V. 1-3 God has completed His Great work of creation. He takes one day of rest, steps back, looks at what He has done and He says this is really good. pg.1 It s the same way with us! We build a house, paint a picture, plow a field, or cook a meal, its hard work, especially when you give it your best; when we are done, we step back for a moment, we rest as we look, with satisfaction, at what has been accomplished but when we finish looking what do we do next? We go back to work. We have to paint and carpet the house. Build the frame for the art work. Plant the corn in the field, set the table for the food. Our rest now becomes a working rest of continued satisfaction as we labor to bring our work to its proper conclusion. It is the same for God, He rested for a day but has entered into a continued working rest over His creation as He is bring it to its proper conclusion. He knows what is going to happen in chapter 3,4,5,6,7,8 of Genesis and throughout the rest of the Bible and with joy He continues working and is still working to this day. 4 accounts or records. This is the beginning of the paper trail of the written books of the history of man and the earth. * In the first half of the verse God signs off [subscript of closing signature], everything above v.4 is from God Himself. In the last half of the verse and onward Adam is now writing. * We do the same thing today when we are signing off at the end of a letter that we have written. Our signature says that everything above the signature is our story. * Toledoth is the Hebrew word for generation, it means origins or by extension written records. There are 11 such divisions in Genesis. * There is also a change of reference in v.4. The heavens and the earth is from God s or heavens vantage [chapters 1:1-- 2:4] while earth and heaven is from Adam s or earth s vantage [chapter 2:4 and on]. 5-6 People who challenge the trustworthiness of the Bible start with these verses to say that chapter 2 is another version of creation, different from chapter 1. Such allegations are due to a misreading of chapter 2. Chapter 2 is simply an expansion of the account of the creation of Adam and Eve on day 6. Verses 5-6 are Adam s reference to the close of day 2 and just before the start of day 3. This is the condition of the earth prior to the creation of mankind. Adam skips days 4 through the first half of day 6 because he is giving the account of events that apply to him. V. 7 Here we have the focal point of creation. Mankind made in God s image. This verse refutes evolution. The entire animal kingdom is already in existence and now man is being created totally separate from the animals in a single day,
not over billions of years evolving from animals. pg,. 2 2:8-15...God planted a garden...there He placed the man... [NASB] The KJV and NIV Bible use the word put. You also find the word put in verse 15...God took the man and put him into the garden... but the Hebrew words and the meaning of these two words are different. In verse 2:8 the word put in the Hebrew is [sum] and it means to PLACE or SET something in a specific physical area. This is WHERE Adam was put. In verse 2:15 the word put in the Hebrew is [nuah] and it means REST or SETTLE DOWN. This word put [nuah] is reserved for two special uses: God s rest, safety and dedication. Man was put into the garden where he could rest, be safe. Man was also put into the garden in God s presence where he could have fellowship with God. This is WHY he was put there. Genesis 8:4 the ark rested [put] upon the mountains of Ararat. God s rest, safely secured, will not move, dedication. This word is used in other places as well as Genesis 19:16 [Lot and his family]...and they [the angels] brought him out, and put him outside the city. In God s rest, safety, compassion. [But note that Lot choose not to rest in God s provision.] Jesus completed the great work of Redemption on the Cross and with satisfaction He said it is finished and He has rested from that work but He is still working. He is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding, daily, for us. Matt. 11:28-30 Come to me...weary and heavy-laden...i will give you rest...take My yoke and learn from Me...find rest for your souls... We need to remind ourselves that the world is hard at work trying to save themselves without God s help and they are burdened down with sin and grow weary from the consequences of sin. As Christians, if we are not careful, can fall into the same trap of trying to live life on our terms, doing it all ourselves so we don t have to bother God unless it is absolutely necessary and when we do we become weary and burdened with our work. Jesus says TO ALL that He has the answer to our problems. He wants us to enter into His rest. His is a satisfying working rest. How do we enter into His rest. Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and make His yoke our yoke. He wants us to continue working but from a place of rest, His rest. Work is not a dirty word. V. 15 Keep it: Exercise careful, loving, stewardship, over God s creation. Have we?
Do we know where the Garden of Eden is? The answer is no. What is being described in these verses is the area before the flood in Noah s day. The flood destroyed the entire face of the earth. When Noah left the Ark he started to name his surroundings, as we all do, and he used names from the pre-flood to name what he saw in his post-flood surroundings. pg.3 16-17 The Lord commanded Adam, not Eve, because Eve has not been created yet. There is the possibility that Adam watched God plant the garden. God has shown Adam His goodness. He has provided Adam everything he needs. Here is the test, one restriction. Adam is a free moral agent, he can choose to trust God s goodness or he can go his own way. True love is base on trust. If everything else given to Adam by God is good then the restriction must be good too. Was the tree of knowledge magical? There is no suggestion in the text that the fruit was anything else but fruit. It was the breaking of the restriction, not the fruit itself, that would bring the knowledge of evil. Evil, by definition, is simply the rejection of God s will. Adam already has knowledge of good. He has seen God s goodness and experienced it in the garden. Partaking of the forbidden fruit would bring Adam knowledge of evil and the difference between the two in a real, yet sad, way. Die : The Hebrew is MUTH, a continuous tense. Literally it means die die or in dying you shall die. 1. Spiritual death as the separation from God starts. 2. Physical death as the principle of decay begins to operate in his body. Eternal death if we are not made right with God again. 18 The words not good in this verse are important to understanding how these two chapters are connected. Not good shows that chapter 2 is not a further continuation of chapter 1 but is part of the creation week. Its an explanation, in greater detail, of the account of the creation of Adam and Eve on day 6. 1:27 says God created both male and female on day 6 and 1:31 shows that it was after Eve was created that God said, it was very good. Verse 2:18 shows that day 6 is coming to a close but that one final act of creation is about to take place [Eve] so the words it was very good can be spoken at the close of chapter 1. A helper : Again in 1:17 the suggestion is that man s creation in the image of God entailed his creation as male and female, that, in God s image to be complete entails a partnership. God s image is Triune, 3 in 1. The image is one of partnership and fellowship.
How much more is the partnership and fellowship of a man and women in marriage a reflection of the image of God. God is a plurality and Adam was created in His image, the image demanded plurality. A helper suitable : The Hebrew for helper is EZER. The word help suggests the man has governmental priority, yet both sexes are mutually dependent on each other. Man is not superior and woman is not inferior. The Hebrew word for suitable is NEGDO. The word means equal and adequate. Men and women differ in sexuality and office or calling but are equal as bearers of God s image and in their standing before God. * Together the word is EZER KeNEGDO. This word only occurs two times in the Bible. Here in Genesis 2:18 and 2:20. At the beginning and at the end of Adam naming the animals. EZER KeNEGDO means helper that corresponds to or exact correspondence. Literally as agreeing to him or his counterpart. She is the kind of help he needs. Agreeing with him mentally, physically, and spiritually. She is not an inferior being. pg. 4 * Some would want us to see the word helper [EZER] as a diminishing, inferior, or servitude term, that the women is a weaker, inferior, sister helper. Those who would think that way have some explaining to do, because Scripture says the word helper [EZER] is the same word used to describe God as the HELPER of Israel. 1. Ex.18:4...the God of my father was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh... Deut. 33:7...and may You [God] be a help against his adversaries... I Samuel 7:12...Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the Lord has helped us. Psalms 20:2...May He [God] send you help from the sanctuary... Psalms 121:1-2...I will lift up my eyes to the mountains from where shall my help come from...my help comes from the Lord... Psalms 124:8...Our help is in the name of the Lord... In these verses, God is described as a strong, competent, dependable, and compassionate helper. To accuse Eve as a weaker, inferior helper is to say that God falls into that category. To ignore the advise of our sisters in the faith is unwise and foolish. To belittle the importance of women in God s creation purposes is to belittle God s wisdom and goodness. As men, husbands, and leaders in the Church, we must honor the gift God has given to us as a fellow, equal, and adequate helper made in the
image of God. 19-20 This is a restating of what God has already done on day 5 and the first part of day 6. God is calling attention to the fact that He created the animals out of the ground as He did man; but man, who was a living soul in the image of God, was to name them, and rule over them. God caused the animals to pass before Adam. We need to notice that four things are taking place at the same time in these two verses: The level of Adam s intelligence is being revealed. Naming required an understanding of the animals far beyond their outside characteristics. Adam had a deep insight into the very nature of the animals. Adam is not naming the fish of the sea, the creeping things, or the beasts of the EARTH [Genesis 1:24, larger animals that live far away from the garden]. Adam is asked to name [v. 20] the cattle [those animals that can be domesticated], the birds of the air, and the beasts of the FIELD [those smaller animals that will live in closer proximity to humans]. pg. 5 This narrows the number of animals to the named and narrows the time needed to name them. Adam named the different KINDS of animals not all the different TYPES OF SPECIES that would come later as the animals began to multiply. This does not mean that Adam did not name the other animals as time passed and as he came in contact with them. Adam will see with his own eyes that he is different from all the other animals. He is unique. He is the only one of his KIND. He is alone and incomplete. God is preparing Adam psychologically for his helper, Eve, who is about to make her appearance. 21-23: The word rib in the Hebrew is tslea. It is used 35 times in the O.T. and in all the other places it is used as side. Only here is it used as rib. The wording of the text would indicate the rib came from his side and was still moist with bone marrow, fluids, and flesh. Adam s DNA was all over the rib and from this rib God literally built / made it into a woman. FYI: Men do not have one less rib then women and the evolutionary teaching of acquired characteristics is untrue, that is, the offspring do not inherit the characteristics of their parents. Example: a cat loses it tail so all the kittens born to that cat will have no tails. This is how evolution explains the long neck of the Giraffe. Adam lost his rib so all men acquire that characteristic of one less rib. Not so! God was just as involved in the creation of woman as He was in the creation of man. God Himself, like a father of the bride, leads the woman to the man.
Verse 23 may suggest that God told Adam what He was going to do before He put Adam to sleep. From the wounded side of the First Adam came his bride Eve. From the wounded side of the second Adam came His bride the Church. God brought Eve to Adam so to will God bring the Church to Christ. [Rev, 19:7-8]. 24 This does not mean that you have to literally pack your bags and LEAVE your parents. The man s union to his wife is to be so profound that he leaves his family even though he remains with them. His first obligation and loyalties are now to his wife and the wife to her husband. They stick to each other like glue. Jesus saw and believed Adam and Eve to be real history and chapter 2 of Genesis as real history and not make believe as some teach. [Matt. 19:4-6] God ordained the principals of marriage and He set the boundaries, not man. Genesis 2:1-25 Genesis 2:1-25