Remsen Bible Fellowship; 10/29/2023
Introduction
Genesis is the book of beginnings. So far, in the past four weeks, we’ve covered the first 34 verses, the prologue. Prologues are important. They set the stage, they set expectations, they prepare you for what is to come. They give you the baseline assumptions upon which the rest of the work is built. But, now that we have those foundational assumptions in place, we move into the body of the book.
Man’s Importance
Genesis 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.”
First of all, I need to note the phrase, “these are the generations.” Six times in the first 11 chapters, and 12 times in the book as a whole, we will encounter this phrase. And it serves as the phrase that organizes the material which Moses is presenting. Remember that the Bible did not originally have chapter and verse numbers, and as a result those numbers are sometimes helpful and sometimes not. What is far more important for understanding the Bible are the internal ques given by the authors in terms of theme or even structure: parallels, chiasms, or what we have here: repeated words and phrases. The first “section” of Genesis falls from 2:4 through all of chapter four.
And what is interesting in this section is that it is described as “the generations of the heavens and the earth” pulling our minds back to 1:1, but then the focus is laid squarely on one aspect of this creation: the creation of mankind. What we’re being tipped off to at the very beginning is this truth: whatever happens in the heavens and the earth, man is going to be in the middle of it.
We already learned from 1:26-28 that man, unlike all the other creatures, is made in the image of God. And part of what this entails is his representation of God’s rule, which means that the fate of the world - heavens, earth, all of it - is intimately linked with what happens to the man and the woman. The fate of humanity has cosmic importance. Literally.
Man’s Purpose and Limits
In the following verses we read of the garden God created, and the special place of man within it.
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— 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. 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.
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.
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.”
Before we get to the central theme in this chapter, let me highlight this question: do the details of this account in chapter two contradict what we read in chapter one? Is Moses intending to convey in chapter two that all of this creation work of adding bushes and trees (v5) waited until after he had made man, when he had just said in chapter one that plants came on day three and people on day six?
Remember this principle of bible interpretation that I’ve shared before: the authors weren’t stupid. Moses wasn’t a dumb man. So the way we should read this is not to try and create contradictions, but rather to discern harmony. And it’s pretty easy to see that in chapter one we have the logical and orderly presentation of each step as a step. That’s not his method in the section beginning with verse four.
Rather, in verses five through seven we have Moses beginning to zero in on just how closely tied the rest of creation is to the creation of man. He’s not giving chronology now, he’s showing you how interrelated each piece of this creation is meant to be. There were all sorts of plants which, to be propagated, were going to require human effort. The land was meant, in some sense, to be worked. So while God had created a lush place, which the Latin Vulgate translated as paradise, there nonetheless was a lot of continuing work to be done - work which God formed the man to perform.
It’s also worth noting that throughout chapter one God is referred to by the Hebrew elohim - the generic term for God. Here in chapter two we see the first use of what will become known as the covenant name of God - Yahweh - indicated in our English bibles by the use of all upper case letters. When the two terms are brought together it seems to be an indicator that the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh Elohim, is the true Creator God and Lord over all of creation.
And this God, who determined to make man in his own image, formed man of the dust. And then he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and we’re told “the man became a living creature.” Other translations say, “a living soul.” Soul in the OT refers not to the immaterial part of a human, but to their whole being - body and spirit in unity, and that is what we see from the beginning. True life, by definition, includes both body and spirit. When God brought the breath of life to Adam, he became a living creature.
But he wasn’t just a living creature. He was a living creature with a purpose.
Verses 8-9 tell us that God planted a garden in Eden - which seems to indicate that the entire land was a paradise-like place, but that man was placed inside of a garden which God planted in this land. Some commentators suggest, rightly I believe, that this garden was on a mountaintop, given that the four rivers find their source, their headwaters, in that place (v10). This tracks with the suggestion I’ve made before that the garden of Eden was the first temple - ancient temples were nearly always situated on mountains for the obvious reasons that mountains, being higher in the air, seem closer to God.
At the center of this garden temple are two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And their central placement leads us to God’s purpose for man - and his one original limitation.
Man was to find life in ruling over God’s creation. First of all, the man was to work the ground. He was to subdue the earth, as we saw in 1:28 - fill, subdue, cultivate. The wilderness was meant to become a garden. The garden of Eden was meant to expand to all the land of Eden and then spill over into all the world, as the man moved from his original habitation here in the garden of Eden and filled all the earth with image bearers of the Almighty Creator God.
The other role the man is given is to keep the garden. This corresponds to what Genesis 1:28 describes as dominion, rule, or authority. It is to be exercised with a watchful eye, Adam is to keep guard of and watch over the garden, a responsibility which becomes very relevant in chapter 3.
Finally, in verses 16-17, we encounter the one rule or limitation upon behavior which was given to Adam: though he was free to eat of any tree in the garden, he was commanded to abstain from tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” That’s a pretty solemn warning.
This command is important. Not, first of all, because it will be broken - we know it was and continue to deal with the consequences thereof - but first of all for what it represents. I’ve said multiple times in the past few weeks that man is intended to exercise rule and authority over creation. We are clearly, in God’s visible world (excluding angels), above everything else that he made. This is a lofty and exalted position which God has given man.
But what this command reiterates is that we should not get a big head about this - because the authority humans are given is a delegated authority. We are not ultimately at the top. God rules and reigns over all the earth. And when he created man, it seems clear that this one command - this one no in an entire world full of yes - was meant to place Adam in a situation where he needed to exercise faith in the benevolent and wise rule of God over his life.
So, in these verses we see that the purpose of Man was to work and keep (cultivate and protect) the garden. He was to do this under, and as a reflection of, the authority of God.
Man’s Helper
But he couldn’t fulfill his calling alone.
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.” 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. 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. 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.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Verse 18 introduces us to the first problem we’ve seen since 1:2, when the world was described as formless and void, shapeless and empty. And the words “not good” really ought to stab at our ears when we’ve been reading in chapter one that over and over “God saw that it was good” “it was good” “it was good” “and God saw that it was very good.” But the man by himself? Not good. Definitely not good, God says.
But look at what he says next, because this becomes very key for understanding a biblical theology of marriage and manhood and womanhood: “I will make a helper fit for him.” He does not say I will make another one, he doesn’t say I will make a partner, he does not say I will make a companion. Rather, God determines to make for the man a helper, one who is fit for him.
What does he need help with? The job of working and keeping the garden, and subduing and ruling the earth. He can’t do this alone.
In verses 19-20, what we have is God showing to the man the desperate state of his situation, and in a sense causing him to see for himself that it is not good for him to be alone. And this is a reality that many men have needed convinced of ever since - that their life would actually be improved, not ended, by having a helper fit for the task.
We read of God forming the land animals out of the ground, which again, does not contradict chapter one. In chapter one it says that God speaks and that he made. What we find here in chapter this is what his word was doing. He was forming the material which God himself supplied - the earth - and fashioned from it living creatures. Then he brings these creatures to the man “to see what he would call them.” Notice the authority man is given here, as the naming is an act of lordship. How often in Scripture does God mark off someone for his purposes: and give them a new name in the process? Well, here in Genesis 2, Adam is the name-giver. God exercised his ruling authority through the naming actions of the man.
But as all of these creatures paraded past Adam, it became clear that none of them were fit to be the helper he needed. So God put Adam to sleep, in order to perform the most unique act of creation.
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.
Was Adam upset about this? I mean, if I woke up from a nap and was short a rib, there might be a sense of something awry, some disgruntlement. But whether Adam felt any loss over the rib or not, he certainly seems to have been happy with the compensation he received in return for that rib:
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.”
Do you notice how those lines are structured on the page of your Bible? The offset lines? What book of the Bible looks like that everywhere? Right, the Psalms. The style design is the Bible translator tipping you off to the fact that this is poetic language in the original. What we have here is the first human song, and it was a love song. The man saw the woman, and he could not help but overflow in song.
Notice three aspects of the song: First, he recognizes their sameness. “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” They are both the same type of creature. Unlike all the rest of creation, she was like Adam. Second, though, notice the distinction. “She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.” Her existence is from, or out of, his. She is recognizably different from him. Quite different. The difference is delightful, she’s not different the way the other animals are different. Her difference complements him, fits him.
The third aspect, though, is also significant: the man names the woman. We see the word woman in v22, as the author narrates the story for us, but her name is actually given by Adam in v23. And so we see that there is a dynamic of authority and responsibility within this relationship. To use later biblical language, Adam is the head of the human family. And this pattern is presented as both indicative for the rest of humanity in v24, and as a state of perfect happiness in v25.
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Implications
How does the creation of woman at the end of the chapter relate to the creation of man earlier on, and the description of Adam’s duties in the middle of the chapter? This chapter is about what it looks like for man to be the image of God. Man is formed by God, placed within the temple of the garden, and given the task of imaging or reflecting his Father, God. But he cannot do that alone. He cannot be fruitful and multiply alone. He cannot fully express what God is like alone, because God is eternally three divine persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and thus no lone individual can reflect the kind of love that is inherent to God’s eternal being. The man had to have a helper.
And so God formed the woman. She was formed from man’s side, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. A helper like him, fit for him. But also, clearly, a helper. She was created to help him in the task the Lord had assigned.
We tend to think of that term helper as derisive, derogatory, or disparaging. But in the Bible nothing could be further from the truth. At least seven of the seventeen times this word is used in the Old Testament it refers to God himself. For example, see Psalm 70:5, “But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!” When David wrote that, was he saying that he was greater and more powerful than God because God was his helper? No, you would have to be illiterate to read David that way. He’s looking to God for help, and this is honoring to God.
We’ll flesh this out more in weeks to come, but I think the basic pattern set in place by Genesis two is this: the man has a fundamentally outward focus, toward the mission God has given him. The woman has a particularly relational focus, toward those persons God has called her to help. These two dynamics are not mutually exclusive - the man’s role as keeper is going to require the wisdom of his wife and will require him having enough focus on the relationship to make sure that she is kept and cared for. And the woman will need to understand that the relationships she is focused on need to be strong in order that the mission God has given to humanity, and to her family, can be accomplished.
We can’t fully flesh that out today, but it’s going to be a recurring theme in weeks to come. I’m going to take a stab at a two sentence summary here, and then I want to conclude by looking at some words from Paul to demonstrate just how important this is.
The Image of God and purpose of man cannot be fully expressed and accomplished in just one sex. God designed the complementarity of man and woman, and the marriage covenant, to express something about himself that could not be seen or experienced alone.
Conclusion
Understanding Genesis 2 correctly gives us the creation context for a right understanding of the gospel itself. In Ephesians 5:31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Here, in his marriage instructions for the church in Ephesus, Paul reaches back to the beginning. But then he takes an unexpected turn in verse 32, when he says that the profound mystery of the man-woman union in marriage is not ultimately about the man and the woman. It’s about the gospel itself. When we come to Christ, we are brought into the covenant body of his church. And the church is taking part in a divine drama, with the role of: the wife. The church, corporately, is to submit to the Lordship of Christ. Jesus’ role, we learn earlier in Ephesians 5, was to sacrificially love - to the point of death - his bride, laying his life down for hers. He has real authority over the church, which she (we) must respect and obey. But that authority was not self-seeking, but was the glad assumption of responsibility for our sins.
What we will see in weeks to come is the necessity of these roles. We’ll see how the whole world is thrown into chaos when the roles are ignored. These may be hard words; challenging words. But these patterns of creation give us a grammar for understanding the very actions of Jesus in redemption. Which means it is worth sitting with some discomfort and learning what God has to say about our place and our roles as men and women in his image.
