Golden Text: And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him (Genesis 2:18).

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Phebe White
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Sunday, September 30, 2018 Lesson: Genesis 2:15-25; Time of Action: unknown; Place of Action: Eden Golden Text: And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an

In these modern times we live in, the natural and normal relationship between man and woman has been distorted and perverted by society (see Romans 1:24-28).

1 Sunday, September 30, 2018 Lesson: Genesis 2:15-25; Time of Action: unknown; Place of Action: Eden Golden Text: And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him (Genesis 2:18). I. INTRODUCTION. In these modern times we live in, the natural and normal relationship between man and woman has been distorted and perverted by society (see Romans 1:24-28). We can only recover the right viewpoint by learning how God established the human relationship between man and woman at the time of Creation. When God created mankind as male and female, He also established their relationship. This was not only the right relationship; it was also the most rewarding and fulfilling of all possible relationships marriage. Although the normal relationship between man and woman has been perverted by sin, it is still God s pattern for mankind. II. Background for the Lesson: In Genesis chapter 1, we have the steps by which God created the heavens and earth and prepared the earth for mankind (see Genesis 1:1-25). When everything was ready, God said, Let us make man in

2 our image, after our likeness (see Genesis 1:26). Before creating man, God took counsel with the words Let us. Some have concluded that by using the plural us God was consulting with angelic beings. This is highly unlikely, because angels don t have the power to create; they are created beings themselves. Instead, the use of the word us refers to the Trinity, for all three persons of the Godhead were present at the creation (see Job 33:4; Psalms 104:30; Colossians 1:13-16). Genesis 1:27-28 are summary statements that are expanded on in chapter 2 from which comes our lesson text. However, in Genesis 1:27 Moses writes that in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. The reference to humans as male and female signifies that neither sex is complete without the other. Life resides in the male and female, and only through their physical union can life be reproduced. God s plan for human life therefore, leaves no room for homosexual relationships (see Romans 1:26-27). In verses God commands the created couple to be fruitful and multiply, and also gave them dominion over the created order. In chapter 2:1-3, Moses writes that after God finished the creation, He rested on the seventh day and sanctified it. Verses 4-6 tell us that the garden was watered by a mist from the earth. Verses 7-9 give details for the formation of man from the dust of the ground, the presence of both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This week s lesson begins with Genesis 2:15. III. ADAM BY HIMSELF (Genesis 2:15-20)

3 A. Adam s test of obedience (Genesis 2:15-17). 1. (vs. 15). Our first verse says And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. In Genesis 2:8, Moses said that God put or placed Adam in the garden eastward in Eden. Here, Moses gave the reason why God put him into the garden of Eden. Adam was to dress it and to keep it. It appears that man was formed outside the garden of Eden or paradise (see Revelation 2:7), for after God had formed him He put him into the garden. Eden was the entire area that included the garden where God placed man. He lived outside of Eden before he lived in it, so that he might realize that he owed all the comforts of his paradisestate to God s free grace. God entrusted Adam with the responsibility for maintaining his beautiful habitat. God commanded Adam to dress it and to keep it. In other words, God had work for Adam to do. The Hebrew word translated dress is the normal word for serve. So Adam is seen in a servant relationship to God. God knew that Adam s happiness would be enhanced by serving Him with purpose (see Revelation 7:15; 22:3). In contrast, hard work came with the Fall and the accompanying curse (see Genesis 3:19). Not only was Adam to dress or serve in the Garden, he was also to keep it. The word keep refers to caring for and protecting someone or something; in this case the garden (see Psalms 12:7; 17:8; Proverbs 2:8; 3:26; II Thessalonians 3:3). Note: Paradise itself was not a place of exemption from work. None of us were brought into the world to be idle or to do nothing. God, who made our souls and bodies has given us something to work

4 with, and with this earth He has made something for us to work on. The farmer s calling is an ancient and honorable calling. It was needed even in paradise. The Garden of Eden, although it didn t need to be weeded (for thorns and thistles were not yet a nuisance), still had to be dressed and kept. Eden was a place that made provisions for life not for lust, giving man an opportunity to admire the Creator and acknowledge His providence. While Adam s hands cared for his trees, his heart was to be with his God. There is a true pleasure in the work which God calls us to (see Ephesians 2:10; 4:28; II Thessalonians 2:16-17). Adam s work was an addition to the pleasures of paradise and he could not have been happy if he had been idle. It is still a principle that he that will not work has no right to eat (see Ephesians 4:28; II Thessalonians 3:10, 12; Proverbs 27:23). 2. (vs. 16). This verse says And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. This verse introduces the Bible s first direct command. This command had both a positive and a negative side. The negative side is given in the next verse 17. The positive side of the command was God s encouragement to Adam to eat of virtually every tree in the garden. The overwhelming majority of beneficial and useful trees reflected God s grace, goodness, and love (see Psalms 84:11). God s command that Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat was a freedom given to Adam to enjoy the delicious fruits of paradise for his care in dressing and keeping the garden (see I Corinthians 9:7, 10). Based on

5 his obedience, this command was also an assurance of immortal life for Adam, for the tree of life was in the midst of the garden (see Genesis 2:9; 3:22). 3. (vs. 17). This verse says But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. This was the negative side of God s command. God gave man moral responsibility when He commanded him saying the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. The all-important issue was whether Adam would obey God s command. There was no valid reason for Adam to eat fruit from that tree because God had supplied for all of his legitimate needs (see I Timothy 6:17). The only thing that God demanded was for Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God also gave Adam fair warning of what would happen if he disobeyed. The Lord said for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. This was God s announcement of a death sentence. Death in the Bible refers to a separation. Physical death is separation of the body from the soul or spirit (see Ecclesiastes 12:7) and spiritual death is separation from God. The Lord wanted Adam to trust Him because it was in Adam s best interest to do so, just as it is for us. God consistently manifested His goodness to Adam. But if Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die resulting in the separation of his material part (his body) from his immaterial part (his soul). Before he died, Adam lived 930 years (see Genesis 5:5), but he ceased to have fellowship with God the moment he disobeyed Him (see Genesis 3:7-8).

6 B. Adam s need (Genesis 2:18). This verse says And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Throughout the creation process God had declared everything He made to be good (see Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 31). But now God says that It is not good that the man should be alone. In other words God declared that man s solitary existence was not good. Note: This statement does not contradict the statement in Genesis 1:31 that the entire creation God made was very good. Chapter 2 simply expands on how God created humanity male and female (see Genesis 1:27). The creation of woman occurred on the sixth day prior to God s observation that everything was very good. Man s solitary existence or being alone was considered not good because God had created him for physical, social, and spiritual union with another. His life would be incomplete without that union. In addition, man could not be fruitful and multiply by himself. Knowing Adam s need, the Lord also declared, I will make him an help meet for him. The words help meet should not be made into one word or changed to helpmate. The word meet means corresponding to, or a counterpart, and here it seems to mean someone suitable, fitting, or like Adam. God was saying that He would make man a helper who was suitable for him. Woman is man s counterpart. She is agreeable to him physically, mentally, and spiritually. Note: God didn t make someone of lesser quality to be with Adam. He made someone comparable to him, and compatible with him. In God s plan, the woman was absolutely necessary. While many cultures today devalue women

7 and treat them as owned property or worse, in God s eyes they have always been valuable and loved and deserving of respect from the opposite sex. Man needs her and she is in every way his equal. C. Adam s decision (Genesis 2:19). This verse says And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. Moses writes that after God made animals and birds out of the ground, He brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. Notice that God didn t command Adam to name them; He merely observed what he would call them. However, since God brought the animals to Adam, he may have concluded that it was his job to name them. The very act of naming God s creation shows that Adam was an intelligent being. By naming the animals, Adam was asserting his authority over them. He was exercising dominion over creation just as God had commanded him to do (see Genesis 1:26). Then we are told that whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. This implies that Adam no doubt, watched the animals closely noting their habits and then gave them names to reflect their nature. God selected enough of the creatures to fulfill the exercise of naming them. Note: We have no way of knowing how many species of animals there originally were, or what language Adam used to name them. Man was created with the faculties of reason and speech. The fact that he was able to name the animals indicates that Adam

8 was an intelligent being fully capable in his use of language. This contradicts theories of early man being brutish and of limited intelligence. D. Adam s solitude (see Genesis 2:20). In this verse, as the author of Genesis, Moses makes a summary statement of Adam s act of naming the animals. He wrote And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. This summary lets us know that Adam successfully completed the job that God had given him. There were three categories of animals that Adam named: (1) all cattle which in Hebrew refers to large four-footed animals and are considered to be animals that can be tamed or used to assist people in field work; (2) fowl of the air of course refers to flying animals; and (3) beast of the field refers to those animals that we now identify as living in the wild and are not generally tamable. We must remember that in Eden all the animals were peaceful and not in any way violent. In the last phrase of this verse, Moses comments on the fact that but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. Adam observed the animals as being male and female probably causing him to realize that he had no companionship. He was the only created being without a female counterpart. This experience probably served to emphasize the vacuum in Adam s life and to increase his appreciation for his mate when God finally gave him one.

9 IV. ADAM WITH A COMPANION (Genesis 2:21-25) A. God s work (Genesis 2:21-22). 1. (vs. 21). Here Moses writes And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. In preparation for what God would do next, He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. This was no ordinary sleep. It was a supernatural induced unconsciousness. Indeed God used this sleep for an anesthetic purpose in order to keep Adam unconscious while He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. The word rib can mean side but here it surely refers to a rib since God is said to have taken one of his ribs. While Adam slept God removed one of his ribs and then closed him up again. Adam s rib was not essential to him, and God merely closed the place where it had been with his flesh. Note: This same type of deep sleep happened to King Saul when he was pursuing David (see I Samuel 26:12). To show Saul that He was with David, God caused a deep sleep to come upon him allowing David and Abishai to be able to walk into the middle of Saul s military camp. While standing next to where Saul was sleeping, David and Abishai discussed whether or not to kill the king. They decided instead to take Saul s spear which was next to Saul s head and a jug of water and left the camp (see I Samuel 26:6-20). This deep sleep rendered Saul helpless and he didn t realize what had happened until David called out to him from a hilltop.

10 2. (vs. 22). This verse says And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Using the rib that He had taken from Adam, God made he a woman. Eve was a direct creation of God. She was made from a bone from a living being who was created from dust. Therefore, she was a being of the dust as well. Eve was made directly from Adam s body, indicating intimacy and oneness. The Hebrew word translated made means built. It implies that God took building materials from Adam s side fashioning the rib into a woman. The fact that God exerted His power to do this testifies to how important He considered the finished product to be. Note: The dignity of womanhood was established not only by the fact that God made her from the man, but also by the part of man from which she was formed. She was not formed from his head (indicating superiority) nor was she formed from his foot (indicating inferiority), but she was formed from his side, signifying equality. She would be Adam s perfect companion. The order of the creation, first man and then woman, has significance as well. If God had wanted to, He could have shaped them both at the same time from the earth. The significance of the order in which man and woman were created, according to the Apostle Paul, was God s way of establishing an order of authority in the family and ultimately in the church (see I Corinthians 11:3, 8-9; Ephesians 5:22-24; I Timothy 2:12-13). This order does not deny woman s equality with man any more than the order of the Trinity negates Christ s equality with the Father (see I Corinthians 11:3). In both cases, there is subordination, but this does not mean inferiority (see

11 John 5:18; 10:30; Philippians 2:6). After God formed Eve, He brought her unto the man. In doing this, God placed His enthusiastic approval and blessing on the union of husband and wife. Marriage of man and woman is not a human invention, it was willed by God, and He officiated at the first wedding. Note: Adam and Eve were to be the basic unit of mankind, one man and one woman for life. This is the natural and normal course of life for human beings. Romans 1:18-32 details what can happen when mankind rebels against God, especially regarding male-female relationships. God cannot bless sin in any form. He will not bless relationships that go against His clearly expressed will, including homosexuality and lesbianism (see Romans 1:26-27; II Timothy 3:1-5). B. God s will (Genesis 2:23-24). 1. (vs. 23). After God brought the woman to the man, Moses writes 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. When Adam saw the woman, he saw someone just like him, but different. He then said This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She was like him and compatible with him because she was formed from his own body. We need not conclude that God used only bare bone to create Eve. The rib taken from Adam probably included all the flesh surrounding it as well. Adam called his partner Woman because she was taken out of Man. This statement contains a play on the words for man and woman. We

12 don t know what words Adam actually used because we don t know what the original language was like. However, in writing this statement in Hebrew, Moses used the words ish which means man and ishah which means woman. The similarity of the words can be seen in both Hebrew and English. It seems clear that whatever words Adam used, he called his mate by a name that signified her likeness to him. This was appropriate because she was taken out of Man. 2. (vs. 24). This verse draws a conclusion with the words Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This statement was not made by Adam because any reference to leaving his father and his mother was totally foreign to him since at this point he didn t know what father and mother meant. This statement was parenthetical, added by Moses to explain marriage practices to Israelites of a later generation. The word Therefore indicates that what happened in the previous verse led to the conclusion stated in this verse. In other words, the relationship that any man and woman are to have in their marriage is based on this first union between Adam and Eve, which was a union established by God. As a result, a man (shall) leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. So, in marriage, a man leaves his father and mother to seek the intimacy of an even stronger relationship, one established by God when He formed woman from and for the man. Note: The idea of leaving one s father and mother does not negate the biblical command that a man should honor his parents;

13 it means that while he continues to honor them, his first priority will now be to his wife. The concept of cleaving carries the idea of clinging and adhering to someone. A man is to stick to his wife above all others, including his parents. Husbands and wives are considered to be one flesh, meaning that they are so completely joined together that they make up one totally united whole. Children are a great blessing from the Lord, but a parent should never put a child ahead of his or her spouse, as long as both parents are involved in caring for the children and operate as a unit. One of the greatest sources of security for any child is knowing that their father and mother love each other dearly and that nothing will ever separate them. In the marriage union the man and the woman shall be one flesh. This means that in sexual union and personal identification, they are fulfilling the purpose for which they were created. Moses stressed this monogamous relationship for Israel at a time in which polygamy among other peoples had become common (see Leviticus 18:1-4, 20, 24; 20:10). Jesus used the same statement to stress another point, that when God established the one flesh relationship through marriage, He established a permanent relationship (see Matthew 19:4-6). Note: Divorce, which is the dissolution of a marriage, was never the best for God s people and certainly not what God wanted. However, divorce was allowed by God as a concession in the law because of the hardness of peoples hearts (see Deuteronomy 24:1; Matthew 19:8). God said in Malachi 2:16 that He hates divorce. In His eyes, the putting away of one s spouse is an indication of unfaithfulness to marriage vows. Therefore, man or woman should never break the bond

14 God created in Eden. God never advocates divorce; it arises out of the hardened hearts (see Matthew 19:3-8). However, if a person is in an abusive relationship and the abuser refuses to seek help, guided by wisdom, the one being abused has the right to determine whether they will remain in the relationship or end it. The New Testament holds up permanent, monogamous marriage as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church (see Ephesians 5:30-32). And Christ never abuses His church! C. Man s innocence (Genesis 2:25). Our final verse says And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Moses added one more detail to show the perfection of the union God had formed between man and woman. He said And they were both naked and were not ashamed. In their perfect environment the man and his wife didn t need any clothing for warmth; and even more importantly, they felt no shame in their naked condition. There was no reason for shame. Earth s first couple faced no anxiety regarding their nakedness. Shame arises from guilt and since Adam and Eve had done no wrong yet, they experienced no shame. Only when sin robbed them of their innocence did they seek clothing to cover up their newly discovered inadequacies (see Genesis 3:7). Note: Hebrews 13:4 says that marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Nakedness before one s mate is not embarrassing within the bonds of marriage, but should be embarrassing in any other type of

15 relationship. Noah s son Ham saw him naked and as a result Ham s son Canaan was cursed (see Genesis 9:22-27). Under the Mosaic Law, which came later, God gave Israel a more clearly defined policy about looking on unclothed or naked people (see Leviticus 18:6-30). One can surely imagine that in their nakedness Adam and Eve stood staring at each other in total amazement. It can be said that the two of them were literally made for each other. V. Conclusion. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were innocent and there was no shame in their relationship. They complemented each other completely. In Adam and Eve, the high standard for marriage had been established once and for all. God had created them both, and they now had become one flesh and were to cleave to each other. All that time they were both naked and unashamed. Marriage was God s idea. Through a monogamous, heterosexual relationship God planned the procreation of children. The family, based on their creation foundation, was God s plan for a human race that would obey His commands and glorify Him. ***The Bible Expositor and Illuminator, Union Gospel Press***

Part 33. The Kingdom Family & SINGLE,TALENTED & TENACIOUS

Part 33. The Kingdom Family & SINGLE,TALENTED & TENACIOUS Part 33 The Kingdom Family & SINGLE,TALENTED & TENACIOUS THERE IS A RECIPE TO MAKING EVERYTHING. FOLLOW THE STEPS AND IT ENDS DELICIOUSLY. IGNORE OR DISOBEY THE STEPS AND IT S A MESS. Ecclesiastes 8:6