Biblical Hebrew Forum

[RHutchin AT aol.com]

According to some commentators, Gen 2:5 tells us that, at one point in time,
there were no wild shrubs or cultivated plants.  The reason for no wild
shrubs, also given in v 5, is that God had not caused it to rain.

The reason for no cultivated plants appears, per the translation, to be that
there was no man to till the ground.  However, it does not seem that man is
even required to till the ground until Gen 3:18 and that only as a consequence
of his sin.  Therefore, instead of Gen 2:5 saying that there was no man to
till the ground, could it be saying that God had not caused man to have to
till the ground even as He had not caused it to rain? 

Roger Hutchinson
RHutchin AT AOL.com