Genesis 2 slows down and looks closely at the sixth day. The LORD God forms man from the dust of the ground and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. We are made of earth, yet filled with the breath of God. That is both humbling and glorious.
God plants a garden eastward in Eden and places the man there “to tend and keep it.” Work is not a curse; it was part of God's good design before sin ever entered. In the midst of the garden stand the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God gives one clear command: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God brings every beast and bird to Adam, and Adam gives them their names. Yet for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. God says, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” He causes a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, takes one of his ribs, and makes a woman.
Adam rejoices: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Here God establishes marriage — a man leaves his father and mother, is joined to his wife, and they become one flesh. Before sin, they were naked and not ashamed, living in open fellowship with God and with one another.