Posted by
aurorawatcher on Sunday, June 07, 2009 2:25:48 AM
While Genesis 1 described a progression from chaos to cosmos, disorder to order, Chapter 2 followed a different pattern, one where God’s creative activity was bent toward supplying those things which were deficient in creation.
The garden lacked shrubs, plans, rain and a gardener. God provided plants and a mist to water them, as well as rivers to run through the garden and then placed man in the garden. Then He recognized that man was lonely because he had no one like himself to whom to interact. Eve is provided as a helper/mate in a beautiful way in the last part of chapter 2.
"The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)" Genesis 2:9
It is interesting that God seems to have told Adam alone that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil must not be eaten. One can only conjecture as to how effectively God’s command to Adam was communicated to Eve, which might explain her inacurrate appraisal of His command in Genesis 3:2-3, but that's another lesson.
God placed man in this paradise and gave him a job to do (Genesis 2:5). Adam was to cultivate the garden (2:15). This was no mythical garden. Every part of the description of this paradise suggests a real garden in a particular geographical location. Specific points of reference are given. Four rivers are named, two of which are known to us today. We should not be surprised, especially after the cataclysmic event of the flood, that changes may have occurred, which would make it impossible to locate this spot precisely, but that doesn't mean it never existed.
Eden was somewhat different from what we might envision. It was a place of work, for one thing. Men today dream of paradise as a hammock suspended between two palm trees on a gorgeous tropical island where work is never again to be contemplated. Furthermore, heaven is thought of as the end of all prohibitions. We must be careful not to confuse heaven with hedonism, which is self-centered and pleasure-oriented. Adam lived in a state of beauty and bliss, but not one of unrestricted pleasure. The forbidden fruit was a part of Paradise too. Heave is not the experiencing of every desrie, but the satisfaction of beneficial and wholesome desires.
One deficiency remained now that there was adequate water, the beautiful and bountiful provision of the garden, and a man to cultivate it. There is not yet a companion suitable for man. The garden, with its pleasures and provisions for food and meaningful activity was insufficient unless these delights could he shared. God would provide Adam with that which he needed most.
"The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.""
Genesis 2-18
Adam's mate was meant as a very special creation, a "helper, suitable for him" (verse 18). She was to be an assistant, not a slave and not an inferior. The Hebrew word ezer (a word Moses obviously liked since he named one of his sons that in Exodus 18:4) is most often employed in the Old Testament for help that implies no inferiority whatsoever. In a way consistent with its usage, God was helping man through woman. What a beautiful thought!
The final verse of this passage is not incidental because it will have great importance in Chapter 3. It tells us a great deal that we need to know. "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25).
We learn, for example, that the sexual side of this relationship was a part of the paradise experience. Sex did not originate with or after the Fall. Procreation and physical intimacy were intended from the beginning (1:28). We see that sex could be enjoyed to its fullest in the divine plan. Disobedience to God did not heighten sexual pleasure; it diminished it. Today, the world wishes to believe that they have invented sex and that God only seeks to prevent it. Yet the Bible delcares that sex, apart from God, is not what it could or should be.
Ignorance is bliss, believe it or not. In our generation, we are cool and sophistocated only if we know (by experience) all there is to know about sex. We're led to believe that we're missing out on something unless we've had sex before marriage, preferrably with multiple partners. Yet, the Bible states sex was never enjoyed so much as it was in sweet ignorance, when man had no choices other than the ones God gave him.
No passage in all the Bible so concised defines the things which really count in life. Life's meaning can only be grasped in relationship to the God Who has created man in His image and likeness. While the image has been tarnished and distorted by the Fall, those who are in Christ are being renewed in Christ's image (Ephesians 4:23-24; Colossians 3:10).
Furthermore, man's meaning in life is not only found in the dignity which God has given us as being created in His image, but in the work which God gave us to do. Men often view work as a curse rather than a blessing. While work has been affected by the Fall (Genesis 3:17-19), it was given before the Fall, so is a means of blessing and fulfillment if it is done as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24).
Last, the institution of marriage is given by God to deeply enrich our lives. The work we are to do is much richer and fuller when we share it with God's counterpart for us. Here, then, is the real essense of life -- a recognition of our divinely given dignity, duty and delight. Our work, work, and spouse are all sources of great blessing if they are "in the Lord".