Season 3 Episode 10 Genesis 2:4-25
Sue’s Notes:
Genesis 2:4-25
1)Who are You God?
2)What are You like?
Chapter 2: Not a linear account but more detail of the Creator, Yahweh Elohim, and His interaction with His creation. More about who He is and His desire for relationship with what He made! Relationship of God with human and the first interaction of that, and the beginning of human to human relationship in God’s Presence, under His Guidance.
Springs came up! Started Genesis 1 with the Spirit of God hovering over darkness (chaos waters), changing and giving boundaries to waters. Genesis 2 opens with Land and no water but springs under the land! Water now needed for growth!
Man made from dirt. Hebrew is Adam (name for all humanity, man, and name given to first man) from Adama (Hebrew for ground/dirt). Actually we are dust (fine particles) from the ground, even smaller! English is Human from Humus. Springs come up to water the land and dust, sounds like clay. Clay statue formed by Yahweh Elohim that He breaths into. God is the Breath of Life. His Breath brings life!!! He is the Potter we are the clay that is formed into His design. Relationship starts with Him as our Creator. His breath in us gives life. He forms us, gives life to us. Isa 64:8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Garden planted in Eden, places the man he made in this garden where He had made all sorts of trees grow up, trees that were beautiful and produced delicious fruit. Garden of Eden place God created for us to be with Him in His Rest, in the completion and wholeness, very goodness of what He has made.
Many trees but 2 in particular that we focus in on, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which He placed in the center of the garden. Both in the category of beautiful and having delicious fruit. All of the trees God made are good! Even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything God makes is good.
Then we hear about all of these rivers? Why? From the Springs under the ground, now there is a river that flowed from Eden to water the garden! Watering all of the beautiful trees! The trees that were made to stand strong, be deeply rooted along the river and produce good fruit. River of Life-Revelation 22:1-2. Where we began is where God is bringing us back to. On each side grew a tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit-nation of Israel, God’s people. Jesus is the river of life, tree of life through which His people bear fruit. Leaves of that tree bring healing to the nations!!!
River watering the Garden and flowing out, dividing into 4 branches. River Bringing Eden-life to other places.
Pishon- means Increase/gusher/overflowing! Havilah is on the way to Egypt. Precious stones and the resin, that is word, bdellium, only seen again to describe the appearance of manna God gives to feed His people. The bread!
The Gihon means bursting forth. Land of Cush. Possibly the spring that enters Jerusalem and provides water to the Temple.
Tigris means gushing/rapid and Euphrates means fruitfulness. Both of these associated with Babylon and are still there today with the same names. All places that Israel would go where God would bring little Edens through them. Multiply, increase and be fruitful. Rivers are flowing Eden out, Flowing life, through the Tree of Life. God places Israel in places and tells them to be fruitful, multiply and fill and be a blessing there! Be little Edens there.
Springs are a gift of Eden popping out of the ground! So many things in the bible happen around springs, wells. Water of Life!!! Rebekah is met by Isaac’s servant, Jacob meets Rachel, Gen 49:25 (blessing), Exod 15:26 (twelve springs Israelites camped near after God changed bitter water of Marah), Deut 8:7 (God bringing into good land with deep springs), Psa 104:10 (He makes water pour from springs). Isa 41:18, Jesus returns to Jacob’s well and meets the Samaritan woman John 4,
Rev 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.'[fn] ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Jesus, The Source of River of Life flowing from the throne of God Rev 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 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.
The Man given a command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If he eats of that tree, he will surely die. Tree itself is not evil as everything God made is good. Beautiful, with tasty fruit like the other trees God had made. God gives the command and gives man a choice, free will. Love gives a choice. The tree is not evil, just like money is not evil, but greed for money is the root of evil. God gave the command knowing man was not equipped to handle that knowledge, fully all at once. He didn’t make man to be gods, but made man in His Image. To have thoughts and feelings, ability to make choices and to be able to carry out what God asks, ruling animals, subduing earth, in relationship with God. Made man lower than the angels or lower than Elohim, gave them charge of everything He made. Ps 8. And yet vs 2-He brings praise from infants and children, silencing His enemies. Through the weak, You show yourself strong! Choice was to stay in position He gave, relying on God or to take fruit and gain god status of having all knowledge now and be own gods. Stay in relationship with Him and let Him reveal what we need to know when we need to know it or take now.
Interesting that He give this command to the man before making the woman. He gave the man the responsibility to tell Eve what He had said, or so we assume, we aren’t told how she would know this command.
Then He says the man should not be alone, not good. Interesting that the word for alone here in Hebrew is BAD. I think it’s not a coincidence. God forms animals from the ground and brings them to Adam. Relational as God brings them to Adam and invites him to name the animals! That is their name!!! Whoa! There is the first place of man ruling the animals and subduing the earth in relationship with God. Still no helper in animals that was just right.
God had the man go through this naming process before creating the suitable helper for him. He knew it would be woman. God made Man and woman in His image from Genesis 1, and this is the process of that happening. Man had to go through all the animals on earth first and see none of them were a suitable helper for him! Maybe man seeing the animals come before him, like Noah, male and female and seeing he did not have a compliment like these did. But knows no suitable helper there
Ezer Kenegdo: Helper that is suited for. Aid, Ally that is a compliment, facing, in front of
Ezer used to describe God, our strong Aid Deut 33:26,29
Psalm 33:20
Ps 70:5
Ps 115:9
121:2
And ezer is used of others that provide aid in times of struggle/peril. They are our allies.
God put the man in the garden to serve/tend and watch over/guard 2:15. Maybe this is why it was not good for the man to be alone. God knew what the man would be facing in the Garden, that a strong team would be good, both equipped by God that together they would be stronger than alone. Proverbs 31 confirms the attributes of woman, who God made woman to be! Vs 11 Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life! She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
God takes a rib, or side from Adam. Interesting that a side or rib has a mirror image, not identical, but compliment one another. From the side woman made, of same material and, also, in the image of God. Meant to walk along side, not behind or in front. Also made to face each other as compliments.
When Adam sees what God has created from his side, you can just hear how elated he is. 2:23 “At Last!!! This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. And in God’s Presence he names her, saying “She will be called ‘woman’ because she was taken from ‘man’”.
So this is where it gets amazing, mysteriously good. To this point the name for the man or human has been Adam in Hebrew. And now we have two new names, Hebrew “issa” is woman, wife, female. Woman opposite of man. Can be plural or single.
And this is the first time that the man is identified as ‘man’ the Hebrew word “is”. Adam is divided from one into two and in this now relationship with woman he is able to name himself as man. He was unable to fully identify himself until, in relationship with God, he comes into relationship with another human!!!!! God has made us to be in relationship with other humans, it is not good for him to be alone!!!!
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one! One is divided into two and the two are united through relationship with God and each other into one, returning to one flesh in relationship. I never really got how that explained why man leaves father and mother, flesh he was separated from and joins his wife. Adam sees this one has been made specifically for him and he can separate from his parents fully to fully join the one he fits together with to become one flesh. Yes, we become one in Spirit with other believers in Christ. But with our husband or wife we become one flesh in relationship having come from one flesh. Eph 5 details the God created, Spirit Guided relationship of husband and wife as God intended. Submitting to one another first out of reverence for Christ. It’s out of the relationship with God that right order in all other relationships come. Reverence, humility, submitting to God. Submitting to others in coming under them to elevate their needs above our own. It’s what Jesus did for us first, Greatest Servant of all! Eph 5 on husbands and wives ends with vs 31 AS the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
John 17
Eph 3:14-20