Genesis 2 - Adam in the Garden of Eden

 

What does GOD TELL US ABOUT ADAM & EVE‘S CREATION?

What does GOD WANT FOR MAN AND WOMAN?

 

AND WHY?

 

 

The completion of creation.

 

Verses 1-3.… The 7th day of creation.

 

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

 

God did NOT NEED REST on the seventh day because He was tired. He rested to show His creating work was done, to give a pattern to man regarding the structure of time (in seven-day weeks), and to give an example of the blessing/necessity of rest to man on the seventh day.

 

The seven-day week is permanently ingrained in man. Though some through history tried to change the seven-day week (a ten-day week was attempted during the French Revolution), those attempts have come to nothing. We are on a seven-day cycle because THE TRIUNE GOD IS ON a seven-day cycle.

 

God SANCTIFIED the seventh day because it was A GIFT TO MAN for rest and replenishment, and most of all because the Sabbath is a shadow of the rest available through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

 

Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-11 make it clear that Christians are not under obligation to observe the Jewish Sabbath today, because Jesus fulfilled the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us and in us (Hebrews 4:9-11). Yet Christians do not lose the Sabbath; EVERY DAY is a day of rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Every day is specially set apart to God.

 

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

 

Though we are FREE FROM THE LEGAL obligation of the Sabbath, we dare not ignore the importance of a day of rest. God has built us so we need one. But we are also commanded to work six days.

 

Though God RESTED on the 7TH day of creation, He did NOT institute the Sabbath or show us His rest for His own sake. God does NOT take the Sabbath off. Jesus Himself says in JOHN 5:17, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” God does not need a day off, but man needs to see the rest of God and know he can enter into it by the finished work of Jesus.

 

DID YOU NOTICE?

 

Every OTHER DAY of creation ended with the phrase, “so the evening and the morning were the seventh day” but this 7TH day of creation does NOT have that phrase.

 

WHY?

 

Because God’s rest for us isn’t confined to one literal day. In Jesus, God has an eternal Sabbath rest for His people.

 

 

Verses 4-7 tells us the history of the heavens and the earth.

 

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

 

This ENDS the “genealogy” of the heavens and the earth, a history given directly by God to either Moses or Adam, recording the history of God’s seven-day creation. This was something NO human was present to witness.

 

This is ALSO THE FIRST USE OF LORD (Yahweh) in the Bible.

 

Our English word Lord comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for bread (as does our word loaf), because ancient English men of high stature would keep a continual open house, where all could come and get bread to eat. They gained the honorable title of lords, meaning “dispensers of bread.”

 

ALMIGHTY GOD DISPENSED MANNA=BREAD FROM HEAVEN TO FEED THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS.

 

JESUS CHRIST IS THE BREAD OF LIFE…IN JESUS WE WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN.

 

When God created man He made him out of the most basic elements, the dust of the ground. There is nothing “spectacular” in what man is made of in God‘s eyes, only in the way those basic things are organized. To our amazing TRIUNE GOD…the ATOM was simple…DNA was simple…it only took THE WORLD’S BRIGHTEST MINDS & ITS TECHNOLOGY 7000 YEARS to BEGIN to understand THE TRIUNE GOD’S “SIMPLE” things.

 

REMEMBER THIS….when the Bible speaks of dust, it means something of little worth, associated with lowliness and humility (Genesis 18:27; 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2). In the Bible, dust isn’t evil and it isn’t nothing; but it is next to nothing….UNTIL SUDDENLY….

 

With this Divine breath man became a living being, like other forms of animal life (the term chay nephesh is used in Genesis 1:21; 1:24, and here). Yet ONLY man is a living being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

 

The word for breath in Hebrew is ruach - the word imitates the very sound of breath - is the same word for Spirit, as is the case in both ancient Greek (pneuma) and Latin (spiritus). God created man by putting His breath, His Spirit, WITHIN him.

 

The King James Version reads: man became a living soul. This makes some wonder if man is a soul, or if man has a soul. This passage seems to indicate that man IS a soul, while passages like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12 seem to indicate that man HAS a soul.

 

DID YOU CATCH THAT?

GENESIS 2 ANSWERS ANOTHER QUESTION. MAN AND MAN ALONE IS A SOUL & HAS A SOUL. ANIMALS HAVE A SPIRIT, BUT NO IMMORTAL soul…ONLY MAN HAS BOTH.

 

 

Verses 8-9 tells us of the TWO TREES in the Garden of Eden.

 

“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

 

Eden was a garden specifically planted by God; it was a place God made to be a perfect habitation for Adam (and later, Eve).

 

The details in the creation of Adam and Eve teach us something. After reading Genesis 1, we might assume man and woman were made at the same time, but the text doesn’t specifically say so. We assume it. We DON’T know the details about man’s creation UNTIL Genesis 2.

 

GENESIS 2 is probably the history of creation from Adam’s perspective. This is Adam’s experience of creation, which does not contradict the account of Genesis 1:1 — 2:7 - it fills it out.

 

In Matthew 19:4-5, Jesus referred to events in Genesis 1 and to events in Genesis 2 as one harmonious account.

 

DID YOU CATCH THIS?

THERE ARE TWO TREES.

THE TREE OF LIFE . . .

THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

 

THE PURPOSE OF THE TREE OF LIFE?

The tree of life was to grant (or to sustain) ETERNAL life (Genesis 3:22). God STILL HAS a tree of life available to the His people (Revelation 2:7), which is in heaven (Revelation 22:2).

 

THE PURPOSE OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL?

It WAS the “temptation” tree. Eating the fruit of this tree would give Adam an experiential knowledge of good and evil. Or, it is possible that it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not so man would know good and evil, but so God could test good and evil in man.

 

What does that mean?

It means that Adam knew and understood the MEANING OF THE WORD EVIL…but he did not….and had not at that time SEEN OR COME FACE TO FACE with evil.

 

Just as we can TELL OUR CHILDREN HOW TO SPELL “HOT” and we can TEACH THEM THE DEFINITION OF “HOT”…they do not TRULY UNDERSTAND AND BELIEVE SOMETHING IS AND CAN BE HOT….UNTIL….UNFORTUNATELY THEY TOUCH A HOT SURFACE.

 

AND THEY CAN ONLY LEARN IT BY SIN…DISOBEDIENCE, JUST AS ADAM AND EVE DID.

 

Verses 10-14 tells us of the RIVERS in the Garden.

 

“Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became FOUR riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.”

 

DO YOU SENSE, AS I DO, THAT THESE SCRIPTURES TELL US THAT IT WAS WRITTEN FROM AN ACTUAL EYE WITNESS? Adam probably wrote this himself.

 

The name of the first is Pishon: These rivers are given specific names which answer to names of rivers known in either their modern or ancient world. However, the names of these rivers can’t be used to determine the place of the Garden of Eden because the flood dramatically changed the earth’s landscape and “erased” these rivers.

 

We know modern rivers today such as the Tigris or Euphrates because some rivers in the post-flood world were named after familiar pre-flood rivers by Noah and his sons. THEIR LOCATION IS NOT THE SAME.

 

Verses 15-17 tells us God’s command to Adam.

 

“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 

God PHYSICALLY PUT Adam into the most spectacular paradise the world has seen, but God put Adam there to do work (to tend and keep it). Work is something good for man and was part of Adam’s perfect existence before the fall. WHO IS THE PHYSICAL, HUMAN FORM OF THE TRIUNE GOD? YES….JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF PUT ADAM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

 

The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil…its presence in the Garden of Eden…TELLS US…FROM THE BEGINNING…ADAM WAS GIVEN A CHOICE…ADAM WAS GIVEN FREEWILL.

 

THE TRIUNE GOD IS FAIR…HE WANTS US TO CHOOSE TO OBEY HIM…BELIEVE HIM…BUT THEN AND NOW THE CHOICE REMAINS OURS.

 

There HAD TO BE a choice for Adam - because for Adam to be a creature of free will, there had to be a choice, some opportunity to rebel against God. If there is never a command or never something forbidden there can then never be choice. THE TRIUNE GOD WANTS our love and obedience to Him to be the love, trust, and obedience of choice.

 

THINK ABOUT THIS….Considering all that, look at Adam’s advantages. He had ONLY ONE WAY he could sin and we, TODAY HAVE COUNTLESS ways to sin. There are many trees of temptation in our lives, but Adam had only one.

 

ALSO NOTICE AND REMEMBER THIS….ALMIGHTY GOD made this command ORIGINALLY, FACE TO FACE, & ONLY TO ADAM, not to Eve; God had not yet brought woman out of man.

 

ALMIGHTY GOD IS NOT SPEAK IN RIDDLES, HE DID NOT STUTTER…HE SPOKE THIS COMMAND SIMPLY & CLEARLY to ADAM, AND HE ALSO CLEARLY EXPLAINED THE CONSEQUENCES FOR DISOBEDIENCE.

 

 

Verse 18 tells us God creates the first woman. God declares He will make a helper comparable to Adam.

 

“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

 

This is the FIRST “NOT GOOD” IN THE BIBLE…God saw something that was not good - the aloneness of man. God never intended for man to be alone, either in the marital or social sense.

 

Marriage, in particular, has a blessed “civilizing” influence on man. The most wild, violent, sociopathic men in history have always been single, LONERS, never under the plan God gave to influence men for good. This is not good!

God’s “blueprint” for creating this companion to Adam was to make a helper comparable to Adam.

 

In reference to the marriage relationship, God created woman to be a perfectly suitable helper to the man. This means God gave the plan and agenda to Adam, and he and the woman together work to fulfill it.

 

The phrase “in reference to the marriage relationship” is used because God has not ordained women to be helpers to men in authority (instead of being in authority themselves), except in marriage and in the church (1 Timothy 2:12-13).

 

ALMIGHTY GOD WANTED/WANTS A MARRIED COUPLE TO BE A UNITED, UNIFIED TRIUNE TEAM…WITH HIM IN THE CENTER.

 

God COMMANDS/GIVES to man the responsibility (and the accountability) to be the leader in the home and gives to the woman the responsibility and the accountability to help him.

 

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WOMAN IS TO BE A SERVANT, A DOORMAT…NOR THAT WOMAN IS ON HER OWN, WITHOUT help from the man TO MAKE A GOOD HOME, FAMILY, & LIFE. It means when God looks down from heaven upon the family, He sees a man in leadership, good or bad, faithful or not, to the calling of leadership. A true leader will, of course, help those helping him.

 

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, BIBLICAL HISTORY TELLS US THAT MAN GOT IT WRONG. MANKIND SAW WOMAN only as “helping” & a position of inferiority when we think like the world thinks. God considers positions of service as most important in His sight (Matthew 20:25-28).

 

A helper comparable…GOD CREATED WOMAN not only was the woman to be a helper, but also she was made comparable to the man. She should be considered and honored as such. A woman or wife cannot be regarded as a mere tool or worker, but as an equal partner in God’s grace and an equal human being.

 

But man got it wrong…Jesus Christ set the world on its ear…when He spoke with, touched, listened to, thanked, helped, and YES defended women…& He ridiculed man for their treatment of women.

 

Verses 19-20 tells us NO HELPER was found comparable for Adam among the animals.

 

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.”

 

THINK HOW INTELLIGENT…BRAINY ADAM WAS FROM THE INSTANT HE WAS CREATED. He did not go to school, college….HE WAS CREATED WITH AMAZING INTELLIGENCE ..HE WAS A BRILLIANT MAN. Since at this time Adam’s intellect had not yet suffered from the fall, he was probably the most brilliant man who ever lived. Adam was the first and greatest of all biologists and botanists.

 

NOTICE Adam did NOT NAME ANY other creature AFTER himself, calling any other animal “man” or “human.” SORRY DARWIN, ADAM HIMSELF KNEW & TELLS US that he understood that he was essentially different, set apart, unlike ALL other creation….animals. ADAM KNEW HE ALONE WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD.

 

But for Adam there was not found a helper….It was obvious to Adam that the animals came in pairs and he had no mate. Since God deliberately had Adam name the animals after seeing his need for a partner (Genesis 2:18), God used this to prepare Adam to receive the gift of woman.

 

GOD CREATED ANIMALS TO BE COMPANIONS/FRIENDS FOR ADAM, BUT THEY WERE NOT HIS OWN MATE. ADAM WAS THE SOLE HUMAN BEING…AND ADAM WAS LONELY.

 

Verses 21-22 tells us God makes the first woman from Adam’s side.

 

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.”

 

This is the first “surgery” recorded in history. God even used a proper anesthetic on Adam so he would NOT FEEL PAIN.

 

God used Adam’s own body to create Eve to forever remind him of their essential oneness. As Adam came to know Eve he would see many ways that they were different, but he must never forget that they are essentially one and that they are made of the same substance. They are more alike than they are different.

 

Why the rib?

Did you know that the BONE & THE MARROW WITHIN IT, ARE THE RICHEST AND MOST PERFECT AND UNIQUE SOURCE OF COMPLETE DNA?

 

IT HAS ONLY TAKEN MANKIND 7000 YEARS TO GET SMART ENOUGH, & TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND ….WHY THE RIB?

 

THE ONLY OTHER PERFECT SOURCE OF DNA IS THE UMBILICAL CORD. SINCE ADAM WAS CREATED MATURE…FULL GROWN…AS WAS EVE…THERE WAS NO BIRTH…THERE WAS NO UMBILICAL CORD.

 

AND Modern research into cloning and genetic replication NOW CAN FINALLY UNDERSTAND AND REALIZE THAT THE BONE/UMBILICAL CORD HAVE the body’s entire genetic blueprint.

 

BUT THOSE WHO SAY WOMAN HAS ONE MORE RIB THAN MAN ARE MISTAKEN. IT IS A MYTH AT BEST…A LIE AT WORST.

 

AND HERE IS ANOTHER WOWWWWWW MOMENT FOR ME, WHILE STUDYING GENESIS 2 IN RELATION TO THE REST OF THE BIBLE.

 

CHRISTIANS, THE BRIDE OF CHRIST JESUS…also was CREATED/BEGAN from the wound made in the side of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

 

SOME TEACH THAT THERE ARE TWO BEGINNINGS OF THE HUMAN RACE….one in Adam and one in Eve. ALMIGHTY GOD ANSWERS ANOTHER LIE OF SATAN AND ERROR/ARROGANCE OF MANKIND.

 

There WAS ONLY ONE beginning of the human race in Adam.

 

God brought Eve to Adam and created Eve out of Adam. He was first - the source and the head. She was created to be a helper perfectly suited to him. Thus the subordinate relationship of wives to husbands is found BEFORE the curse, NOT only after it.

 

Verse 23 tells us Adam’s brilliant understanding of who Eve is and how she is related to him.

 

“And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man.”

 

Adam INSTANTLY recognized that Eve was both LIKE him (bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh) and NOT like him (woman . . . taken out of man).

 

“Flesh of my flesh”… Adam INSTANTLY UNDERSTOOD the essential oneness in his relationship with Eve.

 

This point is SO IMPORTANT TO THE TRIUNE GOD & for MANKIND TO KNOW, UNDERSTAND, & TRUST that it is referred to SEVERAL times in the New Testament, including the great marriage passage in EPHESIANS 5:28-29, which says, “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.”

 

The GOD GIVEN natural concern we have for ourselves causes us to take care of ourselves. In a healthy marriage relationship the husband realizes the essential union he has with his wife, that he cannot bless her without blessing himself and he cannot mistreat or neglect her without mistreating or neglecting himself.

 

“She was taken out of Man”… Adam recognized that though he and Eve were one, she was NOT MADE the same as him. He understood that two different people were becoming one.

 

1 Peter 3:7 tells husbands to recognize that they are one with someone different, someone whom they must understand…Peter says, “Likewise you husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel.”

 

SOME ARROGANTLY AND WRONGLY TEACH that AMIGHTY GOD USED THE WORD “WOMAN” because it has been defined as compounded for woe and man, as if called man’s woe because she tempted him to eat the forbidden fruit; but this is no meaning of the original word, nor could it be intended, as the transgression was not then committed.

 

Verses 24-25 tell us of the marriage of Adam and Eve.

 

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

 

“They shall become one flesh”… The marriage principle stated here is based upon the dynamic of oneness yet distinction. A man and wife can truly come together in a one-flesh relationship, yet they must be joined. It is a spiritual fact, as well a physical one, but the benefits of that oneness are not appropriated by accident or by chance.

 

AND “They shall become one flesh”…forms the foundation for the Bible’s understanding of marriage and family. Both Jesus (Matthew 19: 5) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) quoted it in reference to marriage.

 

MONOGAMY…one man, one woman…married/united as one…WAS CREATED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN by THE TRIUNE GOD.

 

Adam and Eve ARE the original family. This is God’s IDEAL/PERFECT family.

 

This isn’t polygamy.

This isn’t concubinage.

This isn’t the keeping of mistresses.

This isn’t adultery.

This isn’t homosexual co-habitation.

This isn’t promiscuity.

This isn’t living together outside the marriage bond.

This isn’t serial marriage.

This IS God’s ideal for the family, and even when we don’t live up to it, it is still important to set it forth as God’s ideal.

 

“One flesh”… The idea of one flesh is taken by many to be mainly a way of expressing sexual union. While sexual union is certainly related to the idea of one flesh, it is only one part of what it means to be one flesh. There are also important spiritual dimensions to one flesh.

 

Paul makes it clear the sexual union has one flesh implications even when we don’t intend so, as when a man has sex with a prostitute in 1 Corinthians 6:16.

 

Husband and wife become “one flesh” under God’s BLESSING. In extramarital sex, the partners become “one flesh” under God’s CURSE.

 

In the eyes of THE TRIUNE GOD….there is NO SUCH THING such thing as “casual sex.”

 

EACH AND EVERY sexual relationship at least begins a one-flesh bond. The bond will either be something beautiful or it will be something grotesque.

 

ONE FLESH…depends on whether the bonding takes place in a relationship with the right conditions: committed love, demonstrated by the marriage commitment, and a pursuit of true intimacy. Just because sex is taking place in marriage doesn’t mean it is truly fulfilling God’s purpose of bonding together a one-flesh relationship.

 

ONE FLESH…though an initial bond in a one flesh relationship can be formed at the first sexual relationship a couple has, the fullness of what God wants to do in the one flesh relationship takes time. It has to become….it must be MUTUALLY DESIRED…MUTUALLY SOUGHT…IT IS NOT DUTY…IT MUST BE LOVE, ONENESS BASED….SEEKING ONE FLESH UNITY OF NOT ONLY BODY TO BODY, BUT HEART TO HEART, MIND TO MIND, SOUL TO SOUL.

 

BEFORE THE FALL, Adam and Eve were both naked . . . and not ashamed. The idea of “nakedness” is far more than mere nudity. In THE TRIUNE GOD’S EYES IT has the sense of being TOTALLY open and exposed as a person before God and man. To be naked . . . and not ashamed means you have NO SIN, NO SHAME, & NOTHING TO HIDE.

 

DON’T WE …often feel uncomfortable when someone stares at us. This is because we associate staring with prying, and we don’t want people to pry into our lives. We want to remain hidden and only reveal to other people what we want to reveal.

 

AND DON’T WE…when we want to be most attractive to someone else, we do the most to change our normal appearance. We have the thought, “If I really want to impress this person, I have to fix myself up.”

NONE OF THESE FEELINGS/THOUGHTS were present with Adam and Eve when they were naked . . . and not ashamed.

 

JESUS CHRIST SAYS…I WAS THERE IN THE BEGINNING.

I CREATED MAN.

I CREATED WOMAN.

I PUT THEM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

I SPOKE WITH THEM.

I WALKED WITH THEM.

I KNEW MY CREATION…WOULD BE LONELY ALONE.

I DID NOT WANT ANY TO BE ALONE.

I DID NOT WANT ANY TO BE ASHAMED.

I GAVE MAN…EMOTIONAL STRENGTH, HEART, TEARS, & NURTURING IN WOMAN.

I GAVE WOMAN…PHYSICAL STRENGTH TO PROTECT, PROVIDE, LOVE, CHERISH IN MAN.

I CREATED MAN FROM ME.

I CREATED WOMAN FROM ME.

NEITHER IS BETTER.

BOTH ARE UNIQUELY SPECIAL TO BALANCE THE TRIUNE UNITY.

I BROKE THE MOLD WHEN I MADE YOU.

I MADE YOU SPECIAL…UNIQUE.

 

EVEN YOUR DNA IS UNIQUELY CREATED TO YOU AND FOR YOU ALONE.

THERE IS NO OTHER MAN…NO OTHER WOMAN WHO HAS EVER LIVED…THAT I HAVE EVER CREATED FROM MY BREATH, MY TOUCH, & MY HEART….THAT IS JUST LIKE YOU.

 

YOU ARE SPECIAL BELOVED.

YOU ARE SPECIAL.