From last week in session 3, it was said that the creation account was trying to answer two questions for us:
- Who created
- Why did God create
It was said that God created all things for His glory. We saw last week at the end of Day 6, the man and woman being created - created in the image of God.
This was a new thing in relation to everything else God had created. To be created in the image of God is to reflect who God is. How do we reflect who God is? In the way that we interact with the rest of creation, we interact with it the way God would have if He were here.
In the person of Christ, God did enter into creation in a body; so when we speak of being image bearers, what we are saying is we should look like Christ.
Three Things in Genesis 1 Creation Account
Regarding the man and the woman, there were three things to see:
- When God created them, He gave dominion to both the man and the woman. They bore equal responsibility
- They are also equal image bearers. It means that both man and woman are necessary for the image of God to be demonstrated to the world. They are both necessary for dominion to occur.
- God gives equal blessing to the man and the woman
What's Next? Chapter 2
In Genesis 2:4 we sort of get a deja vu here. What's happening? The clue in the text is this "these are the generations." This now introduces a new section of the text.
Moses starting with this phrase means he's going to tell you something in addition to or to follow up on what he's told you before. This is "what's next."
A good student of the Bible should ask: "how do I connect what came before to where I am now?" These texts take on deeper meaning when we read them in the context of what we've already seen in the chapter that's preceded.
Is he actually repeating in Chapter 2 what he told us in Chapter 1? No. It's a much more narrow focus. He has zoomed in. We're going to get a close up of a particular aspect of the creation narrative.
The focus here in Chapter 2 shifts to humans, although the focus is also still on God. It's less poetic and less repetitive.
What We Can Learn
The first thing we need to see is in verse 4. God is referred to in a way He was not referred to in Chapter 1. In Chapter 1, He was simply called "Elohim" - God Almighty. In Chapter 2, He's now called "LORD God" - Yahweh (personal title).
God now is seen for us not just as a transcendent God on high (Chapter 1) but now as the God who is near and personal.
Matthew 6:9 the Lord's Prayer "our Father who art in heaven", encapsulates this idea. It's important for us to remember:
- God is both transcendent and
- Personal
We have to see Him as both and we need Him as both. The God we meet in Chapter 2 is the God on high and also a personal God.
Verse 5-6
It's a time reference. Rain is not a thing at this point.
Verse 7
Man is created from the dust whereas in Chapter 1 it says he was created in the image of God (a more exalted view). Man is combination of that which is sacred and that which is low. The word for man is "Adam." The word for dust is "adamah". The word for breath is "ruah". The same word used in Chapter 1 for "Spirit of God was hovering."
Jen asked us to look at the picture here:
- Man formed out of the dust - what is common and low
- God then Himself breathes into his nostrils
We see the gesture here of giving life that is so intimate. God could have spoke life into man, but He didn't. He exhaled into man and brought life.
Verses 8-9
Notice where the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil are placed: in the middle. These names are typological. Why? Because they demonstrate God's Sovereign right to decree who has life and to decree what is right and what is wrong. God determines morality and gives life as He chooses.
They are set at the center of the garden because they should be the central consideration of the garden's inhabitants.
Notice: "The Lord God planted a garden in Eden" (verse 8). Garden here translates to "protected area." The word Eden means "delight."
So, the LORD God plants a protected area of delight. He planted it in the East - relative to where Mt. Siani is. How does this transmit to Moses' original audience? They had been in the desert for 40 years, breathing in sand, wondering when provision would come etc. This was something they were longing for.
More Specifics - Verses 10-14
When we hear these rivers, Jen said we get a bit thrown off. Moses is telling them locations that are familiar to them. Why? Because he wants them to understand - this is a real place. This did happen.
Verses 15-17
Remember these words - "you shall surely die." This will be important when we get into our chapter next week. He tells them:
- Don't eat of the tree
- A certainty will occur to you
- You will die
So man is:
- In a protected garden
- He is to work and keep it (understand that Eden was a place where work was given to man as in Gen. 1:28
- Be fruitful
- Multiply
- Subdue
- Have dominion
Verse 18
What did we see last week? "It was good" over and over again. All of a sudden we have introduced "not good." The word helper here means "necessary, alli, indespensable". This word helper is used elsewhere in the OT speaking of God Himself helping His people in times of great need. What the woman is going to bring to the table will be essential and indespensable.
Verses 19-20
Wouldn't you think that in verse 19 God would then put the man to sleep, take the rib and make woman? But that's not what He does.
What does He do instead?
He brought the animals to Adam to name them. What is He doing?
What does He do instead?
He brought the animals to Adam to name them. What is He doing?
- He is bringing order out of chaos
- He is fulfilling the cultural mandate
- He is exercising dominion
What do you think is the subtext that is running through Adam's mind at this point? "Not like me." "There was not found a helper fit for him."
Verses 21-22
What happens? Woman is made.
Verse 23
Look at Adam's response. The word "woman" (E-sha) - because she was taken out of man (E-shish). Sounds relatively the same. He's saying "this is at last same of my same. She shall be called like me because she came from me." Men and women share so many things in common.
The first thing Adam had to say was "this one's like me." When we begin to separate men and women, there comes this contempt that lives between us. Our sacred text is saying something extremely different. It says: men and women are created in the image of God, by the same God, in the garden.
Note
When Adam says "she shall be called woman", he is doing what he's done elsewhere - he's classifying her, placing her in the same "class" as himself.
Verses 24-25
Think about the significance of verse 24: "they shall become one flesh." Why is this an important idea to hold on to? Look at Ephesians 5:22-23 where it talks about the relationship between Christ and the Church - it draws an analogy to marriage. Christ cares for the spiritual body of the Church, and He then parallels how husbands are to interact with their wives: care for them as their own bodies - or flesh, nourish and cherish it.
The husband is to regard his wife as his own flesh - "flesh of my flesh; bone of my bone."
Another important thing there happens in verse 25 - naked and not ashamed. A picture of:
- Innocence
- Vulnerability
We have a Bible that starts with Genesis chapters 1 and 2 and says this is how it should have been and this is how it will be one day (Revelation 21).
For Us
As believers, we are inviting "Eden" into our current experience and saying to others "there was once a protected area of delight and let me just give you a snapshot of what it might be like."
We go forward everyday doing our work and knowing that whatever we do, we work at it as unto the Lord.
All work is good work when it's done to the glory of God.
Next Session: Session 5 "Paradise Lost"
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