“Genesis 2:1-9”

Monday, October 14, 2019

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed 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. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

---End of Scripture verses---

In six days God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence. There is ample evidence that this is true but it must be received as a matter of faith as Hebrews 11:3 tells us: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Notice the rhythm and pattern of creation and the use of sets of three:

· On days 1,2 and 3 God created realms or habitats.

· On days 4, 5 and 6 God filled those realms or habitats.

· On day 1 God created light – On day 4 the Sun, Moon and stars.

· On day 2 God created earth's atmosphere – On day 5 the birds to fly in it.

· On day 3 God created dry land – On day 6 creatures to inhabit it.

· On day 1 – Light, day and night.

· On day 2 – Heaven, separation of the waters above and the waters below.

· On day 3 – Dry land, seas and vegetation.

· On day 4 – Sun, moon and stars for seasons, days and years.

· On day 5 – Sea monsters, swimming creatures and flying creatures.

· On day 6 – Cattle, creeping things and beasts of the field

“By the seventh day God completed His work...” (verse 2). That is not to say that the Lord had stopped working completely, but His work of creation had thus been concluded. When Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath Day commandment by healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, He responded by saying, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” (John 5:17). The Creator moved into a different phase of His “work” by sustaining and providing and nurturing and teaching. But no new “kind” of animal has been created. No new law of nature has since been added. God “rested” or more literally “ceased” on the seventh day from all His creative work.

“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it...” (verse 3). Moses tied the 4th commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day with Genesis 2:3 – “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). Be that as it may, it is obvious that the mandate to keep the Sabbath day holy was not commanded or the observance kept by any person until Moses led Israel out of Egyptian bondage. We read no example of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham or any other Old Testament figure keeping the Sabbath and no commandment to do so before Exodus 16:23 after the Egyptian Exodus.

Exodus 31:13-17 tells us that the Sabbath is an ordinance unique to the people of Israel and a symbol of the covenant that God made with the Israelites. “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today” (Deuteronomy 5:3). The New Testament does not place a mandate upon keeping the Sabbath Day holy for followers of Christ, nor does it even suggest that we do so.

God “sanctified” or “declared holy” the seventh day. Nahum Sarna observed that “God, through His creativity, has already established His sovereignty over space; the idea here is that He is sovereign over time as well... The first use of the key biblical concept of holiness relates to time.” Our time is God's time. The ways in which we use it determine whether we are living holy lives as He would have us to do and that are pleasing to Him.

Verse 4 makes a notable transition in the text. Genesis chapter 1 is the initial account of God's Creation. In Genesis 2:4-4:26 God gives us a glimpse at the further developments of His “very good” creation in more specific detail. “This is the account of the heavens and the earth...” “Account” in verse 4 is rendered “generations” in other Bible versions and is the Hebrew word “towledah” (transliteration) or “toledot”. It is used 10 times in the book of Genesis and introduces histories. In seven of those instances it introduces a genealogy of a particular person (Genesis 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 36:1). In the other three occurrences it denotes a record of following developments (Genesis 2:4; 25:19; 37:2).

The general account of overall creation was revealed in chapter 1. Chapters 2-4 tell us the “account” or “towledah” of what became of it. Before man arrived on the scene no field shrub or plant yet existed, which are desert shrubs and cultivated grains. James Burton Coffman wrote of verses 5-6, “These verses refer to a past time in creation, particularly the third day. The interesting statement that...no herb had sprung up appears to indicate that the seed were in the ground for a period of time before plants appeared, giving the Biblical answer to which came first, the plant or the seed. It was the seed... The coming up of the mist from the ground to water 'the whole face of the earth' was an event preceding the springing up of the vegetable kingdom.”

In verse 7 Moses, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, returns to day 6 of Creation. “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground...” The Hebrew word for “man” is “'adam” and the word for “ground” or “earth” is “'adamah”. Nauhm Sarna observed, “This word play...once more expresses man's essential bond to the earth. An oft-cited equivalent is 'homo...humus.” Sarna also noted about God breathing “the breath of life” into Adam the following: “The uniqueness of the Hebrew phrase...matches the singular nature of the human body, which, unlike the creatures of the animal world, is directly inspirited by God Himself.” “The image simultaneously expresses both the glory and the insignificance of man. Man occupies a special place in the hierarchy of Creation and enjoys a unique relationship with God... At the same time, he is but dust taken from earth, mere clay in the hands of the divine Potter, who exercises absolute master over his Creation.”

The Lord “planted a garden” and “placed” the man in it (verse 8). Man's first habitat was a wonderful paradise (the Greek equivalent is “paradeisos”), located in the area of “Eden”. He lived in a lush paradise and did not need to toil by the sweat of his brow in order to cultivate it. In the Garden of Eden Adam had everything that he needed to live a wonderful and meaningful life. Almost. He had every tree that grew and looked and tasted good to supply for his nourishment. A river flowed through the garden to water all the vegetation and Adam was placed in the midst of it to cultivate and keep it. He was only forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the penalty for doing so was death.

But then we are getting ahead of ourselves! More on this story a little bit later!

Please read Genesis 2:10-17 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

- Louie Taylor

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