Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers.“
Genesis 2:10

Unlike the rest of the Earth which was watered by a mist (Genesis 2:5-6), the garden was watered by a river. Where did this river have its source? The Word doesn’t say, but this is VERY reminiscent of the river that flows from the Throne of God itself: “He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2). Was this river simply water coming from the ground? It could have been. But because of the unique trees in the middle of the garden and the unique tree in the middle of the street in heaven, this COULD be the same river. The waters from ABOVE the expanse (Genesis 1:6) reaching the ground BENEATH the expanse (Genesis 1:9).

Because the river watered the garden, we can clearly see humanity’s work did not include TOIL. The work did not include anything strenuous, such as carrying pails of water; or uncomfortable, such as getting wet in the rain. Humanity WORKED, but did not TOIL. We are CALLED to work and do our job, but toil is an evil altar, a result of the curse, and sourced from Sin. It is NOT the plan and it is NOT what we are to expect. Work and effort are godly things. Toil is not.

The sage Radak writes ‘having flown through the garden and irrigated its plants, this river would exit and its course would break up into four main streams. Each of its new river beds would still have enough water to qualify for even the tributaries to be called “stream,”’. Note that instead of smaller rivers joining a larger one, the process is reversed here. The larger river becomes four smaller ones. The larger was such a blessing that it did its irrigation job and had enough left over to split off and become four lesser (but still mighty) rivers.

The four rivers express the superabundance of the garden. These are four mighty rivers that in turn would branch off into smaller rivers and expand the reach of these waters. God is demonstrating that He truly is MORE THAN ENOUGH. That He IS the God who provides – not just for His chosen place, but for entire regions. Why? Because He is GOOD, that’s why. God’s abundance is so abundant that it blesses those who aren’t even part of the Blessing!