Chapter 2

THEME: The Sabbath Day; summary of the first five days of the restoration; man's creation; condition placed on man; woman's creation

 

Agreat principle of revelation occurs for the first time in this chapter, but it will be found again and again in the Word of God. It is one of the fingerprints of inspiration. It is the law of recurrence or the law of recapitulation. In other words, the Spirit of God, in giving the Word of God, has a practice of stating briefly a series of great facts and truths; then He will come back and take out of the series that which is all-important, and He will elucidate and enlarge upon that particular thing. He is going to do this now in chapter 2 with the six days of creation which were given in chapter 1. This same principle is seen in the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the interpretation of the Law after forty years of experience with it in the wilderness. Deuteronomy is not just a repetition of the Law, but rather an interpretation of it. Likewise, we are given not only one but four Gospels. Again and again, this procedure is followed throughout the Word of God.

The Sabbath Day (2:1-3)

In chapter 2 that which is lifted out of the six days of creation is that which pertains to man, and we begin with the Sabbath Day.

 

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

 

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

 

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made [Gen. 2:1-3].

 

Do not miss the importance of the Sabbath Day. What does it mean when it says that God rested from His work? Does it mean that God got tired, sat down to rest on the seventh day, and said that he had had a big week -- that He had worked more than forty hours, and that He wanted to rest? If you look at it like that, it is perfect nonsense. God rested from His work. When God finished His six days of work, He looked upon it and it was very good, and there was nothing else to do. Every time I leave my office for the day, I still have work all over my desk. I have never been able to sit down and say, "I'm through. I've finished it." But God did. At the end of six days, He rested the seventh day because His work was complete. This is one of the greatest spiritual truths there is. The Book of Hebrews tells us that as believers we enter into "rest" -- that is, we enter into His sabbath; we enter into His perfect redemption. He died on the Cross nineteen hundred years ago for you and me, and He offers us a redemption that we can enter into. Thus Paul can write: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). I do not even have to lift my little finger in order to be saved -- Jesus did it all.

 

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

-- Mrs. H. M. Hall

Summary Of The First Five Days Of Restoration (2:4-6)

Apparently, this vast universe we live in had been here for billions of years, but something happened to the earth and to a great deal of the creation. As a result, God moved in, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep, and there was brought cosmos out of chaos.

 

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens [Gen. 2:4].

 

Actually, the word "generations" means families. The Book of Genesis is not only the book of beginnings but also the book of the families. "These are the families of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens."

 

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

 

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground [Gen. 2:5-6].

 

All this was here long before man was here upon the earth, and we can now begin to discover the purpose of God in chapter 1. In chapter 1 God was preparing a home for the man whom He would make. God is now getting ready to move this man into a place that He has prepared for him.

Man's Creation (2:7-15)

In the first chapter we saw that there was nothing, and then the inorganic came into existence: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The next step in creation was the organic, that is, the creation of life. We saw that in verse 21 where it says that God created great whales and then all animal life. He created animal life, but apparently the plant life had not been destroyed, and at the time of the re-creation, the seed was already in the earth. I would not want to be dogmatic, but this would seem to be the implication here. God has told us very little in this regard. Then man is the next step in the creation. There is actually no natural transition, and evolution cannot bridge the gap that brings us to the appearance of Homo sapiens on the earth. The earth, therefore, was prepared for the coming of man.

 

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [Gen. 2:7].

 

This is the method of the creation of man, and again we are limited in what God has told us. Physically, man was taken out of the ground. It is quite interesting that our bodies are made up of about fifteen or sixteen chemical elements. Those same chemical elements are in the ground. The physical part of man was taken out of the dust of the ground. If we were to be boiled down into the separate chemical elements of which we are made, we would be worth very little in terms of money. I used to say $2.98, but inflation has increased that figure a little. That is the extent of our bodily worth because we were made out of the dust of the ground.

 

But man is more than dust. Physically, dust he is and to the dust he will return, but his spirit is going to God. Why? Because God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." God breathed into him "the breath of life." God gave man life which is physical or psychological, and then He gave him life which is spiritual. In other words, man now is brought into a marvelous relationship with his Creator. He has in his being a capacity for God. This is what separates man from all other creatures that are found in God's universe, as far as we know. Of course, there are the angels, but we know very little about them.

 

The theistic evolutionists say that mankind evolved up to this point, and then God began to work with this product of evolution. However, no form of evolutionary theory can account for human speech, it cannot account for human conscience, and it cannot account for human individuality. These are three things with which evolution has a little difficulty. It is mighty easy to take the bones of a man and compare them to the bones of some anthropoid, probably an ape, or to a horse. There is a striking similarity, I am sure, and yet there is a wide divergence also. I would expect that there would be a certain similarity because these creatures are to move in the same environment in which we move as human beings -- naturally, the chassis would have to be the same. For example, there is a very striking similarity between the chassis of a Ford automobile and that of a Chevrolet automobile, but you had better not say that to the Ford Motor Company or to General Motors! They will tell you that there is a wide difference between the two. But there is a very striking similarity when you see the chassis. You must begin with something fixed on which you can put four wheels, one on each corner, and it must be rectangular to a certain extent. Why? Because the Ford and the Chevrolet are both going to get stuck on the freeway at five o'clock in the afternoon. A car must be able to balance, and it must have a motor to move it. So you would have a similarity, but that does not mean they came out of the same factory. I feel that such an exaggeration has been made of the similarity between man and these other creatures. Man is a different creature. God breathed into his breathing places the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Man is fearfully and wonderfully made, and that is something which we need to keep in mind.

 

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed [Gen. 2:8].

 

I cannot tell you where the Garden of Eden is. I am sure it is somewhere in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley; in fact it may be the entire valley. Originally, that valley was a very fertile place, and it still is, for that matter. It is part of "the fertile crescent." At one time, the peoples inhabiting that region did not even plant grain there; they simply harvested it, for it grew by itself. It is probable that this area will someday become the very center of the earth again.

 

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil [Gen. 2:9].

 

These are unusual trees that are mentioned specifically, the "tree of life" and the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." I cannot tell you much about them because they are not around today; they have been removed from the scene.

 

The Lord God made "to grow every tree," and the trees, you will notice, were pleasant to look at and were also good for food. There was the beauty of them and the practical side of them; both were combined in them. Perhaps it can be compared to going into a furniture store and having the salesman say, "This article of furniture is very beautiful, but it's also very functional." That was the important thing in the Garden of Eden -- they had some beautiful trees, but they were also functional. In fact, they were very practical -- they were good for food. On this earth on which we live, we still see something of its beauty. In spite of the curse of the fall of man which is upon the earth -- the fact that it brings forth the thorn and the thistle -- there is still a beauty here. I remember the first time I visited the place called Hana on the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. It is difficult to get there, but as we drove down that road, I had never been in such fabulous, fantastic, and wonderful foliage in my life. It is beyond description. We made a certain turn and came upon a very scenic spot. We could look down that coast and see a little peninsula protruding. There were the coconut trees, the papaya trees, the hibiscus, the bananas, the bamboo; and among the coconut trees a little church stood which the missionaries had started. We just could not help but be startled by its beauty. In fact, so much so that as we stood there, I asked the tour group with me to pause and bow their heads in prayer, and a member of our party led us in prayer. We were just privileged to see that spot. My, the Garden of Eden must have been a beautiful place!

 

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

 

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold:

 

And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

 

And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

 

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates [Gen. 2:10-14].

 

The river in Ethiopia would be the Nile, and the Hiddekel would be the Tigris.

 

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it [Gen. 2:15].

 

This man had dominion, and the forces of nature responded at his beck and call.

Condition Placed On Man (2:16-20)

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

 

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die [Gen. 2:16-17].

 

It was not God's original intention for man to die, but man is now put on probation. You see, man has a free will, and privilege always creates responsibility. This is an axiomatic statement that is true. This man who is given a free will must be given a test to determine whether he will obey God or not.

 

Some expositors suggest that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was poison. On the contrary, I think it was the best fruit in the garden.

 

"For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Remember that man is a trinity, and he would have to die in a threefold way. Adam did not die physically until over nine hundred years after this, but God said, "In the day you eat, you shall die." Death means separation, and Adam was separated from God spiritually the very day he ate, you may be sure of that.

 

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him [Gen. 2:18].

 

There is a purpose in God's putting man in the garden alone for a period of time. It was to show him that he had a need, that he needed someone to be with him.

 

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof [Gen. 2:19].

 

Believe me, that man had to be a smart man to name all the animals. Some wag has said that when God brought an elephant to Adam and said, "What shall we call this one?" Adam said, "Well, he looks more like an elephant than anything else." And I guess he did!

 

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 for him [Gen. 2:20].

 

"An help for him" -- (the word meet should not be here) -- that is, one agreeing and answering to him, a helper as his counterpart, the other half of him. A man is but half a man until he is married, and that is very important to see. I am not here to promote marriage, and yet I would say that it is God's intention for both man and woman. The woman is to answer to the man.

Woman's Creation (2:21-25)

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 [Gen. 2:21-22].

 

The woman is taken from Adam, from the side of Adam. Dr. Matthew Henry said that God didn't take her from the head to be his superior, or from his foot to be his inferior, but He took her from his side to be equal with him, to be along with him. That is exactly the purpose: she is to be the other half of man. This is exactly what God meant when He said, "Wives, submit to your husbands." He means that she is to respond, to answer to him. A wife is the other part of him, the other half of him. He is only half a man without her.

 

Believe me, Eve was beautiful. Any woman today who is beautiful inherited it originally from mother Eve. There is no beauty that she did not have. She was a doll, let me tell you! And she was the other half of Adam.

 

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man [Gen. 2:23].

 

The word for "Woman" in the Hebrew language is very similar to the word for "Man." The word for man is ish, and the word for woman is ishshah. She is the other part of man and is to answer to him. God intended man to take the lead -- He created him first -- and He created woman to follow. The man is the aggressor -- God made him that way even physically -- and woman is the responder.

 

Do not tell me that a wife has to love her husband. God does not say that. God says that she is to respond to him. If he says to her, "I love you," then she is going to say right back to him, "I love you." When a man tells me, "My wife is very cold," that is a dead giveaway that he is not really the kind of husband he should be. If he is the right kind of husband, she will respond, because he is the one to take the lead.

 

Therefore shall man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh [Gen. 2:24].

 

In other words, the man is now subject to his wife in the sense that he is responsible for her, and he is no longer under the control of his father and mother.

 

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed [Gen. 2:25].

 

Although the Scriptures do not say so, I believe they were clothed with some sort of glory light. May I say, I think that this is the loveliest and the most precious account of the creation of woman and man. Here is a couple whom God really joined together. There are certain things which God has given to His people that they should obey, and God has given to the human race marriage. Marriage is one of the bands which modern men are trying to throw off: "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (Ps. 2:3). What is man trying to do? He is trying to get rid of God, because God is the One who established marriage.

 

The creation of woman was indirect creation, for God took her out of man to reveal the fact that she is part of man. Someone has put it like this: "For woman is not undeveloped man, but diverse, not like to like, but like in difference. Yet in the long years, 'liker' must they grow, till at the last she set herself to man like perfect music unto noble words, distinct in individualities, but like each other even as those who love." The story of creation of woman for man is one of the most beautiful stories.

 

The subjects of this chapter are quite wonderful: the creation of man, where he is placed, his occupation, the condition upon which he is there with a responsibility, his need for a companion, and then God's creation of woman. There is to be an identity between the husband and the wife, and God says, "Husbands, love your wives." This is the creation story.

 

The man who was the chaplain at Nuremberg Prison and dealt with men who had been Nazi chiefs has written of his experiences. Speaking of his last interview with Herman Goering, one of the very few who refused to accept Christ, Chaplain Gerecke says, "That evening, around 8:30 I had a long session with Goering -- during which he made sport of the story of creation, ridiculed divine inspiration of the Scriptures and made outright denial of certain Christian fundamentals." Less than two hours later he committed suicide. My friend, one of the ways to get rid of the alarming suicide rate is to let men and women know they are creatures of God who are responsible to their Creator. How important this is!

 

We have seen in chapter 2 man's kinship with God, man's worship of God, man's fellowship with God, man's service to God, man's loyalty to God, man's authority from God, and man's social life from and for God. This is the great message of this chapter.