Chapter Two
The Seventh Day of Creation
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
God was now finished creating the heavens and the earth, and the author adds separately, “and all the host of them.” The word ‘host’ is the Hebrew word ’ṣeḇā·’ā’’[1] meaning ‘service’ or ‘servants’, such as one being in military service or divine service. Always plural, the word can be found 484 times in the Old Testament[2] and often refers to angels, stars, and all of heaven being in service to God. Almost half of the uses of the word refer to the Lord or God of hosts as part of a divine declaration.
Everything was done and God rested. Some may ask, does God need rest? If He is truly omnipotent, the answer would be no, so why the rest? God is the ultimate parent, He often models behavior that, while not applicable to Him, certainly applies to mankind. The model is simple, work six days and rest one day. Note that God made this seventh day holy. This is the first appearance of the word translated as ‘holy’ (Hebrew word ‘yeqǎd·dēš’’,[3] also ‘qãdaš’ or ‘qadash’ for the verb and ‘qō’·ḏěš’[4] or ‘qodesh’ for the noun) in the Bible. The verb refers to being set apart, something or someone is pronounced holy to be of service to God or set aside for His purpose. The noun conveys the thought of being separated from the world and its influence, making one ‘peculiar’ from a world’s stand point. It is hard to define without sounding circular in reasoning, but in simple terms, someone or something is holy after being made holy. The verb can also be translated sanctify and consecrate, referring to God ordained processes for making something or someone holy. So why would a day of the week be set aside for the service of God? Later we will see that the seventh day, our Saturday, will become an important component of God’s Law given to Moses (the Sabbath, see commentary under Exodus 16:22-23).
Considerations
The heavens and earth have been completed, and everything in the universe is done and it is good. If God says it is good, the only One whose opinion matters says it is good, then it is truly good! That means at that point in time everything was without problem, struggle, or pain. No disease, no pollution, no death and no sin! That could also mean that there were no fallen angels either.
Just because the text does not refer to or directly mention the end of the seventh day, does not mean that the seventh day (period) is still continuing, as some advocates for the Day-Age theory proclaim.
The First Generation
As mentioned earlier, the second chapter of Genesis will address, in greater detail, the events of the sixth day. While it does not contradict the account in the first chapter in any way, it does give us some added information.
In the fourth verse we are introduced to what is known as the proper name of God, often referred to as His ‘covenant’ name, as it is thought to have been formally given to Moses at the burning bush (believed to be a derivation of the phrase, “I AM WHO I AM,” Exodus 3:14). Many readers of the Bible are unaware of this name, as it is rarely translated. Most English language Bibles simply use the word ‘LORD’ in all capital letters instead attempting to use His proper name. The Hebrew name is represented by the Hebrew letters ‘yod’ (‘Y’), ‘he’ (‘H’), ‘waw’ (‘W”) and ‘he’ (‘H”), scholars refer to it as the Tetragrammaton (a word that means, consisting of four letters). Tradition tells us that any reference to God was so highly regarded and respected (see Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 28:58) that any reference to God would only be written without vowels and never be spoken. Since ancient Hebrew does not have any vowels (the language now includes vowel markers to aid in understanding and vocalization), the vowel sounds were never written and since the name was never spoken, we really are not absolutely sure on how to pronounce the name. Scholars through the years have used names like ‘Jehovah’, ‘Yehovah’, ‘Yahweh’, ‘Yehōyāh’, etc. The word can be found nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament.
2:4 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. 5 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, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—
This is the first of ten times the word ‘generations’ is used (Hebrew ‘ṯô·leḏôṯ’’,[5] ‘toldot’ or ‘toledoth’) in the book of Genesis. The word depicts the basic life history of someone including their offspring. When found in the plural, it is used to outline chronological history through successive generations in one family or a broader group of people by lineage. Here, for its first use, the word essentially takes in account the history of the created world (see Genesis 2:4-4:26). The other nine ‘generations’ listed in Genesis are: Adam (see Genesis 5:1-6:8); Noah (see Genesis 6:9-9:29); the sons of Noah (see Genesis 10:1-11:9); Shem (see Genesis 11:10-26); Terah (see Genesis 11:27-25:11); Ishmael (see Genesis 25:12-18); Isaac (see Genesis 25:19-35:29); Esau (see Genesis 36:1-37:2) and Jacob (see Genesis 37:2-50:26), each delineated with the phrase “these are the generations.” Remember that the use of original language words is always consistent[6], to interpret the word ‘generations’ as being an arbitrary or extended period of time, such as what the word ‘era’ implies, would not be consistent with subsequent applications of the word.
The “second account” of creation (or ‘inset’)[7] begins with verse four. With the emphasis of this account of the events being the sixth day, verses 4-6 summarizes the first five days of creation. The author describes that after the heavens[8] and earth were created and before any plant life appeared, there was no rain (which likely came much later but by the time this account would have been read, rain would have been commonplace)[9] And since there was no human to “work the ground,” God created a mist that came up from the ground that watered the whole face of the ground in preparation of the various forms of vegetation.
Note that the word ‘day’ in verse four is the first use of the Hebrew word ‘yom’ that does not refer to a specific 24-hour period or “night to day” cycle, referring to creation, the beginning of time.[10]
2:7 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.
God used the “dust from the ground” to construct man’s body. Perhaps this explains why our bodies are made of the same materials that are easily found all over the earth. Even though man was given the same “breath of life” as the animals received, here we read that God, after forming man from the dust, personally breathed into man’s nostrils to bring him to life.
Considerations
Science calls the process of water evaporation, cloud formation, and rain the ‘hydrologic cycle’, an oversimplification but you get the point. The hydrologic cycle that began after creation was potentially very different from the cycle we experience today. The Bible often describes and thereby verifies our current hydrologic cycle (see Job 28:24-26; 36:26-29; Psalm 135:6-7; Ecclesiastes 1:6-7; Isaiah 55:10-11). However, it appears that the hydrologic cycle is different at this time, as the text informs us that there was no rainfall, adding further support to the canopy theory.
Many wonder why God used dust to first form man instead of just a straightforward creation (not saying that anyone actually can truly understand how a normal straightforward creation is performed). Wondering just leads to speculation, which is fine if we don’t allow our speculations to be more important than what we know to be true. The apostle Paul wrote in his first epistle to the church in Corinth, “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49) Paul is referring to Jesus as the last Adam. Mankind was made from dust, so we are therefore, lack of any other term, we are ‘living dust’, Paul contrasts that to Jesus, the man of heaven, the living God. That presents a huge gap between us and God, from living dust to living God, yet God is the One that closed that gap, so that we can be with Him.
There is another variation of the Tetragrammaton found in the Masoretic Text (first Old Testament Hebrew text compiled with vowel sounds), same Hebrew letters, but potentially different pronunciation, it is most often translated as ‘GOD’ (all caps).[11] The shortened version ‘Yah’[12] (or the letters ‘yod’ and ‘he’) is seen over 70 times in the Old Testament, this two-letter Hebrew name is typically found in poetry, while most often translated and depicted as ‘LORD’, it can be found transliterated as ‘Yah’ in some Bible versions.
It is interesting to note that there remains significant discussion whether the third letter should be called a ‘vav’ or a ‘waw’ (depicted as ‘YHVH’), a constant, picking up a ‘V’ sound, instead of the double ‘U’ or ‘W’ sound (making it a vowel). The discussion is fueled by something Josephus wrote when he was describing the Jewish High Priest’s headpiece: “A miter also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name [of God]; it consists of four vowels.”[13]
The Garden of Eden
2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Previously we were told that the whole world had been placed under man’s dominion (see Genesis 1:26, 28) plus we also know that everything was good. Now we read that God planted a garden, a special place for man to call home. It is interesting to note that God once again gets directly involved with His creation; He plants a garden. While we may not be able picture in our mind’s eye, God holding a shovel or seeing Him get His hands dirty, He nonetheless planted a garden so incredible that the name is still a metaphor for beauty and perfection. The name ‘Eden’ carries the meaning of pleasure, luxury, and delight.
The text says that God, “put the man” in the garden, so apparently man was created at some other location. It would have been amazing to not only watch the trees spring up, but see such diversity that were all pleasant to see and taste!
Almost as if following a film director’s cue, the text zooms past all the incredible and beautiful plant life showing up to focus on two trees. One called the “Tree of Life,” which is found in the center of the garden, and the other known as the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” There is nothing more mentioned about these trees until verse 17.
2:10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Before continuing we need to understand that the world’s geography at this time before the flood, was very different than what we know about today’s or even distant past world geography. Land masses and rivers would change dramatically after the worldwide flood. The names are the same, perhaps given to post-flood rivers and locations as a way to honor or memorialize the pre-flood world, but they are not the same rivers or locations. Needless to say, the location of the Garden of Eden, cannot be determined using current river configurations.
It should not surprise anyone to see a river coming out of Eden since a source of water would have been necessary without any rain. That river sounds like it may have been sizable as it later separated into four other rivers. The names of the four rivers are given as the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris (Hebrew ‘ḥid·dě’·qěl’ or ‘hiddekel’, identified in the Septuagint as the Tigris River), and the Euphrates (Hebrew ‘perāṯ’ or ‘pârath’, identified in the Septuagint as the Euphrates River).
The Pishon River is described as flowing around the whole land of Havilah, and the Gihon River as flowing around the land of Cush. The phrase translated in the ESV as “is the one that flowed around,” in both cases found here in the text, we find the Hebrew word ‘sǒ·ḇēḇ’’,[14] a verb that means to go around or to surround, not necessarily encircle. The land of Havilah (the exact meaning is unknown, but some compare the word to a similar word that means ‘sand’ or ‘dunes’). Later in Genesis we will see that the one of the sons of Cush and one of the sons of Joktan were named Havilah (see Genesis 10:7, 29), plus it was the name of a city, although the exact location is unknown, not related to this location. We read that the gold in Havilah was good and that one could also find bdellium (an aromatic resin, whose appearance was later compared to manna, see Numbers 11:7) and onyx stone. Since Cush had five sons, their territories or settlements associated with them, appear as far north as the southeast Mesopotamia and as far south as the upper Nile territory in Egypt (the present-day land of Ethiopia). We also see the familiar names of the Tigris River, the River Euphrates and Assyria, again these and all other names and locations do not relate or correspond to anything after the flood in Noah’s day. Besides, the Tigris River flows on the west side of what we call Assyria, not the east.
2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God then assigned the man, the task of taking care of his garden home. He was also told to ‘keep’ the garden, a word in the Hebrew (’šǒm·rā’’)[15] that can also imply watching over or guarding it, although there is nothing to guard it from at this point.
God then called the man’s attention to the abundant food source all around him. He was free to eat of any tree of the garden, as much as he wanted, but there was one tree that he was not allowed to eat. He was restricted from eating the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That was the only restriction, even the “tree of life” was not off limits, just the one forbidden tree.
Considerations
Among what we might call a lush garden, God focuses on two fruit-bearing trees; the “Tree of Life” and the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” We read that the “tree of life” was in the center of the garden. The fruit of this tree, if eaten, would, as described in Genesis 3:22, provide the one who is eating, eternal life. However, at this time, before death and sin were introduced, there would not have been any change to the one eating of its fruit. While it may be strange to us to think of the concepts of a life-sustaining tree or one that provides knowledge, there is no reason to think that these were not literal trees. We also find the “tree of life” and various trees in Scripture that provide a wide range of remedies and healings (see Ezekiel 47:12; Revelation 22:2 and used as metaphors in Proverbs 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4).
Why a tree? We can only speculate as to why God chose to use the fruit of a tree for the basis of what might be described as a test of obedience. Could a fruit actually do as what is described? Absolutely, if God desired. This is not something that man will ever be able to emulate or create, nor fully understand.
Since God is the Creator of language and the written word, it would seem that He would be the ultimate author. Most authors use a wide variety of literary devices, and we should not expect God to be any different (see Appendix 1). One literary device, when used properly, can be very powerful and persuasive, and that is the ‘model’ or ‘type’. The subject of a model or type can be a person, thing, position, symbol, or event that is used as a foreshadow or precursor of the future. The Bible contains several models, especially in the Old Testament pointing to people or events in the New Testament. Pastor and commentator John MacArthur points out that, “Types are frail illustrations at best. They are analogies, and, like all analogies, they correspond to the person or thing to which they are compared only in certain ways—perhaps only in one way.”[16] In Genesis chapter three we will see that the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” will be right in the middle of man’s disobedience to God. Sure, it wasn’t the fruit or the tree that was responsible for man’s disobedience, but it played a central role. Now let’s fast-forward to the crucifixion of Jesus, who died on a tree, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) The problem of sin started with the fruit of a tree and ended due to the fruit from a different tree (the cross). “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22) The offering of first fruits is an important part of God’s Law (see Exodus 23:16-19; 34:26; Leviticus 2:12; 23:9-14, 15-22; Numbers 18:8-24; Deuteronomy 18:1-8; 26:1-11; Nehemiah 10:35; Ezekiel 44:30),[17] which is another model that points directly to Jesus, “by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:23b)
There has been great debate regarding what God meant about death here in chapter two. Issues such as why didn’t the man not immediately die when he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree? Did God have pity on the man? Did man understand what God meant when He said, “you shall surely die?” Much is still debated today. First, what would Adam know about death? If the man understood the language, which is clear that he did, the Hebrew word ‘mǒṯ’[18] means to die or be put to death, while the man would not have experienced death firsthand, there is no reason to support he had no clue what it meant. So, why didn’t he die immediately? The penalty was not death as we might call a death penalty today; the penalty was that he could die. Man was created to live forever, but now all that changed. This man and all of mankind could now die, even though this man’s death would not occur until he was 930 years old!
Do you remember our discussion in Considerations at the end of the sixth day of creation regarding the body, soul, and spirit? Now we see that death has two types of death, 1) a physical death, the destruction or death of the body, and 2) what we might call a ‘spiritual death’, essentially the end of the non-physical component of humanity (condemned to hell away from God for eternity (see Revelation 20:6; 21:8). When man first disobeyed God (see Genesis 3:6) spiritual death began immediately, instantly creating a separation between God and man. Even though the man did not die physically right there in the garden, mankind would now experience death (see Romans 5:12). It may be difficult to accept, but we need to realize that death is both a punishment and a ‘benefit’ as it prevents mankind from remaining in a fallen (less than perfect) state for all of eternity. While the idea of death is certainly not appealing, God has a different ‘destination’ in mind for humanity, something beyond our comprehension and truly glorious for those that accept Jesus as their Savior (see Romans 6:23).
In conclusion, we are taught that humanity will experience two deaths. The first one sheds our imperfect bodies, and the second death punishes us for our disobedience by sending us to a place that is far away from God. However, God loved us and sent His Son Jesus to die on our behalf (see John 3:16; Romans 5:12-21) and all we need to do is trust and believe in Jesus and the second death will be avoided (see Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 11-15; 21:8).
Not Good to Be Alone
2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
It is interesting to note that all the animals had been created as both male and female, each with the instructions to multiply on the earth (see Genesis 1:22-24), but man was alone. However, shortly afterwards, God proclaimed that man should not be alone and further proclaimed that He was going to create a companion for him.
2:19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
Since man was given responsibility and oversight over the animals (see Genesis 1:26), God gave the man the task to name all of the animals. Some people stumble over verse 19, thinking that the text contradicts the creation account in chapter one (birds and fish on the fifth day, the other animals and man on the sixth day), this verse is not contradicting that account, it simply states that God was the creator and that He had formed them out of the ground. The process of naming the animals, as recorded here is verses 19-20, occurred after the week of creation. After God arranged for the man to personally inspect the animals, we are told that none of them were suitable companions for him. This is not to say that God was looking for a companion for the man from the animals, that was not their role nor their purpose. This was another proclamation (see verse 18) that man was alone, a statement that introduces the next subject, the creation of the woman. Note that this the first time the Hebrew word ‘ā·ḏām’ is translated as the proper noun, ‘Adam’ and not man. Bible translations vary on how the word should be translated, see Considerations below for additional discussion.
2:21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
To remedy Adam from being alone, God placed the man into a deep sleep and removed one of his ribs (Hebrew ’ṣē·lā’’,[19] meaning ’side’, found 40 times in the Old Testament, only this once is the word translated as ‘ribs’). God then took the rib (or side) and made (Hebrew ‘yi·ḇěn’’,[20] meaning to build or rebuild) a woman. Once the man was awake, God brought the woman to him.
2:23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
When the man saw the woman and knowing that she was made from a part of him, he calls her ‘woman’, (Hebrew ‘iš·šā(h)’’,[21] depending on context can also mean ‘wife’) since she came from man. Here the text, instead using the word ‘ā·ḏām’ for ‘man’, uses the Hebrew word ‘̛îš’,[22] (the counterpart to iš·šā(h)’) for the first time in Scripture, generally referring to a male or more specifically, a husband (although it appears that the use of both iš·šā(h)’ and ̛îš’ are not limited to just human beings, see Genesis 7:2).
2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
When Jesus taught on the subject of marriage, He often referred to this verse (see Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12). Both He and the apostle Paul (see 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31) considered these passages as historical and true; so should we, as they certainly are not allegorical.
The term “one flesh” means that a marriage couple is no longer two people with separate needs, issues, and concerns, they are one. As they leave the protection and guidance of their parents, they are to begin a new family. The new 'unit' slowly and ultimately takes precedence over all other relationships.
2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
We might consider Adam and Eve the ideal couple in an ideal world, as this pre-sin scenario was truly innocent with no concept of sin or guilt. The author does not say they should have been ashamed, just the facts that they were naked and that neither one experienced shame, a condition that will change in the next chapter.
Considerations
The Hebrew word ‘ā·ḏām’[23] is a noun that refers to a male human being, or generically to the entire human race. The word can also be used as a proper noun (such as the name for the first man), depending on context. Although, English Bible transitions do not always agree as to when the word should be translated ‘man’ or when the name ‘Adam’ should be used. The root or etymology of the word remains uncertain, however, it seems that the author is making some form of wordplay about Adam being taken from the ground, since the word used for dirt or ground is the Hebrew word ‘ǎḏā·mā(h)’[24] (for example see Genesis 1:25; 2:5-7, 9, 19; 3:17, 19, 23; the word is used over 200 times in the Old Testament).
God uses marriage throughout the Scriptures to describe the most intimate of all personal relationships. Perhaps this is why marriage has been challenged by many today. Since the fall of man (see Genesis chapter three), marriage has been in trouble. We know that God does not like divorce (see Malachi 2:15-16; 1 Corinthians 7:10), even though He allows divorce (see Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which Jesus explains why in Matthew 19:1-12). And we know that God designed both fit and function of man and woman to work only one way (as explained and warned in Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27), nevertheless, mankind continues to treat marriage as a temporary, non-binding, insignificant action as well as continually attempt to redefine the players and parameters to suit one’s lusts and desires.
We read here that children are to be subject to their parents up until the time when they are ready to start their own families, then as bride and groom themselves they leave their parents and become “one flesh” from that day forward. This institution of monogamous marriage is part of God’s design, necessary for the continuation of mankind.
Since marriage is the model for the greatest and most intimate of all relationships in the Bible, the bride for Christ is the perfect term for His church (see Revelation 21:9). When the work of the church is finished, God will bring the bride to His Son Jesus, and they will be forever joined to together (see John 14:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 19:7-9; 21:1-4).
Act One Scene One
At this point, creation is done and everything was considered very good by God. What does that mean? In a nutshell, from our perspective there was nothing wrong, no pain, no disease, no agony and no death. That’s right, no death; none for both man and beast. Referred to as being from our perspective because we really cannot relate to this, since all we can relate to is from a post-sin, post-curse, world. Everything would indeed be great! It probably would be safe to even suggest that everything, including mankind, was perfect.
Today, however, is a different story. One thing is certain, we can’t say everything is very good. We see a world that is “fraying around the edges,” physically run down and wearing out. Animals don’t get along with other animals (wild animals struggle for survival), diseases taking their toll, rampant poverty, and hunger, one natural disaster after another, etc. We also find today people who are full of hatred, animosity, selfishness, corruption, envy, etc (it appears the apostle Paul got it right, see 2 Timothy 3:1-9). It seems that no matter which way you look you will find struggle, strife, death, and evil. What happened? Did God create all these problems too? While questions regarding the nature of sin, death and evil are considered difficult questions in philosophy, the answer to this question is actually very simple, no! So where did all this come from? Us! Man disobeyed God and as the result of man’s sin against God, things have been moving away from the world that once was called very good.
Couldn’t God fix the problem? Yes, and He did, but some don’t like the way He fixed it, so they debate with God. Whenever someone with a finite mind debates someone with an infinite mind, well, it doesn’t require an infinite mind to see the futility in that! There is always someone who is going to ask one of those seemingly impeccably logical questions like: If God is omnipotent and holy, why does He permit such things? If God is a loving God, how can He allow suffering? How could evil ever have appeared at all? And the list goes on. Unfortunately, many Christians do not know how to answer questions like these and as a result end up not sharing the gospel message because they fear that they might be asked one of those “difficult questions.” Atheism is largely founded on the pessimistic belief that our evil world proves either that God is not good or is not omnipotent.
God is indeed omnipotent, and He is most certainly righteous. The problem is not with God, the problem is with man. Paul in his epistle to the church in Rome, tells us that since man willingly exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idolatry, exchanged natural relations for the lusts of their hearts or did not see fit to acknowledge God, that God gave them up to a debased mind. In other words, if one denied God, He let them go and do whatever they wanted to do; He was not going to stop them (see Romans 1:18-32).
So, again, what happened and how did this all get started? In the next chapter of Genesis, we will read the story about what is often referred to as the “Fall of Man.” This story should never be compromised and certainly never trivialized, which has been the case with many so-called Christian organizations and denominations. Without chapter three in the Bible, we might next ask why we need a Savior? Paul, later in the same epistle, wrote: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Man sinned by disobeying God, and God’s solution to this massive problem for humanity was to send His Son to live a sin-less life, suffer, die on a cross, and rise to life again, thereby fulfilling all of God’s requirements, without cost to us, to be saved. This is how God fixed the problem of man’s sin, man could not fix it, only God could. Jesus did all the work. All we must do is to accept the fact that we are sinners, repent of our sin, and accept Jesus as our Savior, having faith that when we die, or when He comes back, that He will do as He promised, allowing us to live with Him for eternity.
If the Bible was divided into acts and scenes, the creation of a perfect world would certainly be the first act with the first scene introducing people that have no problems nor any worries. Too perfect? Actually, probably yes. How can you test the loyalty or love of someone without some form of conflict to truly test that love? That comes in the next scene!
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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 6635.
[2] The counts are based on the number of times these words appear in the ESV, 2016 edition. According to their preface, the ESV is based on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (5th ed., 1997)
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 6942.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 6944.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew 8435.
[6] See Bible Study Tip No. 1 found after Genesis 1:2 regarding Expositional Constancy.
[7] See commentary under Genesis 1:31.
[8] See commentary under Genesis 1:1 regarding the use of the plural word.
[9] See Considerations under Genesis 1:6-8 regarding the Canopy Theory and the Considerations below regarding rain.
[10] See Considerations under Genesis 1:2 regarding “What is a Day?”
[11] Strong’s Hebrew 3069.
[12] Strong’s Hebrew 3050.
[13] Josephus, F., & Whiston, W. (1987). The works of Josephus: complete and unabridged (p. 708). Hendrickson.
[14] Strong’s Hebrew 5437.
[15] Strong’s Hebrew 8104.
[16] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Hebrews (p. 172). Chicago: Moody Press.
[17] See also commentary under Leviticus 23:9-14 and Considerations under same section regarding “Easter Sunday.”
[18] Strong’s Hebrew 4191, word is listed twice sequentially, the second being tā·mûṯ’ which is a “second person” verb emphasizing God is speaking to Adam.
[19] Strong’s Hebrew 6763.
[20] Strong’s Hebrew 1129.
[21] Strong’s Hebrew 802.
[22] Strong’s Hebrew 376.
[23] Strong’s Hebrew 120.
[24] Strong’s Hebrew 127.