In Genesis 2:9 the ground brought forth trees good for food, delightful to view, and in two cases, life-giving or rule-bestowing. Adam, made of the ground (2:7), would by implication bring forth new trees, and thus trees and plants are among the symbols for human beings throughout the Bible. 

The woman taken from Adam’s side was the first such a tree. She would have a “seed,” language taken from the trees and plants of Genesis 1:11-12. Her womb would yield “fruit” (Genesis 30:2). As on the original Third Day, the Adamic soil brought forth a plant seeding seed and trees that had fruit with seed in her. 

At the time of Adam’s creation, the ground had not yet put forth the “shrub of the field” (2:5). In our study, we saw that this phrase is associated with thorny plants. We can suppose that there would have been a place for such plants in an unfallen world, but 3:18 tells us that because of man’s sin, the ground would give forth thorns and thistles “for you” when Adam and his descendants sought to grow good plants.

Fallen Adam, made of soil, and seeking good seed, would find as often as not that he had produced thorns and thistles.

Abel was the good tree that sprang from Adamic soil as the fruit of Eve’s womb. God found the food he brought good, and hence viewed him as delightful. 

Cain was the bad thorn that sprang from Adamic soil and also from Eve’s womb. God found his food unacceptable and did not delight in him and his tribute. 

Sinful men prefer thorns, looking only on the outward appearance. Hence, before the Flood, the sons of God (the line of Seth) saw that the daughters of men (the line of Cain) were “good” and took them, corrupting the witness of God until only Noah was left (6:2,8-9). This preference for thorns continued after the Flood as well (6:4). 

Thorns threaten to choke out good plants. Cain succeeded in choking out Abel, the bad plant murdering the good. The seed of the “daughters of men” overwhelmed and almost completely choked out the good seed. 

Crowned with thorns, the Greater Abel was surrounded by evil Cains in His sacrificial death, with His followers standing away from Him, at a distance. (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49; John 19:25-26 says that initially some had been near the cross, but they did not stay there.) 

Humanity still “bears both trees and thorns, but the world has changed. It is now a wheat field, though there are tares in it. It is the wheat who now have the power of the Spirit, who are destined in Christ to triumph over and “choke out” the thorns. 

James B. Jordan is scholar-in-residence at Theopolis.