Creation (Gen. 1): Genesis begins with three threads that set the stage for the story of anticipation. These are good, evil, and seed. We begin with the good. This is the conspicuous and emphatic idea that permeates Genesis 1,[1] with the conclusion that all was “very good” (1:31). Each day of creation reveals an ever increasing array of all that makes life possible and delightful. God speaks light into darkness and the universe into the slurry of matter. He makes dry land and the seas and the plant life. He makes the heavenly bodies to shine upon the earth. He makes the sky and sea come alive with living creatures. He fills the land with creatures. And as the crown of His creation, He makes man in His own image. Life and all its provision are given as the good gift of God.
Eden (Gen. 2): The goodness of God sparkles in Eden. First, God makes man with exceptional care and attention. Moreover, He provides him a special dwelling place filled with beauty and delectable foods. He even gives him a vast water system,[2] so he can develop the garden and extend it as he filled the earth (1:28). Man was created to do good work. God also gave His law for man’s good (Deut. 6:24). Finally, God has given him a lovely relationship with Eve, the special companion with whom he was to fulfill God’s plan. This was literally a paradise, a place precisely designed for man to thrive. There, God’s good blessing cascaded upon man and his wife (1:28). What’s more, they had unbroken relationship with the LORD who walked among them (3:8). But this is not life as we know it. How was paradise lost? That’s what’s next in Genesis.
[1] Used seven times: 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31. Even the expanse of the 2nd day was good (1:31; cf. LXX).
[2] The four rivers (2:10-14) that flow from Eden reach locales that are roughly modern day India (“Havilah”), Ethiopia (“Cush”), Iran (“Assyria”), and Iraq (“Euphrates”). This was indeed a wide water system.