Bible Studies In The Word of God

GENESIS 2

 

 

Verse 1. Heavens. Note the word is in the plural. See explanation at 1:1.

 

Verse 2. Ended and rested. Since both these words are used In the same relation to God's creative work we must know they express the same thought. One does not always rest in the sense of relaxing from weariness or toll, but it is just as otten used in  the sense of a pause. God paused in His creative work. Attention ts called also to the way it is expressed in the following verse. There it says that in the seventh day God "had rested,” etc. This gives the idea of reflection and that the work being considered had all been completed when the seventh day came. This does away with the quib­ble that God must have done some work on the seventh day as it says that on it he ended his work. The com­plete thought is that he "had ended” it.

 

Verse 3. Sanctified. This Is from qadash and Strong defines it "a primi­tive root; to be (causate, make, pro­nounce or observe as) clean (ceremo­nially or morally).” This shows the word to mean that the day was set apart ceremonially and not that any­thing was done to its natural character since such a thing as a day could not be said to be either holy or unholy as to its character. There is no such thing as a holy day except as It per­tains to what is done on that day.

 

Verse 4. Generations. This is from TOWLDAH and one definition Strong gives of it is “history.” Thus the ex­pression means "this is the history," etc.

 

Verses 5, 6. This is a summing up of some of God’s work. The writer is referring to conditions before and after the plants and animals, including man, were made. And since it had not rained upon the earth and since there was no man to till the ground, it could not be concluded that these plants came up through natural inducement of mois­ture nor as the result of man’s labor. And, since there was not a man to till the ground even though there was moisture in the form of mist, there should be a man to take over this duty. Hence the important statement soon to follow.

 

Verse 7. In this great work God did not merely speak man into existence as he did his other works, but honored the man by forming him with his own personal act This verse should be studied in connection with other pas­sages in the Bible which will be cited in this paragraph. 1 Thess. 5:23 tells us that man has three parts. The verse under consideration mentions only two of these parts, the body and soul. Then, as soon as that much of “man" was created God created, immediately and simultaneously, the spirit (Zech. 12:1), thus completing the triune being. Word breath is from SHAMAH and de­fined by Strong as follows; “a puff, i.e., wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellectually or concretely, an animal.”  Hence, since the breath introduced into the nostrils of this man is the same as that which makes other animals alive, it required that man, made in the image of his Creator, should have something else added to lift him above the other order of living beings. Therefore God created this spirit within him.

Verse 8. Eden. This was the name of a region of such a character as to be a place of pleasure. The garden was in this region and thus it was not the garden that was named Eden, but the region in which it was located. Fur¬ther information on this place will be offered at verse b below.

Verse 9. We see in this verse that the fact of being pleasant to the sight did not put a tree in the forbidden class. For, after mention of this fact pertaining to the trees in general the writer Bays "also” and then tells of the two special ones now so famous. There was nothing evil in the one tree itself but the eating of It would bring knowl¬edge of good and evil. The significant idea In this expression is that it men¬tions both good and evil. Only one con¬clusion is possible, and that is that it brought, knowledge of evil as distin¬guished from good. It would have been better for man not to have known anything but good. It was the possession of knowledge of good md evil that, was the occasion of trouble.

Verses 10-14. The word ‘‘heads’' here is evidently used figuratively since a river would not have four heads after having formed a river of stated existence. It might have formed a delta but would not form various heads. But it could be said that the region called Eden was supplied with four streams which is doubtless the thought of the writer. The modern Tigris corresponds to Hiddekel while Euphrates is the river of the same name as now. Incidentally, since we now know the location of these streams we can thus locate the general site of the famous garden.

 

Verse 15. This verse shows that man was not intended to be idle. Neither was the vegetation of the garden to be miraculously cared for. Then, as now, man was expected to he a worker with God in the enjoyment of divine blessings. 

Verses 16-17. Thou shalt surely die. The marginal rendering here is “dying, thou shall die.” The thought ts that in the day they ate of that tree they would become subject to death. That was to be true both physically and spiritually. In a physical sense, In the day they ate they were driven from access to the tree of life, and immediately they began to die since they no longer had access to the tree of life which was the only thing that could have perpetuated their physical life. Then, since death spiritually also means separation, they immediately died since they were on that very day separated from God by their sin.

Verse 18. One reason it was not good for the man to be alone was that, in God's plan for filling the earth with his kind it was to require opposite parties. And also, in order that the creature who was made in the Image of the Creator might be prosperous and happy while living on the earth he was to be a social being and this required society which would be impossible with only one kind of human being. Help. This means an aid or helper in the same sense as we apeak of a worker having a helper. Of course an electric mechanic would want a helper suitable for his needs and thus not one that would be needed by some other kind of mechanic. Even so, the man being the kind he was and with the kind of expected future, he would need a helper suited for his social and reproductive needs. Thus, God declared he would make this man such a helper, hence we have meet. This is from NEGEP and is thus defined by Strong: “a front, i.e., part opposite; specifically a counterpart, or mate." At first It might seem inappropriate to have a helper that is counterpart or opposite. But when it is remembered that this helper is for the special purpose of reproduction it will be clear. For instance, it would be of no help in arranging a mechanical effect to place one bolt with another. But a counterpart, one opposite, would be a help. Hence the bolt must be helped by the part that fits over the bolt. And so in reproduction, the principal purpose of the man, a counterpart, an opposite, is necessary to constitute a helper suitable for the man’s needs. An appropriate wording of the passage would be "I will make him a helper suitable for his needs."

Verse 19. Since there were vast numbers of these living creatures i would require inspiration to be able to name them. This is why the significant statement that whatsoever Adam called the creatures, that was its name. We should not be surprised at seeing indication of Adam’s being inspired. He was to be a type of the second Adam (Christ, 1 Cor. 15:45) and so it was proper to demonstrate his power.

Verse 20. Explained in remarks at verse 18.

Verses 21, 22. In taking a part of the first Adam from which to make his helper God caused a deep sleep to come over him. In taking a part of the second Adam (his blood) from which to make his helper, God caused a deep sleep to come over him. It was the sleep of death. For ChriBt was dead when his blood was shed. The significant coincidence is that in each case the side of the man was opened.

Verse 23. Flesh of my flesh. This shows that both flesh and bone were taken from the man. Bone represents structure and the flesh the formation of the body.

Verse 24. From Matt. 19:5 we learn the language of this in Genesis is that of God and not Adam as it might seem. And in Mark 10:7 Jesus repeats the same words as his own. This fleshly relation is the original and only Biblical basis of the marriage instltuton. When a male and female are thus joined they are by that act made one flesh and that union cannot be dissolved except by a similar act of one of the partes with a third party. This is why fornication is the scriptural, and the only scriptural basis for remarriage of an innocent party to a third party. Leave his father and his mother. When a male is old enough to perform the marriage act he is old enough, according to God, to leave his parents and become married. Lawmakers who arbitrarily set an age limit for marriage legally, without parental consent, would do well to study the above.

Verse 25. From the ideas set forth in 3:7 and notes it would appear here that the writer means simply to say that the man and woman had not yet taken any notice of the fact that they were naked.