In this passage, the writer reviews and gives a short summary of what we have already read in Chapter one, and gives us a little extra information about the atmosphere of the earth at that time.

Genesis 2: 4-6  "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:  for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."

This is so interesting. No rain. Because it agrees exactly with the  scientific  description of the earth at the time  animals began to appear.  There are still places on earth where the atmosphere is so wet,  misty and foggy, that life is sustained.

Here God is describing the earth before man was created.  God says, "...there was not a man to till the ground."  In chapter 3, verse 23, God sent Adam forth from the garden of Eden, "...to 'till the ground', from whence he was taken. "  It was punishment to till the ground.  Which simply meant that from that time forward, Adam had to sweat for his food.  He had to labor to feed his family.  After he was cast out, he left the trees that were his meat back in the garden.