2:1-3
So God rested on the 7th day.
The Hebrew actually means God "ceased" from the activities of the past six days - and possibly then settled in to the creation He had made, receiving refreshment from it.
The Law codified the Sabbath as a day of rest and the Jews came up with all kinds of rules and regulations that made it a ridiculous show of legalism rather than a celebration of God as in control or the universe and our lives.
Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament Law, including the Sabbath - now we don’t have a Sabbath day, we have a Sabbath life:
Heb 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
The rest of Chapter 2 at first glance seems out of place - we just had the creation account. Well, in a way you can look at Chapter 1 as God set forth the function of the creation. In chapter 2 He reveals the result of the creation - a closer look.
Read 2:4-7
God is setting the stage, zooming in on more details in the creation. At the point when the earth was created, but no vegetation - either wild or for food - had come up because there had not yet been rain or flood - that’s when God created man. Its possible this means only cultivated food crops - because there was no one to tend or eat them.
The idea of "dust" is just the powdery, dusty stuff that lies around. Somehow God molded us like a potter molds clay - and the active ingredient was his breath. This wasn’t a one time thing, either - God breathes the "breath of life" into everyone who is born. Now did God actually pull up some mud and make us like a pot? Not necessarily - but He did make us out of the same elements as the earth - our bodies that is - but our spirits came from God - and all life belongs to Him - He can take it away if He wants (of course Adam didn’t know that then).
How old was Adam on the day he was formed? He was only minutes old but looked like a grown man. God put into him "age dating factors." This is one of the things people use to say that God could indeed have created the earth thousands, not billions of years ago - because He could have created it with age dating factors already built in.
Read 2:8-14
God planted Eden. "Garden" here is like Busch Gardens - not our backyard variety. Eden had a huge water supply - enough for four rivers. Where was Eden? Everyone’s got their theory. Two of the rivers mentioned we know of: the Tigris and Euphrates between Iraq and Iran. The other two - the Pishon and Gihon we don’t know. Some scholars suggest the Garden existed near the Black Sea - recent satellite imagery found an old "fossil" river in Central Saudi Arabia that flowed to the place where the Tigris and Euphrates meet near the head of the Persian Gulf. They further state that a river that runs south from Iran, the Karun, is actually the Gihon River. If this is true - then the Garden of Eden is located under the waters of the Persian Gulf just off the coast of Kuwait.
"Eden" means "delight" - God intended from the very beginning to bless man - its us that messed up His blessing.
In this Garden God planted two very important trees - the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life would not have meant "one bite and you live forever" like in Tuck Everlasting - but the idea of "perpetual life" or "open ended life." So as long as you kept eating it you wouldn’t die.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil comes into the story in the next chapter - but suffice it to say that the idea here is "discernment." That Tree granted the ability to tell right from wrong, good from evil - something young children lack. It could be called "The Tree of the Knowledge of Evil" because that’s really what it did. So why didn’t they just eat from the Tree of Life? Probably because they didn’t know they needed to. We do - because we know all about death.
Read 2:15-17
God gave Adam a home, a job, and provision. He was a gardener. It’s interesting, though. God told Adam to "work it and take care of it." The meaning of these two Hebrew words is not precise - and I won’t go into all of the details, but basically although I’m sure he did some pruning and the like - the primary purpose suggested here is that of a caretaker, even a priest, caring for a sacred space - the place where God dwelt. The same words are used in Numbers when speaking of the priests caring for the grounds around the Tent of Meeting.
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men?
Has God given you a task or a job? Like Adam, we can care for and work that as if we are working for the Lord Himself.
God gave Adam every freedom and only one restriction. Isn’t it interesting how we always are drawn to the one thing we can’t do? Notice that God told Adam this before Eve came along.
So Adam’s got everything he needs - except one thing: companionship - someone to work alongside of him. Work is really okay - its not part of the curse - futile work is part of the curse.
Read 2:18-20
The same Hebrew word Tobe is used here as in the 1st chapter - but here in the negative sense.
It doesn’t say that Adam was lonely - just that it wasn’t good for him to be alone. In order to really bear my image there has to be relationship.
The Lord was NOT saying "See if this works - let’s try a tiger- no - okay, how about a bear."
The Lord was showing Adam that he needed something. It was part of Adam’s education. God often shows us things - then let’s us learn. (All the animals come in two’s - where’s the other half of me?)
Helper means helper
Suitable - "the other half"
Adam couldn’t really be all that I want him to portray unless he’s two.
God didn’t cut into Adam with a scalpel - He simply reached in and took a part of Adam to make Eve.
Adam says: "She’s me - only better!"
In many ways Eve was the pinnacle of creation - more beautiful than Adam. She is the one who brings new ones into the world. It’s important - later we learned that God cursed childbearing (her essential purpose).
Its part of the curse that men and women don’t get along - but in the beginning they saw honor and beauty in each other. We’ve stopped looking at that in each other.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 is divided into 5 parts: The Temptation to sin, The Act of sin, The Revealing of the sin, The Consequences of sin, The Promise of redemption.
Vs 1
We don’t know what the serpent looked like - it could have walked on legs, but we do know something about its character - it was "crafty."
Crafty is the Hebrew word ’ah-room’ that means "crafty, shrewd, or prudent." The King James translates it "subtle". Its’ not always used in a bad sense. In
Proverbs 12:23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly.
But in other areas like Job 5:12 it is used in context of plotting against God.
The Serpent isn’t really announced as an evil creature - just one of the creatures in the Garden. Eve didn’t have any reason to think the Serpent was the devil (that concept too would have had no meaning for her) but I do wonder if she marveled at the fact that the Serpent could talk!
In reality, Satan used the Serpent as an instrument. The words said are very much in character with Satan, who Jesus identified as the "father of all lies." Revelation 12:9 refers to Satan as "the serpent of old." So even if the snake wasn’t the Devil himself - it was Lucifer who spoke.
What did Satan do?
1. Questioned God’s goodness - His motives - and perverted His Word
2. Wanted Eve to be autonomous - self law. Get what she needed on her own. Things might be legitimate, but obtained in the wrong way.
3. Pitted the man against the woman (Adam was there)
Why didn’t Adam step in, and why didn’t Eve defer
Eve believed the snake - Adam knew the snake was wrong, but chose to disobey anyway so as not to lose the woman
So the question is: was the tree bad? Not necessarily. Everything that God created was good. Knowledge is not bad - in fact later we are told to discern the difference between good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. KJV)
The tree may have been put there as a test of obedience because it simply wasn’t the time for Adam and Eve to eat that fruit yet. Driving and sexual intimacy aren’t bad, but there are times when they are good and times when they are bad.
Vs 7
"Their eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked." Adam and Eve immediately recognized that they had done something terribly wrong - and the shame made them feel vulnerable - ashamed.
Isn’t that how our conscience makes us feel when we sin? Paul in Romans 2:15 says God’s law is written on our hearts and our conscience variously condemns or approves depending on whether we obey that law.
To cover that shame - hide themselves from accusation - they sewed some crude clothes - likely full body coverings - out of fig leaves. It was a vain attempt to cover for their sin - how often do we do stupid things to cover for our sins:
We think that by going to church God will forgive us
We think by giving money to the poor that God will have mercy on us
We think by lying and covering it up that if no ones knows then we won’t be punished.
We put on a smiling face and for the world look like everything’s great - but on the inside we know - and so did Adam and Eve - that’s why they hid from God.
Vs 8 - 9
They heard God walking - what must that have sounded like? (an alternate meaning: "They heard the roar of the LORD moving about in the garden in the wind of a storm [of judgment])"
God called out - Adam, where are you? He knew where Adam was. It was more - Adam, why are you hiding from me? This was the first attempt to get Adam to own up to his sin.
Our first instinct when we’ve sinned is to hide from God because we know He knows!
Vs 10
Notice that Adam does not say "I disobeyed you." He says "I knew I was naked so I hid." This is the first instance of avoidance - something we practice all the time. We avoid the real issue. But God has a way of putting His finger right on the real problem.
And notice Adam’s behavior: "I heard you" "I was afraid" "I hid" Isn’t that what we do as well? We hear God’s Word speaking into our life - we realize that we’ve sinned and fallen short of His glory, so we hide from Him.
If only we would all come right out with it - admit our sin, repent of it, and seek God instead of run from Him - for the forgiveness He Himself provided in Jesus Christ.
Vs 10 - 11
Adam continues his avoidance when God asks him directly - "who told you you were naked. Did you eat (did you disobey?) Adam doesn’t answer directly - he says "the woman." This is transference. "God it wasn’t my fault - the devil made me do it."
Vs 13
So God turns to the woman - "what have you done?" She takes Adam’s cue and blames it on the serpent. She now realizes that the serpent deceived her - a little too late. If only we would examine the things we are about to do - how much trouble we’d save ourselves.
Vs 14
God doesn’t have to ask the serpent anything - Satan has no chance for repentance. So he goes right into the curse.
The snake is reviled like no other creature even to this day - but God was also speaking spiritually here too. Satan is no friend to us even though we gave the creation and the destiny of our unsaved souls to him.
That "enmity" that God speaks of travels right down to Jesus Christ. This is the protoevangel - the first hint of God’s plan - that Satan will have Jesus killed, but that Jesus will crush Satan’s head. Halleluiah! Boy, if this hadn’t been here what terrible shape we’d be in! (Remember one of the first scenes in The Passion of the Christ when a serpent comes out of Satan and Jesus crushes it?)
Vs 16
The curse to the woman: What was to be a wonderful, and apparently painless thing, will now bring grief - childbirth. I think it is more than just giving birth, though, it is seeing your offspring affected by your disobedience. Eve will see her first born son kill her second born.
The second part involves the relationship with her husband. The idea of "desire" here is really "competition." The Hebrew word means "a stretching out after." Men and women were meant to compliment each other, complete each other - but this sets up a vying for position that continues to this day - even more so in this feminist society in which we live.
Now I’m not saying women should be treated like they were for millennia, like property. What I’m saying is that we’ve gone too far the other way - missing out on the wonderful relationship that husband and wife have of being there for each other.
Vs 17
Finally God comes to Adam. What was to be Adam’s joy - and his charge - taking care of the grounds - now becomes his greatest adversary. Providing - that’s a man’s role. But God is saying that that will always now be a struggle - it will consume him.
And God hints that the death he spoke of is real - a physical death they knew nothing of, but would soon.
Vs 20
Eve, Chavah, means "life giver."
Vs 21 - 24
God next banishes them from the garden. The result of sin is always loss of fellowship. God first made them clothing - a hint at the fact that something would have to die in order for sin to be covered. But also as an act of mercy to prepare Adam and Eve for the harsh environment they were headed for.
God doesn’t want them to eat of the tree of life because he doesn’t want to perpetually live in a state of sin. He wants them to look towards His promise of redemption. And I think we’ll see Adam and Eve in heaven.
God is so concerned about man trying to go back that he puts two powerful angels to guard the way to Eden. The tree of life still exists - we don’t know where it is, but God will plant it again as it says in Revelation 22 in God’s paradise - the new Eden.
Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
An interesting side note here - notice that while the snake and the ground are cursed - Adam and Eve are not. Its like God, as a Father, is explaining the results of their disobedience - "this is what’s going to happen to you" not "this is what I’m going to do to you."
We like to blame God for bad things - but the truth is, bad things happen because more often than not, we have brought them about. Our sin, and the sins of others, wreaks havoc in our world even to this day. God is not to blame.
Rather than being a source of scorn, He is the source of life. God knew this was going to happen - and He went through with it anyway because He had planned all along to give Himself as a way to get back the fellowship lost in the garden through disobedience.
Hebrews 5:7-9 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
You can’t fight your way through the cherubim to Eden to find life and God - you can only get there by giving up your life to the One who obeyed and is now the source of life and the source to the Father - Jesus Christ.
Conclusions
Sin is not temptation - sin is disobeying God
Repentance is a key to forgiveness and fellowship
God always had a way back in mind
For more Bible studies and an audio copy of this message, please visit:
www.CalvaryChapelNewberg.org.
