Hello, welcome to the podcast, Bible Wisdom Today. My name is Stan Watkins.

The Bible has always been an important foundation for my personal faith, leading me to complete a Bible degree and enter Christian ministry, ultimately going with my wife and family to Europe for 6 years. There I served in the areas of Bible teaching and music. Since returning to the states, I have supported my local church as I have had opportunity, but now I would like a more regular outlet for teaching God’s word.

Understanding the Bible is not simply a matter of belief that it is God’s word. The Bible was written long ago, in a foreign language, within an alien culture, using unfamiliar literary styles. Today’s Bible student must overcome each of these obstacles. This podcast is for those willing to think deeply to discover God's wisdom for life today.

In our last episode, we spent an extended time examining the ancient cultural context, particularly the literature surrounding near eastern temple dedications. There we found the concept of a god coming to rest in his temple. Now he inhabited the statue which had been prepared for him, received the offerings of his followers and, in turn, helped them with their needs, such as fertility and abundant harvest. In a similar way, when the creator God comes to rest within the cosmic temple he has created for himself he can begin to work, managing his world and receiving our worship. This is a radical mind shift for us, but deeply meaningful in our day-to-day relationship with him.

As we make our transition from the opening hymn of Genesis 1 into the narratives of Genesis 2 and beyond, we find a second account of God’s creation. This story is distinct from the account of creation in chapter 1 in its focus on the place of mankind in God’s creation and our significance to our creator.

A father took his son to work with him one day. As the boy sat on one of the guest chairs in his father’s office, his legs swinging above the floor, he looked around at the various articles in his father’s office. He glanced out the window at the manicured lawn. He surveyed the walnut bookcase full of books and decorations and admired the artwork on the wall and the flow chart on an easel in the corner, but what really captured his attention was the name plate on the desk, personalized with his father’s name and title. After staring at it a long time he finally asked, “Dad?”

“Yes, son.”

“When did you decide you wanted to be the 3rd assistant to the 8th Vice President?

When we are children, we often have childhood dreams of what we want to be when we grow up. “I want to be a fireman.” “I want to be a doctor.” But as we grow, those dreams bump into adult reality. One choice leads to another and soon we may find ourselves living a totally different life than we had expected. When someone asks what kind of work we do we may reply, “I’m just a bookkeeper.” “I’m just a housewife.” “…just an office worker.” “…just a cleaner.” We still long for significance. God sees your heart and he is intimately involved with your life. When you long for significance, you are longing for something that God intends you to have. In fact, God has prepared for your significance from the dawn of time. This is the wonderful discovery we make in our story today.

Preview of the structure of Genesis

Let’s begin by reading Genesis 2:4.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
 Genesis 2:4

This verse is a transition from the introductory hymn to the creator, which we discussed in the last three episodes, to the first installment in the story of mankind and our relationship with our creator. You might immediately have recognized the chiastic structure here as I read this verse. Remember, chiastic structure is fashioned like the letter X. It ends the way it began. You can see that form if I simply read the main words:

·        Heavens and the earth

·        Created

·        Made

·        Earth and the heavens

Sometimes a chiasm will include an unmatched point in the middle where we find the main emphasis. In this case, there is no central point, but we still see the literary artistry of the author on display.

A second point that I would like to make is that this verse introduces a new name for God. In the first chapter of Genesis the word used for the powerful creator God is “Elohim,” translated in our English Bibles simply as “God.” From chapter 4 onwards God’s covenant name, “Yahweh,” becomes more prominent. In between, in chapters 2 and 3, the two names are merged 20 times as LORD God. In this way, the children of Israel were to understand that their covenant relationship with God began in the garden, not at Mount Sinai. In our English Bibles, most translations consistently represent the Hebrew name, Yahweh, with the English word LORD written in all capital letters. Unfortunately, this translation choice is only recognizable when reading from the printed page. When I read it, for example, you cannot know that “LORD” is written in all capitals. This understanding is further obscured by the translators using the same English word, Lord, written this time in lower case letters, to translate a different Hebrew word for God. This word, adonai, means “master.” We might hear it outside the Bible with this meaning in phrases such as “lord of the manor” or “lord mayor.” To reiterate, LORD with all caps is God’s personal name, Yahweh, but lord with lower case means “master.”

The final point I want to make in this verse, is that we can see, here, a preview of the structure of the entire book of Genesis. The opening words of this verse, “This is the account” is a recurring refrain that introduces each separate narrative section of the book, dividing Genesis into 10 sections. The primary noun, translated here as “account,” is the Hebrew word toledot, which is derived from a verb meaning “to give birth.” As a noun it is translated in various ways as “generations,” “account,” “history,” or “family history.” In some cases, what immediately follows is a genealogy, where “generations” makes sense. In other places, this introductory formula is followed by a story and translators sometimes decide to render it differently. This variety of translations, however, obscures the consistent use in Hebrew to indicate the structure of the book. The New International Version uses a uniform translation, “This is the account.” 

As we look further in Genesis, we can see that there are 5 sections which tell the human story before Abraham and 5 sections which tell the story of Abraham and his family. The first 5 sections cover a vast amount of time in a relatively small number of pages, laying the foundation for the stories of the patriarchs to come. The part of the book concerning Abraham and his descendants is much longer. Obviously, the author of Genesis wanted to emphasize the story of the family of Israel. At some point in the production of this book, the author or an editor added a majestic hymn to the creator as an opening overture before the narrative proper. This is where we begin today. 

This opening section of Genesis, the account of the heavens and the earth, contains four stories: the placement of man and woman into the garden of Eden, their disobedience and banishment from the garden, Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, and the genealogy of Cain. 

Significance of a God-crafted body

As promised, in this first story, today, we see several indicators of our significance to God. The first is the significance of a God-crafted body.

Let’s continue our reading of Genesis with verse 5.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 
 Genesis 2:5-7

Our author begins his description of the fresh, pristine world by distinguishing two types of land and two types of vegetation.[1] The earth, mentioned in verse 5, refers to the land surface of our planet, the dirt. This is open uncultivated land, in contrast to “ground,” which refers to agricultural land, dusty land, where man may farm with effort and irrigation. He also distinguishes two types of vegetation, plants and shrubs. The main difference seems to be that plants, both wild and cultivated, may be eaten but shrubs, often characteristic of arid regions, may not be eaten. 

The primary reason why there was no vegetation is that there was “no one to work the ground” (v. 5). This is a play on words, since the word for man here is adam, and the word for ground is adama. “There was no adam to work the adama. In fact the normal Hebrew word for an adult male is not used until near the end of this chapter. This play on similar sounding words is a favorite device among Hebrew writers.

A secondary reason for the lack of vegetation appears to be a lack of water. Actually, there was abundant water, since we read that “streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground,” but there was no one to channel the water to the crops. This expression “streams came up from the earth” only occurs here in the Bible and its meaning is difficult to determine precisely. Ancient Mesopotamian cosmology imagined a subterranean fresh-water ocean, which bubbled up through springs to water the ground. This understanding fits well the agrarian Mesopotamian setting of Genesis 2-4, where agriculture was dependent on controlling the annual floodwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates. This is a preview of man’s close relationship with the land which we see in the very next sentence.

“The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground.” Again, the word translated “man” is the Hebrew word adam. The use of adam in this section is ambiguous. It may mean an individual adult male, it may mean mankind, or it may be the name of a specific individual. The meaning must be determined by context, and it is not always easy. In this instance, it appears to refer to an individual adult male, “The LORD God formed a man,” but when we read later in Genesis 4:1 that “Adam made love to his wife,” this obviously is quite personal, and the translators appropriately used “Adam” as an individual name.

The word “formed” is a form of the word “potter.” It is a beautiful, intimate picture of God’s personal involvement in our beginning. Forming mankind from dust is alluded to in many places in the Old Testament, but it is also commonplace in other writings of the ancient world. We see examples of gods creating mankind out of clay in Mesopotamia in the Gilgamesh epic, in ancient Egyptian writings and in the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Genesis used the same ancient tradition to communicate the intimate care of our loving creator.

God forming man from the dust of the ground is a figure of speech which we call anthropomorphism, that is, ascribing human characteristics to God, even though the Bible is very clear that God is a spirit. This is a repeated feature in this story, where we find that God has hands to form a man like a potter, he has breath to breathe into man’s nostrils, he has feet with which to walk with mankind in the cool of the day, he has a voice with which to cry out “Adam, where are you,” and he ears with which to hear the silence of Adam’s non-response. These instances give the story power and make it memorable. For many, they also point to the author’s use of folklore to convey important theological truth.

Mankind was formed from the dust in God’s hands and the breath in God’s nostrils. Man receives his life from the life of God. In chapter one, God’s personal relationship with mankind was expressed with the metaphor of image, but in chapter two the same meaning is communicated with the image of breath. 

Other ancient peoples also regarded mankind as clay plus some divine element. The Babylonians believed that clay was combined with the blood of a god; Egyptians said that men had souls like the gods; and in Greece, Prometheus made man’s body from clay and gave it   life with divine sparks. When God breathed into him, “the man became a living creature.” He began to breathe on his own.

You and I are more than a God-shaped bit of earth. We received the gift of life from God himself. When you wonder whether you really have any value at all in the larger scheme of this world, remember that God has given you a God-crafted body. Your body is important to him. Each of us is made of dust. That should bring a certain humility; none of us is made of super-dust. Our significance comes from the one who made us.

Significance of a God-planted world

Another indication of our personal  significance to God is that we live in a God-planted world. God showed his abundant goodness to us by placing us in a beautifully complete garden. Listen to Genesis 2: 8-14.

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 
 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
 Genesis 2:8-14

The New International Version, which is what I generally read, translates this as “God had planted.” This is an effort to harmonize the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2. This is a common understanding that the account in Genesis 2 is basically an expansion of day 6 from chapter 1. Without going into details, it is better to understand Genesis 2 as a completely different story, perhaps an older story, than the Genesis 1 account. Both accou nts are given to teach us important truths about God, but neither are intended to be historical narratives. With that understanding, the better translation is simply “God planted,” as in the King James version and many others.

The word “garden” refers to enclosed land for cultivation. Early translations used the word “paradise,” a Persian loan word which originally meant a royal park. We should note that the garden was in Eden, not that the garden was Eden. This is the only occurrence of “in Eden,” which means “delightful.” Whenever Eden is mentioned in the Bible it is a picture of a fertile area, a well-watered oasis with large trees, which would be hugely attractive in the arid East. 

The garden is also described as “in the east” from the position of the author in Israel. This description may carry a meaning similar to Eden’s meaning as delightful. It is a God-blessed location, since the sun, whose light is often a symbol of God, rises in the east. In this way, the Garden of Eden is an archetypal sanctuary, the place where God dwells, prefiguring the later    tabernacle and temple.

God placed the man he had formed into the garden. Notice that God had formed the man outside the garden and then later placed him into the garden. This is the reverse of the order in chapter one, where God created the plants before mankind. This is another hint that we should not try to integrate these two creation stories but treat them as a separate accounts providing complementary theology.

“The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” This is an example of God’s extravagance. In the Bible, trees are symbolic of the life of God, since they remain green throughout the summer drought. Abraham often camped and worshipped near trees and God warned the children of Israel against following the Canaanites into idolatry, which they practiced “under every spreading tree” (Deut. 12:2). This connection between trees and life is also seen in the tabernacle, where the golden candlestick was likely intended as a stylized tree of life. 

The author of Genesis mentions two trees in particular, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ancient near eastern peoples often told stories about the pursuit of eternal life and this interest is reflected here, as well. The second tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will be pivotal in the story later, where we will examine its meaning in more detail.

Another picture of God’s blessing on his garden is the abundance of water and minerals. As mentioned before, the ancient mind conceived of the land floating on a subterranean ocean. Here we see that a river sprang up from the underground waters in Eden and flowed into the garden to water it, then flowed out from Eden and divided into four rivers to water all the land. More commonly, tributaries combine to make a larger river, but this may be an example of the author transforming common motifs to suit his own purpose.    The Life of God in the garden was the source of life everywhere else. 

The Psalmist captures this image of God’s life-giving presence in Psalm 46:4,

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 
 the holy place where the Most High dwells.
 Psalms 46:4

The author of Genesis names these four rivers, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. The last two, the Tigris and Euphrates are both mentioned near the beginning of the Atrahasis epic of Babylonia, and are still known to us today. The first two, on the other hand, are unidentifiable, although many have tried. Their two names may be descriptive, rather than geographical names, since the two names rhyme, Pishon and Gihon, and they mean “leaper” and “springer;” perfect descriptions of wild-flowing rivers. The first river receives the longest description concerning the land area it watered and the precious minerals found there. The mentions of gold and onyx remind us of the tabernacle and its furnishings, again presenting the Garden of Eden as a symbol of God’s presence. The names of the nations watered by the various rivers are also difficult to identify. Despite Eden’s unidentifiable location, the main point of the text is clear; the garden was beautiful, abundantly watered, and rich with minerals. This was the first home for mankind. The difficult geographic references may be the author’s way of saying that Eden is no longer accessible to us.

Significance of a God-framed purpose

Another way God satisfies our longing for significance is in the Significance of a God-framed purpose.

Let me read Genesis 2, verses 15-17

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.
 Genesis 2:15-17

Verse 15 picks up the thread of the story from verse 8, where we read “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” We see many of the same key words repeated here. This is a common feature of Hebrew writing signaling the end of a digression and the return to the previous topic. After his short side trip to discuss the four rivers flowing from Eden, the author returns to discuss the garden. God had a plan for mankind in his garden. He had work for people to do. We often think of work as drudgery, but that was not God’s original intention. God gave us work to provide purpose. It was only after mankind’s disobedience that work became toil.

This intention contrasts with the purpose of mankind found in the creation stories of the surrounding cultures. The Babylonian epics Enuma Elish and Atrahasis both recall the creation of man for the purpose of relieving drudgery for the gods. The biblical narrative gives no hint that God wants to off-load his work onto mankind. Rather, work is intrinsic to human life.

God placed man into the garden “to work it and take care of it.” Another translation might be “to serve and keep it.” The expression, “work it” is often used of cultivating the soil, but it may also be used in a religious sense of serving God, especially the duties of the Levites in the tabernacle. For example, we read in Deuteronomy 6:3,

Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

The second term, “take care of it,” also has a double meaning. Often it means to observe or guard for protection, but even more commonly it refers to observing religious commands and duties, including the Levitical responsibility for guarding the tabernacle from intruders. 

Leviticus 18:5 says,

Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them.

These two terms are juxtaposed here and in the priestly law, pointing again to the symbolic tie between Eden and the tabernacle

God had a purpose for mankind to serve and keep the garden. God also had a purpose for mankind to serve and keep God’s commandments in worship. That this intention was not just physical is shown in the fact that God immediately gives a command. 

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
 Genesis 2:16-17

The structure of this command matches that of the ten commandments, “Thou shalt not…” God’s prohibition gave people additional purpose in their work by adding the opportunity of loyal devotion to God, the work of obedience. God wanted humanity to love and obey him freely, not as pre-programmed robots. This command was given in the context of extreme liberality, but freedom without prohibition has no meaning. 

  What a wonderful gift of God! He gave us purpose for living and the opportunity to serve him by choice. In our world today, work comes in many forms beyond farming, but whatever we do, we use our creativity. Our work allows us to bring order out of chaos, beauty out of disorder. God values us enough to allow us to willingly share in his creative ambition.

Significance of God-blessed relationships

Another opportunity we have to find significance is in God-blessed relationships. Genesis 2, beginning with verse 18:

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a  helper suitable for him.” 
 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
 But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
 The man said,
 “This is now bone of my bones
 and flesh of my flesh; 
 she shall be called ‘woman,’
 for she was taken out of man. ”
    
 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
 Genesis 2:18-25

“It is not good for the man to be alone,” God said. What a startling observation, when contrasted with the repeated refrain “it was good…it was good” in chapter 1. This alerts the reader to the importance of personal companionship.

What was “not good” about man’s solitude?  He could talk with God, enjoy the beauty of the garden, eat its fruits, accomplish his daily work, and even play with the animals. What more could he want? To answer simply, he needed human company. Many of us were reminded of this basic need when we kept ourselves away from human interactions as much as possible during the Covid pandemic. It definitely was not good.

God determined that he would make a suitable helper for him. This word “suitable” literally means, “like opposite him.” The word “helper” does not imply any sense of servitude or subordination. After all, the same word is often used of God as our helper. Rather, his helper would encourage, assist, and provide support for what is lacking. God had given the man a job to do, and he wasn’t able to do it alone. 

Even though God saw the man’s need, he delayed providing the answer. First he brought the animals before the man to see what he would name them. The animals, like man, were created from the ground, yet they were not compatible as a helper. The mention of livestock among the animals seems deliberate. As domesticated animals, livestock might seem the most compatible for man’s helper, yet they are sadly inadequate. The word for wild animals is similar to the word for “life,” which later became the name for the first woman, but they were not suitable helpers either. “For Adam no suitable helper was found” (v. 20). 

The delay in God’s provision creates suspense. As the man names the animals, he learns firsthand how uniquely alone he is. Gradually, all the animals pair off and walk away leaving him alone. Now he appreciates what God has understood all along. In the goodness of creation, there is still one “not good” yet to be remedied. That remedy lay in God’s purpose for human relationship.

God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. In the Bible, deep sleep is often divinely induced and provides the occasion for divine revelation. Now God set to work. Traditionally, this event has been described as God taking a rib and making a woman, but this word “rib” generally means a “side” or “half.” In other words, woman was his missing half, equal in nature and spirit. This highlights the partnership between them. God built the side of the man into a woman and brought her to him. The man was remarkably passive in this introduction, which fits easily into a culture of arranged marriage. The woman was God’s love gift to him. God knew what was good for Adam. He didn’t make several women and then give him a choice. God knew what would be best for him.

After this divine introduction, the man breaks into ecstatic poetry:

This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man (v. 23).

He belongs to her, because she belongs to him. This first recorded word of the first man includes the first use of the normal Hebrew words for man and woman, ish and isha. “This, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” This is a traditional Hebrew kinship formula, similar to the English terminology “blood relative.  

The author then adds an explanatory remark “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh (v. 24)” applying the principles of the first marriage to every subsequent marriage. In Hebrew marriage relationships, the man usually continued to live near his parents. It was the woman who moved to his location. For this reason, it would be better to say that a man “forsakes” his parents rather than “leaves.”  In a society where honoring one’s parents was the highest human obligation next to honoring God, this remark about forsaking one’s parents is more striking. Before his marriage a man’s first obligations are to his parents; afterwards they are to his wife.

To be united with his wife means to stick to her like glue. This is a permanent union. The description “one flesh”, is not just the physical union, although it definitely is that, but marriage creates a new kinship relationship. The two become one family.

The author adds one final detail. “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” This describes the man and woman’s innocence in the garden and sets the stage for the drama of chapter three, where they will discover the shame of nakedness.

Do you long for a sense of significance? If you do, you long for something that God intended you to have. Hold up your hands in front of your face. God crafted your body for your benefit. Look at the beautiful world around you. God planted the world especially for your delight. Consider your work. God framed a purpose for you, to give you a reason to live, and a way to worship him by your choices. Look at your companions on your right and on your left. God blessed you with human relationships to provide help and camaraderie on your earthly travels. Praise God! The significance you long for, he has already provided.

Closing comments

In our episode today we began the story of mankind’s relationship with God. It all began so well, in a beautiful garden where God provided for all our needs, including our desire for significance. There were hints, however, that this perfection could be lost, and in our next episode we will see how that storyline played out. In the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and banishment from the garden, we will encounter our own disobedience and its resulting estrangement.

If you have found this podcast helpful, I would appreciate your help in expanding its reach. One of the best ways to assist is by recommending it to your friends. The easiest way to do this is to go to the podcast website, biblewisdomtoday.com, copy that link and then share it with your friend, along with your comment. Your personal recommendation is powerful. I look forward to spending time again with you, soon, along with your friends. Thank you for your help in growing this Bible Wisdom Today family.

[1] Wenham, G. J. (1987). Genesis 1-15. Zondervan.