July 29, 2002
LifeWay Family Bible Series for August 11
God's personal creative work results in humanity
___Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25
___By Barbara Kent
___University Baptist Church, Fort Worth
___A few years ago, my husband and I took an Alaskan cruise. The first night at dinner, our table mates, who would share our table each evening, introduced themselves and said, "What do you do?" My husband said, "I'm a teacher." To which the lady said, "What do you teach?" He answered, "Old Testament and Hebrew studies." To which she replied: "Great! I've always wanted to ask someone who knew why there are two creation accounts in the book of Genesis."
___Clearly this was a person who had more than a passing acquaintance with the Bible. Not everyone realizes that there are two accounts of the creation story.
___A brief comparison
___What are some of the characteristics of the two accounts? First, Genesis 1 presents a general description of the creative process, while chapter two discusses one specific aspect of it, the creation and situation of humanity. Second, the first account describes the Earth in relation to the universe, while the second account focuses on human beings in their geographical surroundings. Third, in chapter one, God spoke everything into being, while in the second his work was more hands-on. The two accounts of creation are not contradictory, but they were written from different perspectives.
___Made by God and given life
___In Genesis 2:2-6, the writer describes the condition of the Earth in the beginning. He says there was no vegetation and that rain had not fallen. He notes that there was no one to work the ground. Thus, in Genesis 2:7, the writer says, "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."
___ The image is one of a potter who carefully and lovingly works with the clay to mold it into the finished product he has in his mind.
___Genesis 1:27 states: "So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he created them." Mankind is a unique creation of God, made in his image, and given life by God himself. Being made in God's image sets us apart from animal life and says much about our relationship to God.
___Given a purposeful task God had a purpose for his creation. He planted a garden, and in it he placed the living being he had so lovingly formed (v. 8). God gave him the task of taking care of the garden he had planted (v. 15). Life in paradise was not uninterrupted leisure but purposeful activity. The responsibility of the man was to take care of the garden, to work it as needed (v. 15).
___The garden would provide for man's nutritional needs. God said he was free to eat from any tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (vv. 16-17). God's fatherly care shows in this command. He provided for the man's needs, and he informed him of the restrictions. God warned that eating from that tree would result in death (v.17). ?How sad that when the serpent came to the man and woman later, he emphasized the one thing they could not do, rather than all the many different things they could do.
___Given a meaningful companion
___The order of creation in chapter two is different from the order in chapter one. We looked at the order in chapter one in last week's study. The order is chapter two is: male, the garden, the trees, the animals and the female.
___One Old Testament scholar observed that a diagram of chapter one would be linear on an ascending scale, and a diagram of chapter two would be circular with the central concern (humanity) of the passage appearing at the beginning and the end.
___God himself observed that it was not good for man to be alone (v.1 8a). God indicated that he would make a helper suitable for him (v.18b). All the animals God had created were brought to the man to name, but none was suitable as a helper for him (vv.19-20). God then caused the man to fall into a deep sleep during which he took a rib from which he created a helper suitable for the man (v. 22). God brought the woman to the man, and he realized that here, indeed, was a suitable companion (vv. 22-23). Read the testimony of the man in verse 23.
___Verses 24-25 climax this second account of creation with the concept that the union of man and woman in marriage forms a unique and special relationship. They become one, and their highest human loyalty is to each other rather than others, even to the family of birth. ??Would it be too much to say that God's creative acts culminated in the establishment of the marriage relationship?
___Questions for discussion
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