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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:5
  • Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 20:08:58 +0300

Reading Genesis 2:5, "for there was no man to till the ground" is
meaningless. The writers obviously knew that shrubs grow with human
assistance; yet, "no shrub of the field existed in the earth." Rather, 2:5
presents a parallel: "For the Lord God did not cause it to rain on the earth,
and there was no man to work [irrigate] the land." Thus, neither natural, nor
artificial irrigation was available, and shrubs did not grow.

The common translation, "No shrub was *yet* in the earth" is misleading;
"yet" is not there. The account qualifies as a story of drought.



Vadim Cherny




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