(BA) Genesis 2:8-17, compositional history

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31 July 2022 Navigate 'up' to the Genesis index: index-genesis.

Once upon a time, there was a story. Part of it read something like this.

And Yahweh God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the human that he had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God made grow every tree pleasant to see, and good for food. And the tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Yahweh God said, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat, because on the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

Now imagine that you are an editor, who wants to insert some information you have about the geographical details of the garden. You start copying the story, and then at the appropriate place you add in your information.

And Yahweh God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there put the human that he had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God made grow every tree pleasant to see, and good for food. And the tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. . . . 

Now you add your bit:

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided into four parts. The name of the first is Pishon, which meanders through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; there is bdolach and shoham stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon, which is the one which meanders through the whole land of Kush. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel, which goes in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Now you want to pick up the original story-thread. But skipping straight back in would be jarring, so now you add a sentence to draw back the reader to the original story by recapping it very briefly.

And Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.

Now, with that little introductory bit, you can continue the original story.

And Yahweh God said, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat, because on the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

And that, most likely, is how Genesis 2:8-17 came to exist in its present form.