Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 2:16-17

Observe here, I. God's authority over man, as a creature that had reason and freedom of will. The Lord God commanded the man, who stood now as a public person, the father and representative of all mankind, to receive law, as he had lately received a nature, for himself and all his. God commanded all the creatures, according to their capacity; the settled course of nature is a law, Ps. 148:6; Ps. 104:9. The brute-creatures have their respective instincts; but man was made capable of performing... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:16

And the Lord God commanded the man ,.... Over whom he had power and authority; and he had a right to command him what he pleased, being his Creator, benefactor, and preserver; and this is to be understood not of man only, but of the woman also, whose creation, though related afterwards, yet was before this grant to eat of all the trees of the garden but one, and the prohibition of the fruit of that; for that she was in being, and present at this time, seems manifest from Genesis 3:2 . ... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 2:16

Verse 16 16.And the Lord God commanded Moses now teaches, that man was the governor of the world, with this exception, that he should, nevertheless, be subject to God. A law is imposed upon him in token of his subjection; for it would have made no difference to God, if he had eaten indiscriminately of any fruit he pleased. Therefore the prohibition of one tree was a test of obedience. And in this mode, God designed that the whole human race should be accustomed from the beginning to reverence... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:8-17

Man's first dwelling-place. The description of Eden commences an entirely new stage in the record. We are now entering upon the history of humanity as such. I. The first fact in that history is a state of " PLEASANTNESS ." The garden is planted by God. The trees are adapted to human life, to support it, to gratify it; and in the midst of the garden the two trees which represent the two most important facts with which revelation is about to deal, viz; immortality and sin. II. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:16-17

And Jehovah Elohim commanded the man (Adam), saying . Whether or not these were the first words listened to by man (Murphy), they clearly presuppose the person to whom they were addressed to have had the power of understanding language, i.e. of interpreting vocal sounds, and representing to his own mind the conceptions or ideas of which they were the signs, a degree of intellectual development altogether incompatible with modern evolution theories. They likewise assume the pre-existence... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 2:15-17

- XII. The Command15. נוּח nûach “rest, dwell.” עבד ‛ābad “work, till, serve.” שׁמר shāmar “keep, guard.”We have here the education of man summed up in a single sentence. Let us endeavor to unfold the great lessons that are here taught.Genesis 2:15The Lord God took the man. - The same omnipotent hand that made him still held him. “And put him into the garden.” The original word is “caused him to rest,” or dwell in the garden as an abode of peace and recreation. “To dress it and to keep it.”... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:4-25

2:4-4:26 EARLY HUMAN LIFELife in the Garden of Eden (2:4-25)From this point on, the story concentrates on the people God made, rather than on other features of the created universe. Again the Bible states that the world was not always as it is now, but was prepared stage by stage till it was suitable for human habitation. God created Adam (meaning ‘man’ or ‘mankind’) not out of nothing, but out of materials he had previously created. Like the other animals, Adam had his physical origins in the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 2:16

the man. Hebrew. ha'adham (with art.) = the man Adam. See App-14 . freely. Hebrew "Eating thou mayest eat". Figure of speech Polyptoton ( App-6 ) for emphasis (see note on Genesis 26:28 ). Here rightly marked by "freely". Toned down by Eve in Genesis 3:2 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 2:16-17

"And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."Every line of this chapter moved straight to the climactic revelation here, this divine commandment being the emphatic pivot upon which turned the temptation and Fall of mankind, their rebellion against their Creator, their expulsion from Eden, the curse of the... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 2:16-17

Genesis 2:16-17. Of every tree, &c.— Rich in his bounty, and free in his donations, the liberal Creator of all things here gives a large and extensive grant to his creature, allowing the free use of all those various excellencies with which he had furnished this garden. In this case surely it was but reasonable, that he should constitute some test of his creature's gratitude and obedience; that thus he might derive from him, as a free and rational creature, a free and rational service. Had... read more

Group of Brands