Genesis 3:23

23 therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

Genesis 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 3:23

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of
Eden
Gave him orders to depart immediately; sent or put him away as a man does his wife, when he divorces her; or as a prince banishes a rebellious subject: for how long Adam was in the garden (See Gill on Psalms 49:12), however, he did not send him to hell at once, as he did the apostate angels, but

to till the ground, from whence he was taken:
either the earth in general, out of which he was made, and to which he must return, and in the mean while must labour hard, in digging and ploughing, in planting and sowing, that so he might get a livelihood; or that particular spot out of which he was formed, which is supposed from hence to have been without the garden of Eden, though very probably near unto it: some say it was a field near Damascus; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``he went and dwelt in Mount Moriah, to till the ground out of which he was created;''

and so other Jewish writers say F16, the gate of paradise was near Mount Moriah, and there Adam dwelt after he was cast out.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 Pirke Eliezer, c. 20. fol. 20. 2.

Genesis 3:23 In-Context

21 And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"—
23 therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.