Genesis - Chapter 2

In this transcription, Julie Calio discusses the main ideas from chapter 2 of Genesis. She talks about the transition verse, the use of the word "generations," the creation of humanity, and the command given to Adam. She also mentions the creation of the garden of Eden, the trees within it, and the naming of the animals. Julie highlights the creation of Eve from Adam's rib and the significance of this act. She concludes by mentioning the importance of continually learning and pondering the story of Adam and Eve. Hi ladies, and welcome to the amazingbible.book club. I'm Julie Calio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we're looking at chapter 2 of Genesis, which gives us a closer look at the creation of humanity. We covered verses 1 through 3 yesterday, because they are the seventh day of creation, which is where God blessed the day of rest. Now with verse 4, we have a transition verse, which is in poetic format of a chiasm. 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. Now the word generations is used 11 times in Genesis. The first is here in chapter 2 verse 4, with the account of the heavens and the earth. Chapter 5 verse 1 with the account of Adam's line. Chapter 6 verse 9 with the account of Noah's line. Chapter 10 verse 1 with the account of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah's sons. Chapter 11 verse 10 with Shem's line. Chapter 11 verse 27 with Terah and the nations. Chapter 25 verse 12 with Ishmael. Chapter 25 verse 19 with Isaac. Chapter 36 verse 1 with Esau. And then chapter 36 verse 9 with Esau's descendants, the Edomites. And finally chapter 37 verse 2 with Jacob. The word means descendant, family, history, birth, or generations. Then if you notice we have quote of the heavens and of the earth in the beginning of the verse and at the end of the verse we have the earth and the heavens. Then in the beginning of the verse we have they were created. And at the end we see that they were made. And in the middle of the verse we have in the day that the Lord God. This is the main point. Now here the day is singular. And in the New Testament in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 8 it reads but beloved do not be ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. Some people get hung up on if the days of creation were a 24 hour period but I do not believe they were because it was not until day 4 that God created the sun moon and stars which is how we figure out a 24 hour period. In this poetic format it could be thought of as back in the day when the Lord God. Here we see the relational name for God. He is the Lord God not just God in heaven. In chapter 2 we see God in relationship with humanity. In verses 5 and 6 again we see that the Lord God has not caused it to reign upon the earth plus at this stage they were not humans to till the ground. So verse 7 reads 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 soul. In the Sunday school class that I attend we have one doctor and two nurses and one commented that this is the first CPR, life. The Lord God gave life to Adam. In verse 8 we learn and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed. Again the Lord God is the subject of the sentence. He planted, he put, he had formed. Also note that it is not the garden of Eden but the garden is in Eden which is where the Lord God placed Adam. In verses 9-14 we learn the Lord God made trees that were pleasant to look at and produced good food. The Lord God made creation to be beautiful and helpful. Then two trees were named, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From Eden came a river to water the garden and then it parted and made four rivers. One thing that is important to remember about the rivers is that where there are rivers there is water and water is a source of life. In the prophetic book Ezekiel chapter 47 is a vision of healing waters flowing from the temple and then in Revelation chapter 22 from the throne of God and of the Lamb flows a pure river of water of life and on each side was a tree of life. We see here that the Bible tells one story from Genesis to Revelation. Genesis 15-17 and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to 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 of it for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. The Lord God was the initiator in all of this. The Lord took the man, put him and commanded the man. Now keep in mind that the woman had not yet been created. It seems that God created Adam probably in Eden and then placed him into the garden. This is the second time this chapter says that God put the man there and he had a job. Work is from God and work was a part of God's plan even before the fall in chapter 3. Adam's job was to dress and keep the garden. One thing my ESV study Bible pointed out is these two verbs dress and keep are also used in Numbers chapter 3 verse 7 and 8 and this is the work that was undertaken by the priest and the Levites in the temple. The definition for dress means to work or to serve. The definition for keep is to hedge out, to protect, attend, observe, preserve or regard. Adam was to be a good steward of what God placed within his care. Now God gave one command. He was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The outcome will be death. That is chapter 3's lesson. Now if you remember with chapter 1 we saw in God's creation that what God saw was good five times. Chapter 1 verse 4 then verse 12 then verse 18 then verse 21 then verse 25 and then verse 31 says and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good. In contrast in verse 17 of chapter 2 we read and the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate for him. In verses 19 through 20 the process began. God had formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and had made them out of the ground. The Lord brought them before Adam to name and he did. It's interesting to me that God could have told Adam what each animal was called but we see a relationship growing with God and Adam. We also see that God allowed Adam responsibility to do his job. Then the end of verse 20 says but for Adam there was not found a helpmate for him. There was nothing like him. Nothing was compatible to him. So verses 21 and 22 read 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 and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. Ladies I can't tell you how many times I've read this passage. In my mind I pictured God forming Eve from the dust and then placing Adam's rib inside her but that is not what the scripture says. It wasn't until my Sunday school class was discussing this that there is no mention of the dust like with the animals and Adam but instead it seems that God took the rib out of Adam and from there made her a woman. I say all of that to say this please don't ever think I know this story there's nothing more to know. There is always something more to learn and ponder about this amazing story. Remember that my Sunday school class has a doctor and two nurses in it. Well they laughed and said that this is the first anesthetic the first surgery and the first transplant. As a reminder the Lord God is still the subject of this story. The Lord God caused, took, closed up, had taken, made and brought her unto the man. Two more things to think about here. It was from Nancy Guthrie's book The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament that she pointed out that the first Adam had a wounded side when God made him a bride and Jesus when he died on the cross for his bride his side was also pierced. Here in Genesis God brought Adam his bride and in Revelation chapter 21 verse 2 Jesus' bride the church will be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. When Adam saw God's gift in verse 23 we have the first record of Adam's words. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. We get poetry. It's like he said at last in Hebrew the name for woman is Isha and the name for man is Ish. In like manner we see a similarity with man and whoa man. One thing that my Old Testament professor Dr. Bett said in class was that her value was in her alone. It was not in the fact that she could produce children. Then Moses interjected a statement from the story in verse 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave into his wife Isha and they shall be one flesh. If Adam did not have a father and mother then why is this an example of that? For years I understood this passage to say that both the wife and the husband are to leave their families and become one flesh but it does not say that. Who leaves their father and mother? The man. Now to try and understand what this means it helps to look at the two other times in scripture that this passage is used. The first is found in Matthew chapter 19 verses 4 and 5. Some Pharisees came to Jesus to ask about divorce and Jesus said have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. The two shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man separate. They are no more two but one flesh. The other passage in scripture is with the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 21 through 33 and Paul is speaking of wives submitting to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives and he compared human marriage to the marriage of Jesus Christ to his church his bride. In verses 30 through 32 he says for we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Jesus left his father to come to earth to be united to his bride. He had to die on the cross in order to make that happen. The last verse of chapter 2 reads and they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed. They were one ladies like no other human couple. There was no shame because they were one in love. How is your shame level? When Jesus died on the cross he bore our shame. The prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 verses 5 and 6 say but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. If you have heard his voice today please don't harden your heart. Instead let's be women who hear believe and obey. Until next time and thanks so much for listening.