LESSON TWO March 4th 2015
1.There are a number of different creation stories in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrews were familiar with all of them. All the creation stories, except for the two different Jewish creation stories, had several elements in common: the heavens and earth were created by rival gods (good gods and evil gods). All of the creation stories were set in Space while for the Jewish creation stories both are set in time. All the other creations stories did not focus on men or moral values, while the Jewish account focuses on the creation of man/woman and morals.
2.Both stories are similar to the Babylon myth of creation but the Hebrew text is clear that there is only one God and he is good.
3.In the first account of the Hebrew creation story we are told “In the beginning (Genesis 1: 1) followed by God saying “let there be….” and whatever he said came into being and on each of six days God created some aspect of the universe and after each day declared or saw that it was good. On the seventh day, Sabbath, seeing that what he created was good he rested. Take note of the moral references to “the good” and that creation is set in time.
4.On sixth day in the first account God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the bird of the heaven, the cattle, all the wild beast and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth. God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Genesis 1: 26 -27”
5.He further blesses the man and woman saying be fruitful and multiply filling the earth and conquering it. God said, “I give you all the trees all the seed-bearing plants upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food, (Genesis 1: 29)” Notice that when God created man and woman they were created out of the Word of God, which is in keeping with the manner that he created everything else. Also, in this account of God creating humans there is no Garden of Eden or garden created by God that man will live in; the entire earth is their garden and they are masters of all the animals. There is no forbidden fruit, there are no prohibitions; God just wants the humans to be fruitful and multiply, and conquer the earth for God has declared that everything he created is good. There is no rebellious humans, no subtle serpent trying to deceive humans and there is no Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; all is good.
6.All that we can glean from the first account is that God is Good, His creation is good and humans are also good created in the image and likeness of God. While the text doesn’t say that human are created with an immortal soul, one can easily speculate that being created in the image of God would provide humans with an eternal spirit.
7.In the second account there is a rich anthropometric character to the creation story. It is in the second account that God created a garden (Eden or Paradise) for the man and woman to live in, and in the center of that garden is the Tree of Life and the Tree of Good and Evil. In the second creation account God fashioned man not out of his Word as in the first account but out of the dust of the soil, out of the earth (Genesis 2:7). “Then he (God) breathed into his (the man or Adam) nostrils the breath of life, and thus man became a living being. (Genesis 2: 7)” God first created the man and at some unknown time after creating man and the animals he created woman.
8.In both accounts God creates all of the animals but doesn’t refer to them as being alive; so what is God referring to when he gives the man and woman life in the first account by creating them in God’s own image and giving the man his breathe in the second account? Only God is eternal, and thus has life. The animals and all living creatures. The animals are alive but do not have life (meaning eternal life). But in both accounts the point is being made that man and woman have life (eternal).
9.In the second account God created all the vegetation, then he created man from the dust of the earth and then breathed into the man life. So man is alive like the animals but after God breathes into the nostrils of Adam and he has life, thus giving him an eternal soul. After he gave man life he created all the animals and birds, man gave them all names; an indication of God giving man superiority over the birds and wild beasts (Genesis 2: 28 -22). “But no helpmate suitable for man was found among the animals. So Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed: “This at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! This is to be called woman, for this was taken from man.” Genesis 2: 20 – 23.
10.Regarding the issue of life there is several things I want to point out. Whenever God uses the word Life or refers to it, or when he is speaking about death it is always in regards to eternal life, not being alive like animals and birds.
11.God is making it clear that he is concerned about eternal life because it is in eternal life is eternal communion with Him. In the center of the garden there are two trees given names, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life, is symbolic of eternal food or a foreshadowing of the Manna, as bread from heaven, and finally the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Each of these is symbolic of eternal communion with God. I think this is why no prohibitions are given by God about eating the fruit from the Tree of Life.
12.After some unknown period of time after creating the man, Adam, and before God created the woman God planted a garden having every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of Life and the Tree of Good and Evil in the middle of the garden (Genesis 2: 8 – 9). And even before God created Woman God created the Garden of Eden (translated as paradise) that man and the animals lived in: “Then Yahweh God gave man this admonition. You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden except for the Tree of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden. Genesis 2: 16”
13.Note that in the second account, God first creates man and then after some time he created woman for the sole purpose of providing man suitable with a suitable helpmate. “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body. Genesis 2 24” Jesus in the Gospel Matthew and Mark uses this scripture as a reason for not divorcing (Matthew 19: 5 ff, Mk 10: 7 ff). But also because God wants man and woman to spend all eternity in communion with Him as He gave them life.
14.Only two trees are identified in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God told the man: “you can eat of the fruit of the trees in the Garden of Eden but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you are not to eat for on the day you do you shall surely die. (Genesis 2: 16 – 17).” Notice that when God says “you shall surely die” it is not death in form physical life but eternal life. Also, note that God said nothing about the Tree of Life (other than identifying it) but only if the man wanted to live he could not eat of the Tee of Good and Evil. Therefore, the Tree of Good and Evil is directly related to eternal life and eternal death.
15.The text of Genesis says that God only told the man about the Tree of Good and Evil because God had not yet created the woman when God gave man the admonition that he could eat from all the trees in the garden except for the Tree of Good and Evil. After God created the woman the serpent, “the most subtle of all the wild beasts (Genesis 3”1), came to the woman. It is worthy to note there is no reported dialogue between the man and the serpent until the serpent speaks to the woman, and also that according to scripture God never spoke to the Woman. Scripture also says that when the serpent asks the woman “did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden. Genesis 3: 1” The woman responded to the serpent by saying, “we may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said; “You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death. Genesis 3:2 v- 4”
16.There are several things to consider in the first part of this dialogue. We see repeated reference to the “center of the garden.” Metaphorically, the center of anything is more important than whatever is on the periphery. That being the case we can assume that God is pointing out that the two trees in the middle of the garden must be important. One of the trees man can eat of its fruit, the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not forbidden to eat but God strongly advises the man not to eat of its fruit or you will die.
We already explored the Tree of Life and now I turn to the other tree in the middle of the Garden. The Tree of Good and Evil is not about knowing all that is Good or all that is Evil for if that was the case man would be omniscience, which is reserved to God alone. The Tree of Good and Evil, in its simplest understanding is about making decisions, choices, conclusions, judgments, and including assumptions as to what is acceptable or unacceptable or what good and what is evil. In other words, it is about making a conscience and most generally unconscious judgments about something, someone, a group, or idea. There are several issues that are the outcome of man participating in eating the fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil. The Tee of Good and Evil is a metaphor of judging, both proper and improper judgments.