Tag: Genesis 2

Food for Everyone

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NASB)

As for you, take for yourself some of every food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them.
Genesis 6:21 (NASB)

The word “eat” shows up 21 times in Genesis 1 and 2, and it should tell us something. It’s made explicit in Deuteronomy.

When our spiritual hunger for God’s words matches our literal hunger for food, then we will be satisfied. Comforted.

Noah brought food on the Ark for everyone.

An Appropriate Sacrifice

Posted on by jovial_cynic
What did Cain do wrong? People have pointed to Abel’s “appropriate” animal sacrifice, pointing to God’s covering of Adam/Eve with animal skins in Genesis 3… but I think there’s something else going on here.

We are told that Cain “worked the soil” in the NIV. If you’ve followed along the previous weeks’ studies, you’ve heard this word “worked” before, but in a different form. And connected to a different man.

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
Genesis 4:2 (NIV)

It’s Cain’s own dad, Adam. In Genesis 2, we’re told that Adam’s role was to “till the ground.” This word “till” is the Hebrew word “abad,” which means to “labor” or to “work.” And in Genesis 2, the work is GOOD.

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.
Genesis 2:5 (NIV)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

But in Genesis 3, the ground gets cursed.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 (NIV)

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Genesis 3:23 (NIV)

What does it mean that the ground is cursed? What does it mean that the work will result in painful toil, thorns & thistles? Why does this point to death?

Cain’s name means “acquired.” As in, “I worked to acquire this.”

This is death.

God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering is unrelated to his own accomplishment. He simply brought the best of what he had: the “fat” (or choicest/best part) of the “firstborns.” The best we have.

It’s the same thing God asks of us today. Not the sacrifice, but our heart.

Separated from Life

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 2 and 3 mention a Tree of Life.

Adam calls his wife the “Mother of Life.”

Genesis 3 seems to separate the man and his wife and put them at odds with each other, right after God brought the together in the previous chapter.

We read that Adam is cursed to die, and that a flaming sword blocks Adam from the Tree of Life.

From Eve? Is Adam separated from both Life and from his wife?

There is so much being said here.

A Foundation

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 3 introduces sin and death, and it’s understood to be tragic. In some ways, terrifying. But if you’ve spent time pouring over Genesis 1 and 2 and see that a foundation has been laid down by God, you can trust the God of the story to fix what has been broken.

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.

Isaiah 28:16 (NIV)

Unashamed

Posted on by jovial_cynic

The last verse of Genesis 2 ends with perfect creation. It ends with humanity being like a child, running around the garden in the back yard in their birthday suit, full of trust, full of joy, without any sense of embarrassment or shame.We long for this because God calls us back to this.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame
Genesis 2:25 (NIV)

Darkness

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Darkness is mentioned at the start of Genesis 1, and the rest of the chapter continues in a description of days, and of things we see in the Light.

Darkness isn’t mentioned in Genesis 2. Or Genesis 3. In fact, we don’t get this word again until Genesis 15, when God makes covenant with Abram. It starts in darkness, and then God shows up. That is the story of our relationship with God.

The Name of the Creeping Things

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 3, we’re going to be introduced to the Serpent. He’s a “creeping thing,” unlike “wild animals” or “livestock.” All three are listed specifically in the creation account of Genesis 1.But when Adam names in the animals in Genesis 2, notice what’s missing. It’s the “creeping things” of Gen 1:24-25.

Why?

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:19-20 (NASB)

I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s tied to this:

Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Exodus 23:13 (NASB)

The creeping things point to the serpent of Genesis 3. The serpent points to all the false gods.