overgrown with thorns and thistles. His transfer to the garden, it was hoped, would make him grateful for having been placed in such a superior environment.

בעדן, a location so named because it was extremely fertile, its vegetation affording man’s body extreme pleasure when merely contemplating its beauty with his eyes, and even his invisible soul enjoyed its hidden beauty.

Should you ask. Although the question’s proper place is earlier (v. 7), on “Adonoy Elohim then formed the man,” Rashi waited to ask it until after he explained that Hashem “planted a garden in Eden מקדם, to the east.” Thus this verse describes one of the details of man’s creation, and thereby in accordance with Rashi’s answer to the above question, in which he says, “Hashem... caused the Garden of Eden to sprout for man’s benefit.” But if מקדם means “previously” [as Onkelos said,] then the Garden’s sprouting was not for man — and is not a detail of his creation. This would raise the question: Why does our verse interrupt [the story of man’s creation] to say, “Hashem planted a garden,” since He had planted it previously? Perforce, מקדם means “to the east,” as Rashi said. (Re’m) Alternatively, we can explain it the opposite way: If מקדם means “previously,” as Targum Onkelos says, then it is understandable that there it is written, “Hashem planted a garden [for him,]” right next to “Hashem formed man.” For this is in accordance with the Midrash: “וייצר with two yuds referring to two creations: One creation for this world and one creation for the World to Come.” I.e., man was created for the pleasures of the World to Come and for the pleasures of this world. Without the Midrash a difficulty arises: Why did He plant a garden in Eden previously, if not for man’s pleasures? But now that Rashi explains מקדם means “to the east,” it teaches only about the location of man’s residence, not about the pleasures of this world. And we could say the opposite, Heaven forbid, that He created man [only] to enjoy the pleasures of this world. And the question arises: Why is “Hashem planted a garden” written next to “Hashem formed man,” and not next to the earlier verse (1:27) “Hashem created man”? To answer this question, Rashi explains: “I saw in the B’rayso of R. Eliezer...”

ויטע, this has to be understood as “He had planted.” The same applies to the statement: ויצמח, “He had made it grow.” The plants had preceded the creation of man (Rabbi Shmuel son of Nachmeni, in B’reshit Rabbah, 15,3) is on record as saying that if we thought Gan Eden had preceded the creation of the universe this is an error. It only preceded the creation of Adam. [This is a reference to the word: מקדם, “previously;” Ed] When the Talmud stated in Pessachim 54 that one of the phenomena that were created before “the world,” was גן עדן, the meaning is: “before the universe had been completed, i.e. on the third “day”.

מקדם, in an easterly direction. Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 15,3) understand the word מקדם as describing a time frame preceding the creation of man, i.e. whereas man was created on the sixth “day,” the garden was created on the third “day.” Other scholars quoted in Bereshit Rabbah there believe that the word מקדם is a reference to a “date” prior to the creation of the universe. This explanation is based on the Kabbalah. The great scholar Avraham Ibn Ezra (verse 11) writes: “we know that the location of Gan Eden was on the equator, a region in which day and night are of equal duration all year round.

וישם שם את האדם אשר יצר, Now that the Torah told us this we know that originally, man had not been created in Gan Eden. Perhaps he had been created in a region nearby, and G’d told Adam to take up residence in Gan Eden. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 14,8 state that man had been formed from the earth on Mount Moriah, and that from there G’d had transplanted him to Gan Eden. In Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 31 we are told that Adam offered a sacrifice to G’d on Mount Moriah already. Also Adam’s sons, as well as Noach sacrificed to G’d on that mountain. The reason why when the Torah tells us about Avraham building המזבח “the” altar instead of simply ויבן אברהם מזבח, “Avraham built an altar,” is that this altar had already existed, had been known since Noach’s sacrifice. Adam had prophetic inspiration telling him of the significance of that location for offering a sacrifice. Still, G’d brought Adam to Gan Eden in order for him to appreciate the excellence of its fruit and eating of it without having to toil, deriving great satisfaction both for his body and his soul.

וישם, the choice of this word suggests that G’d appointed Adam as the gardener for this garden, to prevent wild beasts as well as domesticated beasts from entering there and from eating of its fruit. The fruit of the trees of that garden were reserved for man and his offspring, provided they would be found worthy to do so. אשר יצר, the reason why the Torah wrote these words, seeing we all know that G’d had formed man, is to tell us that man’s habitat, Gan Eden, had been a prime objective of G’d when He created man. (based on the Kabbalists) The letter ה which precedes the word אדם is necessary to help describe, define him, seeing he had no other individual name as yet. The word אדם is both an adjective, a derivative of the noun אדמה, describing a creature formed out of earth, as well as a noun in its own right. This noun has comprehensive meaning, similar to such nouns as חמה, sun, לבנה, moon, זכוכית, glass, etc. The fact is that most of man’s raw material has been directly derived from earth, even though he also contains material from the other three basic elements.
The bones making up man’s skeleton, supporting man’s body are formed out of earth, being cold and dry just as the earth itself. Seeing that they are an integral part of the earth they remain more or less intact for many years after the rest of man’s body has long rotted away and dissolved. The scholar Avraham Ibn Ezra wrote on verse 8 that the letter ה in the word האדם in our verse contains a hidden element. I believe that what he had in mind is that the letter ה indicates that the word אדם in this verse is a reference to “man” as the name of the human species. We find that among our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 15,2) there surface disagreements as to the meaning of the whole concept of Gan Eden. Rabbi Yehudah understands the meaning of the term as a great garden originating in a place called Eden. He quotes Ezekiel 31,9 in support of his view. We read there: ויקנאהו כל עצי עדן אשר בגן האלוקים, “all the trees in G’d’s garden envied it” (the cedar described by the prophet in the verses leading up to this one) In other words, Rabbi Yehudah understands the prophet Ezekiel as viewing this garden as having been located in a region known as Eden. His view is buttressed by Ezekiel 28,13 בעדן, גן האלוקים היית, “in Eden, the garden of G’d, you have been.”
Rabbi Yossi views עדן as something bigger than a גן, basing himself on the letter ב in the expression גן בעדן, i.e. “a garden within the area known as Eden.” Also, the verse (2,10) ונהר יצא מעדן להשקות את הגן, “a river originated in Eden in order to irrigate the garden, supports his view. [Actually, in the Yalkut another verse supporting the view of Rabbi Yehudah is quoted (בעדן גן האלוקים, in Eden the garden of G’d, which proves that the garden was bigger than the location described as Eden. Ezekiel 28,13) According to the view of Rabbi Yossi the amount of water squeezed from an area of 30 sa-ah בית כורת can adequately irrigate a half sa-ah. (Taaanit 10) The fountain of that river was within the garden, in the center, so that the vegetation all around it would be irrigated by its waters. According to Targum Yerushalmi, Exodus 15,27 which speaks of the 12 wells in an oasis encountered by the Israelites on their journey, the meaning of the expression מעיינות מים is פיגין דמיין, “springs of water.” At any rate Rabbi Yehudah has two verses supporting his view, whereas Rabbi Yossi could find only one verse supporting him. Rabbi Chanin of Tzippori had an inspiration supporting the view of Rabbi Yossi, and found another verse relevant to our subject in Isaiah 51,3 מדברה כעדן וערבתה כגן ה', “a desert like Eden, and a wilderness like a garden of the Lord.”