The first creation account does not actually end in Genesis 1, but continues into the next chapter. Let’s look at Genesis 2.
Did God bless the seventh day from creation? Did God later reinstitute this day during the Exodus? Did Jesus or the Apostles command this day for the church? What spiritual applications can we learn from this rest day under a new covenant?
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce. (Genesis 2:1-3 CJB)
Some make the break between accounts at the beginning of verse 4 and others make it halfway through the verse.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Genesis 2:4-7 ESV)
Hasty thinking has led some to believe that Genesis 1 & 2 are not the earliest creation accounts. If Moses wrote all of Genesis including the two creation stories, then creation accounts from Babylon and Sumeria were earlier than his. However, if Moses was one of several editors or redactors of Genesis and not the sole author, it is possible that he included very early creation documents from the Patriarchs. Thus, nobody can state truthfully how ancient these creation accounts may have been.
Some historians used to teach that writing was unknown before Moses, and that all these stories were merely verbal traditions. However, that has long been disproved. Archeology reveals that writing existed long before the time of Moses. As an adoptee in the Egyptian royal house, Moses was undoubtedly a highly educated man. It is interesting that the books of Moses contain certain Egyptian loan words, lending weight to his authorship.
What about the garden? Was it filled with various fruit trees?
The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and put there the human he had formed. In the fertile land, the Lord God grew every beautiful tree with edible fruit, and also he grew the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9 CEB)
What rivers flowed out of the garden? Can we simply assume that two are the same as modern rivers with the same names, or are those ancient rivers long buried under large sedimentary deposits from a worldwide flood?
From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia. The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River. (Genesis 2:10-14 CEV)
What one, simple commandment is recorded? Why couldn’t Adam and Eve obey such a simple rule?
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.” (Genesis 2:15-18 HCSB)
What amazing choice did God give to the man? I wonder what names Adam could have used?
After the Lord God formed from the ground every wild animal and every bird that flies, he brought each of them to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name. (Genesis 2:19 ISV)
Probably bowing to feminist pressure, some translations avoid the word helper for the first woman, but help or helper is the original intended meaning. Do we have faith in God’s intended gender roles? Do we allow political agendas of a society gone astray, to twist gender roles? Do we see family destruction in today’s world? If the family is a basic building block of society, does that mean eventual destruction of society too? How many genders or sexes were there? Are other so-called genders a delusion, and a path to personal pain and self-destruction?
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 [or suitable] for him. 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. (Genesis 2:20-22 KJV)
What was the man’s reaction to the woman? Was there such a thing as shame about nakedness originally?
Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:23-25 NASB)
Other Creation Accounts
In Job 38-42 God presents the ultimate forensic challenge. It is a teleological (intelligent design) masterpiece. Where were we when God made the universe! Who is a puny man to tell anyone how God created all things!
Psalm 104 expresses God’s love for living creatures. While God is omnipresent, panentheism misses the point that God is not His creation. He created all things and He is knowable personally.
John 1 presents a different side to the creation story, the Word, who is equal in substance to God (John 10:30; Philippians 2:6), but eternally submits to Him as Father (John 20:17; I Peter 3:21-22), became flesh.
What are two lessons we learn from creation? 1) God is powerful. We cannot fathom a being who created such an incredibly large and complex universe. We easily forget how powerful God is. 2) God’s Word is powerful. He simply spoke and all those things came into being. When we read the Bible as God’s Word, it is also powerful in our lives.
Creation was “very good'' (Genesis 1:31). Our world is filled with bad things like war, crime, and hate. It is also filled with good things that God created, making His existence glaringly obvious to us.
The forensic evidence for God is ubiquitous. Creation provides overwhelming evidence for God, and those who avoid this are living in denial of the obvious. Teleology is right on this point. Design proves that there is a designer and a purpose. If God’s spoken word is powerful, there must be power in His written word (Hebrews 4:12). God is far more powerful than we could imagine.
Humanity was created as “very good.” Despite human depravity, it is preposterous to think that human sin could be more powerful than the essential nature of God’s “very good” creation.
A day of rest is a good thing. Under the new covenant, no specific day is commanded, because the spirit of the law is to rest in Christ (Matthew 11:28-30) and our eternal rest in a new land of promise (Hebrews 3 and 4). However, the principle of one day in seven is also good for physical rest and worship. In creating a day of rest, God teaches us wisdom. Rather than continually rushing around working ourselves to a frazzle, we should take time out to rest.
God created male and female as equals, in His image (Genesis 1:27), but for different purposes and with very different ways of thinking. We are happiest when we do what we were created for. When we are deluded by a sinful society, abuse each other or confuse roles, we ruin our families and weaken human society. The answer is not rejecting God’s created intent for men and women, nor rejecting the authority of Holy Scripture, but returning to it.
Will we learn to be satisfied with faith in God’s unexplained mysteries, and recapture the important spiritual lessons behind the creation accounts in Genesis? You decide!
