I

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky” (Genesis 8:1-2).

Genesis chapter eight begins with the words, “But God remembered Noah…” Now if someone has to “remember” something, it usually means that he or she has forgotten about it first, right? So does this mean that God had forgotten about Noah while Noah was in the ark and accidentally “left the water running” in the form of the Great Flood?

Well, the phrase “God remembered…” is actually an Old Testament way of expressing God’s decision to begin working again with a person or a group (see Genesis 30:22 and Exodus 2:24 for some other examples). In fact, people in our own day sometimes use a similar expression when they speak of “remembering” someone on their birthday or other special occasion.

For instance, if you “remember” someone on their birthday, it certainly doesn’t imply that you have completely forgotten that person about during the other 364 days of the year- it means that you are going to do something special like send that person a card, give them a gift, or throw them a party. In a similar way, God also “remembered” Noah in the sense that He was now planning to do something special on Noah’s behalf once again.

This special action on Noah’s behalf took two forms. First, verse one tells us that a wind encircled the earth and the waters began to recede or decrease. Today, we can identify this process as part of the hydrological cycle where air currents help to move water back into the atmosphere through the process of evaporation. This action helped to transfer some of the floodwaters away from the earth’s surface and reduce the amount of water remaining above the ground.

Next, verse two says that, “The outlets of the water beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed” (GNB). We mentioned earlier how Genesis chapter seven indicates that large underground reservoirs of water (or the springs of the deep) existed prior to the Great Flood. If each of these underground areas were emptied by the flood, then we can say that it’s likely that they eventually collapsed over time. This would have the effect of radically changing the earth’s surface elevation and providing “basin” areas to hold and contain the remaining floodwaters.

II

“The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible” (Genesis 8:3-5).

So after spending months floating on the surface of a watery planet, Noah’s Ark finally landed on the biggest sand bar of all time- the mountainous region of Ararat.

Today, this area represents the central boundary that exists between the modern day countries of Russia, Turkey, and Iran. ₍₁₎ While Mount Ararat itself is over 17,000 feet (5200m) tall, notice that Genesis 8:4 doesn’t specifically say that Noah’s Ark settled on top of Mount Ararat- it actually touched down somewhere within the mountains of Ararat. So while Noah’s Ark came to rest somewhere within this mountainous region, it’s impossible to say exactly where it landed or even where Noah’s Ark may be today if it has survived. One source explains the problem of locating Noah’s Ark in this way…

“Some people believe that Noah’s ark still rests on Mount Ararat, and occasional expeditions have been launched to find it. However, shifting glaciers, avalanches, hidden crevices, and sudden storms make the mountain so difficult to climb that it is referred to by the native inhabitants of that region as ‘the Painful Mountain.'” ₍₂₎

So Noah’s Ark had finally touched down on a solid land surface and other mountain peaks were starting to become visible as well. This provided a good opportunity for Noah to do some reconnaissance and investigate the situation further- and the way that Noah proposed to do that was by sending one of the animals on a little mission…

“After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth” (Genesis 8:6-7).

A raven is the type of bird that will pretty much eat anything it finds. For example, a raven is the kind of bird that you might see picking at the remains of an animal on the side of a road after it has been struck by a car. Because of this, a raven would have no problem landing on and eating anything that it found floating around after Noah released it from the Ark. This is apparently why it never came back. It seems that this raven was perfectly content to fly around and feed on anything that it found on the surface of the water while the flood was receding.

(1) See “Ararat” Fausset’s Bible Dictionary

(2) See “Ararat” Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary

III

So Phase I of Noah’s reconnaissance mission was complete. Now it was time to initiate Phase II…

“Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark” (Genesis 8:8-9).

This was actually a pretty clever way for Noah to gather information. Remember that the first bird that Noah chose for his scouting report was a raven. The fact that this bird kept flying around told Noah that even though the Ark had touched down on dry land, things were still pretty bad outside.

But notice that the second bird chosen was a dove. Unlike a raven, a dove generally won’t eat anything that’s dead and will only land on surfaces that are clean and dry. The fact that this dove came back to Noah told him that there was still not enough dry land to justify coming out of the Ark.

So Noah tried again the following week…

“He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth” (Genesis 8:10-11).

This was really good news for Noah and the others who were with him on the Ark. The olive leaf that returned with this dove told Noah a couple of important things…

1. First, it told Noah that the earth (or at least portions of it) was now becoming dry enough to allow his family to live on the land.
2. It also showed that the earth’s plant life had recovered to the point where it would be possible to begin growing food again once Noah and his family left the Ark.

Both of these conclusions were confirmed by what happened next…

“He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him” (Genesis 8:12).

Why didn’t this dove return to Noah after he released it for the third time? Well, this dove didn’t return to Noah because the land had now recovered enough to allow it to find a new home. For Noah, this meant that he and his family would also be finding a new home soon as well.

IV

“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry” (Genesis 8:12-13).

Although it wasn’t specifically mentioned as part of Noah’s building materials, Noah must have also placed some sort of weather-proof cover over the Ark before the Flood came, almost like we might use a tarp as a waterproof covering today.

“By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry” (Genesis 8:14).

So Noah pulled this protective covering off the ark and saw that the ground was dry- but it wasn’t until eight weeks later that everything was dry enough to actually get off the Ark. This means that the time period from the beginning of the Flood until Noah finally left the Ark was approximately 371 days or about 53 weeks.

Now after spending over a year on this Ark, you would think that Noah really, really wanted to get off the boat- but he patiently waited until God gave him permission…

“Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you–the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground–so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.’ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds–everything that moves on the earth–came out of the ark, one kind after another” (Genesis 8:15-19).

Think about the world that greeted these eight people -it must have been like landing on another planet. For instance, there was absolutely no one else around- anywhere. The plant life was sparse and limited. There were no trees, no houses, and no civilization of any kind. The earth’s surface was much different and the weather was probably now different as well. So the world that Noah stepped into was definitely not like the coloring book idea of Noah and his happy animals hopping off the ark.

It’s also possible that Noah and his family encountered something else once they left the Ark- the remains of those who had perished during the Flood. Perhaps that’s what inspired Noah to do what he does next…

V

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Genesis 8:20).

So what’s the very first thing that Noah did after spending over a year on this Ark? Well, he didn’t kiss the ground as soon as he left the boat. He didn’t immediately start building a house or go exploring. The very first thing that Noah did after leaving the Ark was worship God: “Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the LORD” (Genesis 8:20 CEV).

After living for more a year on the Ark, you would think that Noah would first want to get out, stretch his legs, and look around. But that’s not what he did. You see, Noah’s mind was set on giving thanks to God first. It seems that Noah understood that if there was going to be any real future for Earth 2.0, it would have to begin by putting God first.

“The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease'” (Genesis 8:21-22).

You may remember that we talked about something called an anthropomorphism (“ann-thro-po-mor-fizzem”) earlier. This term is used to describe a word that takes a human ability (like eyesight or hearing) or a human emotion (like anger or jealousy) and associates it with God. If you look closely, you may be able to spot two new anthropomorphisms that show up in Genesis 8:21.

This verse tells us that, “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart…” While God does not have a literal heart or a nose as we understand it, Genesis 8:21 uses two human attributes to describe God’s ability to interact with people and the environment in a way that’s easy to grasp and understand.

It’s also possible that these references to things like cold, heat, summer, and winter are indications of some changes that occurred in the Earth’s environment following the Flood. And God’s promise to never again destroy all living creatures was probably something that Noah really appreciated- especially the next time it rained.

Nevertheless, God says something else that’s added almost as a sort of side comment: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. What’s that all about?

VI

“…Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood” (Genesis 8:21b).

It seems that people are often taught to believe that human beings are basically good and that bad behavior is just a result of some social or environmental cause. Of course, most people probably are “good people” in the sense that they aren’t intentionally cruel, sadistic, or merciless. And it’s also true that social and environmental factors may have a big effect on someone’s behavior for better or worse. But as much as we might like to think of ourselves as “good people,” the truth is that the Scriptures tell us that people are not “basically good.”

This reality is something that anyone can see just by watching little children. Now it’s certainly true that little children are cute and innocent in many ways, but let’s face it: you don’t have to teach a young child how to lie, do you? You don’t have to teach a child how to act greedily or selfishly, do you? You don’t have to teach a child how to hurt other children. In fact, the opposite is true, isn’t it- parents have to teach their children not to do those things.

If you have a younger brother or sister, then you probably already know that even a very small child can exhibit things like jealousy, hostility, or a desire to take something that another child has. The reason for this is explained by the Scripture quoted above: “…every inclination of (someone’s) heart is evil from childhood.”

The truth is that these things don’t change as we become older- we just become better and more skilled at hiding them. If you’re reading this on the Internet, then you have almost certainly seen this for yourself as well. For instance, if you participate in a forum, chat room, or Usenet newsgroup, you will often find people saying things to others that they probably wouldn’t say in person at home, or at school, or on the job. This is because someone in a forum, chat room, or newsgroup can often hide their true identity behind a screen name and avatar.

Because it can be difficult ₍₁₎ to associate a real person with their online identity, people are not held back by a personal association with the things that they say- and if someone believes that they are just an anonymous person on the other side of a modem, then whatever is already inside them has the perfect opportunity to come out. Unfortunately, what often comes out can lead to “flame wars” and other comments that feature things like personal attacks, hostile criticism, racial slurs, and every kind of vicious, argumentative, and hateful speech.

So in Genesis 8:21, God basically says, “Even though I know you that you human beings are bent towards evil right from the beginning, I’m never going to handle it this way again.” This is just another example of God’s graciousness toward human beings who really don’t deserve it.

(1) But not always impossible

Next

Previous

I

“The LORD then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation'” (Genesis 7:1).

We said earlier that to be “righteous” means that someone has “right standing” with God. Noah was just such a person. Noah was someone who listened to what God said and then acted on it even when no one else would. That’s one reason why the New Testament book of Hebrews says this about Noah…

“Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world-which refused to obey-and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted” (Hebrews 11:7 TLB).

So Noah was someone who had faith in God and because of this, God accepted him and declared him to be righteous.

“Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth” (Genesis 7:2-3).

Whenever you see an illustration of Noah and the animals on the ark, you can usually expect to find a portrayal of the animals entering the ark in pairs. This was done to allow the animals to repopulate the land after the floodwaters had gone away, just as we read in the verse quoted above. But these verses also tell us that an additional number of animals were brought into the ark as well. So why were all these other animals also taken into the ark?

Well, we can say that some of these additional animals probably went on to become breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Noah and his family. However, the next chapter also tells us that once the floodwaters had gone away, “…Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Genesis 8:20-21). So it seems that Noah also sacrificed some of these additional animals as an offering to God once he safely left from the ark.

But this brings up a question: since all of the details about the Old Testament animal sacrifices were not put into place until well after Noah’s time, how did he know anything at all about animal sacrifices or which animals were OK to sacrifice and which ones weren’t?

II

Genesis 8:20-21 tells us that Noah offered an animal sacrifice to God after He had safely brought Noah and his family through the flood. But how did Noah even know anything about animal sacrifices or which animals were OK to sacrifice and which animals weren’t?

Well, this is a circumstance where the Bible has given us some of the information, but not all of the information necessary to give a definite answer. Since Noah didn’t have the Old Testament book of Leviticus to explain all the details about the right way to offer animal sacrifices, the only answer is that God must have communicated this information to him in some other way. That may not be the most satisfying answer, but it’s probably the best we can do with the information that we have.

But what was the point of sacrificing an animal, anyway? What was the benefit of killing an innocent animal and then burning it up? And why would God even want someone to do something like that in the first place?

Well, we should first remember that whenever there is wrongdoing (or sin), the punishment is death (see Genesis 2:17, Ezekiel 18:4, and Romans 6:23 for more on that). But during the days of the Old Testament, God graciously agreed to accept the death of an innocent animal instead of the life of the person who did wrong. Today, we refer to this agreement as the “Old Covenant” that’s detailed within the pages of the Old Testament.

Under this Old Covenant, the Scriptures tell us that the person who offered an animal as a sacrifice had to personally identify with that animal by placing his hand on it’s head (see Leviticus 1:4). The animal would then be put to death in place of the person who brought it in order to atone for (or “make up for”) the wrong things that person had done.

While this allowed people to receive forgiveness, the limitation was that, “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Another portion of the book of Hebrews explains why: “…under the old system, gifts and sacrifices were offered, but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them” (Hebrews 9:9 TLB). In other words, these animal sacrifices didn’t do anything to change people internally where it really counted.

Something better was needed- a new agreement (or a “New Covenant”) had to be set up between God and humanity. This new agreement was eventually fulfilled through Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Instead of an innocent animal suffering the punishment of death for someone’s sin, Jesus offered His own life once for everyone (see 1 Peter 3:18 and Hebrews 10:1-18) and works to straighten out our thoughts and attitudes as well (see John 16:7, 13-15 and 1 Corinthians 2:9-16).

For more on these Old and New Covenants, take a look over here.

III

“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made. And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him” (Genesis 7:4-5).

So Noah was heading into the last few days before the great flood, but why did God provide him with this final week countdown anyway? Well, this is another good example of God’s patience and graciousness with people.

Let’s step back and think about this scene for a moment. Let’s say that you were someone who lived in Noah’s neighborhood during this time. You’ve watched Noah spend decades building this gigantic barge. Because Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), you’ve heard him tell people about God and about their need to get right with Him. You’ve also heard Noah’s warnings about a massive flood that was on the way. Now as you look out your window, you begin to see all kinds of animals wander up and get inside Noah’s giant boat totally on their own without anyone forcing them to do it (we’ll see that part next).

You would think that somebody would notice these things and think, “Hey, maybe Noah’s been telling the truth all along- maybe we should start taking him seriously.” But no one did. And even though no one else was willing to listen, Noah still did everything that God told him to do (Genesis 7:5). So God is giving people one final week to think things over and change their minds.

“Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah” (Genesis 7:6-9).

Notice that Noah didn’t have to go out and capture these animals. He didn’t have to force them into the ark or shoot them with a tranquilizer dart and then drag them inside. According to Genesis 7:9, these animals just showed up and got in the boat. And once again, there is no one who seems to think that there is anything special or unusual about this.

The sad thing about this whole scene is that it looks like God had an easier time getting these animals to listen to Him than He did with the other human beings who lived during Noah’s time.

IV

And now the day that Noah had spent years preparing for has finally arrived…

“And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month–on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:10-12).

Genesis 7:11 is another one of those Scriptures that is more important than it may appear at first glance. Remember that this verse begins by saying, “On the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life…” These sixteen words are important because they tell us that Noah’s flood wasn’t just something that occurred at some unknown time in ancient history- it was an authentic historic event that happened in real time and started on an actual, literal day.

Noah’s flood isn’t a myth, story, or legend; it was a genuine event that happened to a real human being on the seventeenth day of the second month in the six hundredth year of his life.

This verse also gives us a clue about what actually began happening on that day. For instance, it’s probably safe to say that most people believe that Noah’s flood was entirely caused by the 40 days and nights of rain that fell as described in Genesis 7:12. But that’s not all that happened during the flood. You see, Genesis 7:11 also says that, “…on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth…” Another translation of this verse says, “…all the underground waters erupted from the earth” (NLT).

This tells us that there must have been large underground reservoirs of water that existed prior to the flood. If each of these large pockets of water beneath the earth somehow all opened up at once, it would surely cause an environmental catastrophe- and that’s exactly what Genesis 7:11 says happened.

The term “floodgates of the heavens” also suggests that there was some sort of large collapse in the earth’s atmosphere like a dam that suddenly breaks and lets water rush forth. According to one source, the term “floodgates (or windows) of heaven” is, “certainly… intended to convey the idea of great quantities of water, formerly restrained in the sky, suddenly released to deluge the earth.” ₍₁₎ So it wasn’t only the rain from above that was responsible for the Great Flood- it was the rain from above along with the water from below.

(1) Henry M. Morris The Genesis Record pg.197

V

“On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:13-16).

We shouldn’t move on without looking at something important that shows up at the end of Genesis 7:16. This “something” is so brief that it’s easy to miss- and here it is: “…Then the LORD closed the door behind them” (NLT).

You see, inside Noah’s Ark were eight people who respected God and took Him seriously. It was God who then took the responsibility of protecting those eight people by shutting them into the ark and personally making sure that they were in a place of safety.

But while Noah and his family were safely locked inside the ark, this also meant that those people who didn’t want anything to do with God were also locked outside. Unfortunately, that decision eventually cost those people their lives.

This idea from the Bible’s first book is something that’s also repeated in the Bible’s last book when it says, “Outside are dogs, sorcerers, sexual sinners, murderers, idolaters, and all who lie in what they say and what they do” (Revelation 22:15). So anyone who wants to follow the bad example of the people who lived in Noah’s day is also in danger of being shut out from God’s safety and protection as well -and that’s a dangerous place to be.

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” (Genesis 7:17-20).

The word picture that illustrates these verses is one of a flood that was relentless and unstoppable. These verses carry the idea of a deluge that just kept pounding again and again and again because “the flood kept coming on the earth…” (Genesis 7:17).

VI

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth…” (Genesis 7:17).

Why did Noah’s Flood last for forty days? Why not 43 or 37 or 52 days? Well, as you read through the Bible, you’ll often find that numbers carry special meanings.

This idea of “numbers and meanings” is easy to understand today because people often use numbers to represent things in a similar way. For instance, if someone says to another person, “You’re number one!” that person certainly doesn’t mean that the second person is an actual number. In this case, “number one” means that someone else is the first or best.

Numbers are often used in a similar way in the Scriptures as well. One example would be the use of the number seven in the Bible, a number that’s often used to represent things like completion, fulfillment, or perfection. So what’s the significance behind the number forty? Well, the number forty is often associated with a period of testing or judgment in the Scriptures.

For example, one New Testament biography of Jesus tells us that Jesus went without eating for forty days while Satan tried to tempt Him to do something wrong (see Mark 1:13). Then there is the example of the people of Israel after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. The Scriptures tell us that the people of Israel had to walk around in the desert for forty years before they could get into the land that God had promised to give them because of their bad attitude towards God (see Numbers 14:26-34). So when you see the number forty in the Scriptures, it usually means that some sort of testing, judgment, or unusual encounter with God is involved.

“They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” (Genesis 7:19-20).

Did you notice how Genesis chapter seven repeats the intensity of the flood over and over again for emphasis…

• Verse 17: “the waters increased…”
• Verse 18: “The waters rose and increased greatly…”
• Verse 19: “They rose greatly on the earth… all the high mountains… were covered…”
• Verse 20: “The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” (about 15m).

These details give us an idea of the tremendous force and intensity of the flood. These verses also tell us that Noah’s flood was not something that only happened in one place. Noah’s flood was a catastrophe that affected the entire earth because verse 19 tells us all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered by the waters of the flood.

VII

“(The waters) rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” (Genesis 7:19-20).

Does this mean that the floodwaters described in Genesis chapter seven were deep enough to carry Noah’s Ark over every mountain that exists on earth? Such a thing would seem to be impossible when you stop to think about it. After all, Mount Everest is over 29,000 feet (8839m) tall and Genesis 7:20 appears to say that the floodwaters covered even that mountaintop by an additional twenty feet (six meters). How could anyone on the ark possibly breathe at such a tremendous elevation?

Well first, we shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that the earth’s geography and landscape remains exactly the same today as it was before the flood. In other words, we shouldn’t automatically assume that the surface features that exist on earth today are identical to the surface features that existed prior to the events that occurred in Genesis chapter seven. In fact, one surface feature that may have changed greatly as a result of the flood is the height and size of the earth’s various mountains.

For example, it’s possible that some of the really large mountain ranges that we know today were actually brought into existence as a result of the flood. This could happen if a land area that existed prior to the flood shifted to a point below where it had been previously. If this shift put pressure on an adjoining land mass, it would result in the elevation of a surrounding area that had not been elevated before the floodwaters had gone away.

Another source provides an explanation that talks about how this process may have taken place…

“Creationist scientists currently think that mountains such as the Himalayas were probably built by catastrophic movement of the Earth’s continental plates during and after the Flood. ₍₁₎ The catastrophic plate tectonics model gives a mechanism for the deepening of the oceans and the rising of mountains at the end of the flood… The collision of the tectonic plates would have pushed up mountain ranges also, especially toward the end of the flood… In support of this, the layers that form the uppermost parts of Mount Everest are themselves composed of fossil-bearing, water-deposited layers. This uplift of the new continental landmasses from under the Flood waters would have meant that, as the mountains rose and the valleys sank, the waters would have rapidly drained off the newly emerging land surfaces.” ₍₂₎

(1) Christian Answers Network Did Noah need oxygen above the mountains? http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/noah-above-mts.html

(2) Christian Answers Network Where did the Flood waters go? http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-floodwater.html

VIII

“Every living thing that moved on the earth perished–birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days” (Genesis 7:21-24).

So the entire human race was now reduced to eight people. Every land animal was totally wiped out with the exception of those animals that were riding along with these eight people inside this wooden barge. How could something so devastating like this actually happen?

Well, the answer is that choices bring consequences. The people of Noah’s day people decided that they wanted to enjoy the benefits of living in God’s creation while totally ignoring Him. But it wasn’t only the fact that these people wanted nothing to do with their Creator- they were also living in a way that was totally opposite to His character. Remember what we read earlier in Genesis 6:5…

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Noah’s flood was the worst environment disaster that has ever occurred on this planet and it happened because people turned their backs on their Creator to pursue a lifestyle that was wicked, evil, and self-absorbed. Now someone may read this and think, “OK, I understand the wicked and evil part but what do you mean by ‘self-absorbed?'” To answer that, let’s listen to something that Jesus had to say as recorded in Matthew 24:37-39…

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes” (NLT).

In Noah’s day, people were living their normal, self-absorbed, everyday lives without any concern or acknowledgement of God until the flood came and wiped them out. Because these people were so absorbed with whatever they were into, they weren’t looking at what God was planning to do. And because they weren’t looking, they weren’t prepared- and that choice cost them their lives. Unfortunately, Jesus says that many people in the future will still have this very same mindset at the time of His return.

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I

“When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:1-4).

We’ve already seen some of the amazing life expectancies that people experienced during the period of time recorded in the book of Genesis. For example, the average life expectancy for everyone mentioned in Genesis chapter five (not including Enoch) was 907 years. That’s more than 9 centuries.

If everyone else also lived to similar ages during that time, then we would naturally expect to see a huge increase in the human population. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that Genesis chapter six begins by saying, “More and more people were born, until finally they spread all over the earth…” (CEV).

But then comes one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible. The meaning of this next section is something that has puzzled scholars and caused debates among people for centuries. You see, Genesis 6:1b says, “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (NKJV). The first question that people usually ask about this section is, who are these “sons of God” that are mentioned here?

The next question comes up when we get to Genesis 6:4. That verse continues by saying, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown” (RSV). What’s that all about? Well, let’s take a closer look at these verses and see if we can get some answers.

The first thing we need to do in answering these questions is to dig into the background information on the “sons of God” that are mentioned in these verses. It’s important to find out about these guys because their identity will have a big effect on the way that someone interprets and understands these verses. We’ll spend some time looking at this background information in the next few entries.

II

We can start this background check into these “sons of God” by looking to see if there are any other uses of this phrase in the Bible.

If we scan the New King James Version (NKJV) Bible for the term “sons of God,” we find that this term appears five times in the Old Testament and five times in the New Testament. Two of those ten appearances are right here in Genesis chapter six. There are three other Old Testament passages that also contain the term “sons of God” and all of them appear within the book of Job. Here’s what they say…

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6 NKJV).

“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD” (Job 2:1 NKJV).

“To what were (the earth’s) foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:6-7 NKJV).

So based on these passages, we can say at least two things about these sons of God…

1. It seems that they had some sort of access to God in heaven
2. They were around when God created the universe

What’s next? Well, Genesis 6:2 says this…

“…the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.”

Now it’s certainly true that some guys can be more appealing than others, but has there ever been a guy who was so irresistible that he could marry any woman that he wanted? Probably not. So this comment suggests that there is something that’s out of the ordinary with these sons of God.

Then comes Genesis 6:4…

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

This word “Nephilim” means “the giants” ₍₁₎ or “the fallen ones.” ₍₂₎ While this word is normally used to represent people of enormous height, it also carries an additional meaning as well.

In the original language, the term “Nephilim” is also used to describe a specific group of daring, reckless, and ferocious people who spread devastation and carnage far and wide. ₍₃₎ This additional meaning is emphasized by the fact that the children produced by these marriages went on to become “…became famous heroes and warriors” (Genesis 6:4 CEV).

(1) As it is translated in the King James Version of the Bible

(2) The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright © 1988

(3) A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown

III

“(T)he sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose” (Genesis 6:2).

Besides the five Old Testament appearances of the term “sons of God” that we’ve already seen, there are five additional New Testament appearances of this phrase as well. Here they are…

“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9 NKJV).

“But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36 NKJV).

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14 NKJV).

“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19 NKJV).

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26 NKJV).

So based on these passages, we can say that the New Testament use of the phrase “sons of God” refers to people who honor God with their lives. Of course, this meaning is very different from the way this term was used in our previous examples and it’s one reason why scholar-types have often come to different conclusions about what this phrase “sons of God” really means.

For example, it’s possible to interpret the phrase “sons of God” as a reference to the family members of Adam’s son Seth (Genesis 4:25). You see, the genealogy of Seth’s family in Genesis chapter five tells us that his descendant Enoch was someone who walked with God for 300 years (Genesis 5:22). Seth is also listed in the New Testament as one of Jesus’ ancestors (see Luke 3:38). This strongly implies that Seth and his family were people who were “sons of God” in the sense that they followed God and honored Him with the respect, appreciation, and reverence that He deserved.

When understood this way, the term “sons of God” in Genesis chapter six would be a reference to the God-honoring members of Seth’s family who intermarried with the “daughters of men,” or with women who had no interest in God. The reasoning behind these marriages was this: “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful.” In other words, these Godly men got into relationships with ungodly women simply because those women were really good-looking.

Unfortunately, whenever someone makes a decision to get involved with another person based on physical attractiveness alone, bad things are usually sure to follow. In this case, the bad things that followed from these relationships were children who were known as the Nephilim, or “the fallen ones” along with everything that name implies.

IV

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:4).

While it’s possible to identify these “sons of God” in Genesis 6 with the God-honoring members of Seth’s family, there is another possibility that involves the actions of a specific group of angelic beings.

As we’ve already seen, the term “sons of God” is also used in the Bible to describe a group of beings who existed when God created the universe. These beings also had the ability to appear before God in heaven (see Job 38:6-7 and 1:6). The only individuals who seem to fit within both of these categories would be angelic beings.

Because of this, it’s possible to link the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis chapter six with a group of angelic beings who were involved in physical relationships with human women. These women then went on to bear children who became daring, reckless, and ferocious adults of great size as a result.

One problem with this explanation is the fact that that the Bible specifically tells us that angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14) who don’t get married (Matthew 22:30). That would seem to rule out this “physical relationship” explanation except for something that’s found within the New Testament book of Jude…

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:6-7 ESV emphasis added).

This short passage makes a connection between a specific group of angels and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. The link between them is that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah,“…likewise indulged in sexual immorality.” In other words, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah acted like this group of angelic beings by getting involved in sexually immoral behavior as well.

This can only mean that these angelic beings must have had some capability of committing sexual immorality since the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were acting in the very same way. But how could something like that even be possible? Well, we’ll look at one way to answer that question next.

V

How could a spiritual being like an angel get involved in a sexually immoral relstionship? Well, one possible explanation would involve some sort of angelic control over a human being that was so complete that it somehow affected every part of that person’s physical and mental being.

This would be one way to account for the cause and effect relationship that we see in Genesis 6:4: “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days… when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.” It would help to explain why these relationships produced seemingly unnatural children who grew to become the reckless, violent, adults of huge physical size known as “the Nephillim.”

Of course, someone may look at this possibility and say, “C’mon- what are are you talking about? Do you mean demonic possession? Are you talking about spiritual beings “taking over” someone’s body? That’s not even real- that’s horror movie stuff.” There’s certainly no doubt that many people feel that the idea of a spiritual being actually “possessing” or controlling someone is something that no thinking person would ever really believe in our advanced, 21st century culture.

But this doesn’t account for the modern-day examples of this activity in those who claim to “channel” the spirits of the dead or in those religions that encourage communication with the spirit world. We should also consider the fact that the New Testament book of Mark tells us that Jesus Himself “cast out many demons” from various people (Mark 1:34). So while this interpretation may not necessarily be the right one, we should at least allow it as a possible answer based on what the Scriptures tell us. ₍₁₎

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5).

So Genesis chapter six, verse five (6:5) describes a world where people were not only committing evil, but constantly thinking about what it would be like to carry out even more evil. In other words, the world at this time was all evil, all the time, nonstop, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Think about it what it would be like to live in the world that Genesis 6:5 describes. Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where everyone was trying to deceive you. Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where everyone talked about you behind your back. Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where no one would think twice about murdering another human being. That’s what life was like on earth during this time.

(1) One reason why we may not see more of this activity in our present day could be explained by the angelic imprisonment that God imposed in Jude 1:6: “He held angels for judgment on the great day. They were held in darkness, bound by eternal chains. These are the angels who didn’t keep their position of authority but abandoned their assigned place” (GW).

VI

“The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:6).

It’s often difficult for limited human beings to really grasp important truths about an unlimited God. But one way to help accomplish this by using something called an anthropomorphism (pronounced “ann-thro-po-mor-fizz-em”).

This word is used to describe a figure of speech that takes a human ability (like eyesight or hearing) or a human emotion (like anger or jealousy) and associates it with God. Speaking of God in these familiar human terms can often be a good way of communicating truths about Him in a way that’s easier to grasp and understand.

For example, the Old Testament book of Exodus says this about God…

“Then, as God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18 TLB).

Later on, we read this statement in the book of 2 Chronicles…

“For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them” (2 Chronicles 6:9 TLB).

These Scriptures both demonstrate this concept in action. While God does not have fingers or eyes as we understand them, these two verses use human attributes to describe God’s ability to communicate and see in a way that people are familiar with.

Genesis 6:6 provides us with another good example of an anthropomorphism when it tells us that God’s heart was filled with pain over all the evil that existed in the world at that time. This verse uses a familiar human emotion to tell us that God was deeply hurt over the great amount of evil that His beloved creation had brought about.

This verse also tells us something very important about the nature of God. For example, if you love someone who rejects you, that rejection can cause real emotional pain. In fact, the rejected person may even feel like saying, “It would have been better if I had never met that person because he/she has hurt me so badly.”

In a similar way, Genesis 6:6 uses this human emotion to tell us that God is not like an unfeeling, unemotional robot who is unaffected by our choices. While God certainly knew that His creation would eventually reach this point, that knowledge didn’t lessen the pain and grief that He experienced over the evil that humanity was involved in.

VII

“So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air–for I am grieved that I have made them'” (Genesis 6:7).

There are times when something has been broken so badly that it just can’t be fixed. In situations like this, the only real solution is to shut everything down, go back to the beginning, and start all over again. And that’s basically what Genesis 6:7 tells us about the world that existed at that time- it had become so badly “broken” that God made the decision to wipe everything out.

Fortunately, God also made the decision to start over again with one man…

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8-10).

If we’re really honest, we’d probably have to say that most people today believe that Noah represents nothing more than a myth, legend, or cute children’s story. In fact, there’s a good chance that all the average person really knows about Noah is that he supposedly built a giant ark and saved all the animals from a big flood. That’s one reason why any book written about Noah today is most likely to be a coloring book.

But the reality is that there’s a whole lot more to Noah than just the ark that he built. For example, the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel mentions Noah twice (along with Daniel and Job), and the definite implication is that he was one of the most righteous men of all time (see Ezekiel 14:13-20). In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke identifies Noah as one of Jesus’ ancestors (see Luke 3:36) and the book of Hebrews lists Noah among the great heroes of the faith (see Hebrews 11:7).

So what was it that made Noah so special? Well, we’re going to begin to see some answers to that question in the next verse…

“This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).

To be “righteous” means that someone has “right standing” with God and Noah was just such a person. He was someone who honored God in his thoughts, words, and actions when no one else did. And like his great-grandfather Enoch before him, Noah also walked with God. This tells us that Noah was someone who moved steadily forward in his relationship with God and kept pace with Him in the direction that He was going.

VIII

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways” (Genesis 6:11-12).

It’s hard not to notice that the word “corrupt” is used three times in these two verses to describe the world’s condition during this period. This tells us that the culture and society of the earth’s population at that time was really, really bad.

In the original language, the word used for corrupt means “to spoil, ruin (or) destroy.” ₍₁₎ The word translated as “violence” in the verse quoted above refers to both physical and ethical wrongdoing. ₍₂₎ So these verses describe the earth’s population during this time as a group of dishonest, immoral, unethical people who were totally unrestrained in things like violence, fraud, and brutality.

And it is at this point that God steps in…

“So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth'” (Genesis 6:13).

Now even if everyone on earth was really, really bad during this time, God’s decision to wipe everybody out may sound much too ruthless to many people today. After all, we use terms like “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” to describe an attempt to eliminate entire groups of people, right? Isn’t that exactly what God is doing here?

Well, before we jump to that conclusion, we should remember that every human being is facing a death sentence at this very moment. In fact, God gave a fair warning to the first human being that he would be subject to this death sentence if he ever broke the rules (see Genesis 2:16-17). This death sentence also applies to everyone who came after that first human being as well- that’s us, and we have all broken the rules as well. So the truth is that everyone is subject to a death sentence and the timing and execution of that death penalty is completely up to God.

We should also remember that choices bring consequences. If someone wants to act as if God does not exist and live an unethical lifestyle that’s filled with corruption, dishonesty, and violence, then that person can’t say that God was too severe in the way that He chooses for that person to die. This is because the Old Testament book of Proverbs tells us, “Such is the fate of all who live by violence and murder. They will die a violent death” (Proverbs 1:19 TLB).

But… there was still one glimmer of hope for the human race.

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

(2) “chamac” NETBible Copyright © 1996-2007 by Biblical Studies Press (BSP), L.L.C. http://net.bible.org/strong.php?id=02554

IX

“So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks” (Genesis 6:14-16).

So God gave Noah some specific instructions for building a gigantic, sea-worthy vessel. And notice that God specifically says to Noah, “…make yourself an ark…” It was as if God said, “Don’t call in anyone else to do this work for you- I want you to take care of this personally.”

So here was Noah’s “to-do” list: First, “… make yourself an ark of cypress wood.” A more literal translation of this instruction would be, “… make yourself an ark of gopher wood.” We really don’t know what “gopher wood” was, but it probably represented some sort of hardwood. Many scholar-types seem to believe that it refers to wood taken from the cypress tree which explains why it’s translated that way in the verse quoted above.

Anyway, Noah was further instructed to coat this ark with pitch inside and out. “Pitch” was a tar-like substance that would help to make the ark watertight while it floated upon the water. God then gave Noah some specific interior and exterior dimensions: “Make it 450 feet (137m) long, 75 feet (23m) wide, and 45 feet (14m) high. Construct a skylight all the way around the ship, eighteen inches (457mm) below the roof…” (Genesis 6:14-16 TLB).

To give you an idea of how large Noah’s Ark really was, here are a few comparisons:

• Noah’s Ark was roughly half the length of the Titanic. ₍₁₎
• It had a displacement of about 20,000 tons and a gross tonnage of about 14,000 tons (2)
• If you stood the ark up on it’s bow, it would be as tall as a 30 story building
• The ark would be too big to fit on an American football field. If placed on a standard American football field, Noah’s Ark would extend past each end zone by about fifteen yards (about 18m)
• Noah’s Ark had a total available floor space of 100,000 sq. ft. which would be more floor space than 20 standard-sized basketball courts ₍₃₎
• The total volumetric capacity of the Ark was approximately 1,400,000 cubic feet, (4) which is equal to the capacity of 522 standard livestock cars used on modern railroads. (2) This interior capacity meant that the Ark had the ability to transport about 125,000 sheep-sized animals (5)

So Noah’s Ark was a really large, sea-going vessel, not some little cartoon boat with a giraffe’s head sticking out of the roof.

(1) See Comparing Noah’s Ark http://www.worldwideflood.com/ark/compare_ships/compare_ships.htm

(2) Charles C. Ryrie The Ryrie Study Bible pg. 16

(3) See Could Noah’s Ark really hold all the animals that were supposed to be preserved from Flood? http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c013.html

(4) See How big was Noah’s Ark, really? http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/catastrophe.asp

(5) See How could Noah fit two of each of the millions of animal species into the ark? http://www.creationstudies.org/Education/animals_ark

X

God hasn’t yet told Noah why He wanted him to build this gigantic ark, but now He is about to explain His reasoning for doing all this work…

“‘I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark–you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.’ Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:17-22).

So Noah carried out all the instructions that God had given him. In fact, Noah spent decades ₍₁₎ building this ark at a time when everyone else in the world was going about their business. ₍₂₎

It’s clear that Noah was someone who faithfully remained committed to doing what God called him to do. He didn’t complain or disregard what God had said- he simply did it. It’s easy to imagine that other people probably made fun of Noah as he built this giant barge, but he still made sure to take God’s Word seriously and act on it.

Perhaps this is why another portion of the Bible says this about Noah…

“Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world– which refused to obey– and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted” (Hebrews 11:7 TLB).

Real faith always demonstrates itself through real action and Noah is a good example of this concept in action. Noah’s total trust in God motivated him to do what God said even when no one else was interested in following Him. Because of this, Noah was ready and prepared when God’s Word came to pass just as He said it would.

(1) Genesis 5:32 tells us that “After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.” Genesis 7:6 then tells us that Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. Since God told Noah to take his sons and their wives into the ark with him, we can calculate from these verses that Noah must have spent decades building the ark

(2) See Jesus’ statement in Luke 17:26-27

Next

Previous

I

“This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.” When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth” (Genesis 5:1-3).

When you read the first five books of the Bible, you’ll find that they tell us that Moses was the person that God used to write the book of Genesis and the other books of the Law. One example of this occurs in the book of Exodus where we read that, “Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said… Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people” (Exodus 24:4,7).

However, it’s also true that Moses was born about 300 years after the last events in Genesis occurred. So how did Moses get the information that he wrote about in the book of Genesis?

Well, one educated guess is that Moses may have had access to ancient historical documents that he used in constructing the book of Genesis under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We can find some support for this theory by looking at the structure of certain portions of the book of Genesis. As we said earlier, there are ten sections within the book of Genesis that are each divided by the same language: “This is the book of the genealogy of…” or “This is the book of the generations of…”

Since the Hebrew word for “generation” refers to “a genealogical list of one’s descendants, one’s contemporaries or the course of history,” ₍₁₎ it’s thought that Moses may have taken actual written documentation (perhaps going as far back as Adam) and used that information in putting together the book of Genesis. In this case, the phrase, “These are the generations of…” indicates the place where one written history ends and another begins. ₍₂₎

So Genesis 5:1 begins by saying, “This is the written account of Adam’s line…” (NIV), or “This is the book of the generations of Adam…” (RSV), or “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam…” (NKJV) depending on which translation you are reading. This word “book” or “written account” can also be understood as a reference to a legal document. ₍₁₎ So if Moses did use actual, written historic documentation in writing Genesis, then Genesis chapter five, verse one would be the point where one ancient writer stopped writing and the next one began.

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada.

(2) See Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record pg. 27

II

“He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them ‘man'” (Genesis 5:2).

So humanity was given the name “man” by God right from the very beginning. While some may see the term “man” as a sexist or gender-specific term, the reality is that the word “man” or “mankind” is simply used as a general reference for humanity in the Scriptures.

“When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3).

When we first talked about the creation of humanity in Genesis chapter one, you may remember that Genesis 1:27 said that, “…God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” But now in Genesis 5:3 we find that Adam, “…became the father of a son in his own likeness, in his own image” (GW). So is there any real meaning in these differences?

Well, you’ve probably heard the term, “like father, like son” right? That old saying tells us that children generally grow up to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Since Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created Adam in His own image, we can say that Adam was also like his Father in the sense that he had no faults, imperfections, or defects.

But once Adam disobeyed God’s warning in the Garden of Eden, he was no longer like his Father anymore. Adam’s decision to disregard God’s warning lead to his separation from God and that decision eventually affected his children as well. Unfortunately, Adam’s children would follow in Adam’s image and likeness in the sense that they received a heritage that included Adam’s separation from God.

You see, Adam could not pass along the example of a good relationship with God to his children because he had lost it through his own disobedience. After all, everybody knows that one person cannot give another person something that they don’t already have, right? Well, the same idea is true with Adam and his children. Since Adam no longer had a good relationship with God, his children grew up “like father” in this sense. Because Adam’s children had the example of their father’s disobedience, they simply followed in his own footsteps- even to this day.

However, the good news is that Seth and his descendants will eventually go on to become very different people than Cain and his descendants.

III

“After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:4).

So Adam lived for an additional 800 years after Seth was born and while don’t know exactly how many children Adam fathered, we do know that someone can have an awful lot of children when he or she lives for as long as Adam did.

For instance, let’s say that someone becomes the parent of one child every 2.5 years. That would add up to 40 children every one hundred years. When you consider the fact that Adam lived for more than nine centuries, that total would eventually add up to over 350 children born throughout the course of Adam’s lifetime. That’s a lot of children.

But let’s say that each of these children also began having children of their own every 20 years or so. Then let’s say that this process repeated itself every 20 years. In that case, Adam could have seen the number of his descendants grow to a tremendous amount of people by the time that he finally passed away.

“Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died” (Genesis 5:5).

Adam’s obituary here in Genesis 5:5 reminds us that whenever someone disobeys God, there is always a price to pay. Remember that way back in Genesis 2:17 God told Adam, “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

930 years later, Adam paid the price for what he did wrong- and the price was his life, just as God warned him. This price tag is something that God would later inspire the Apostle Paul to write about in the New Testament book of Romans where we’re told that “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23).

It took a long time, but the effects of Adam’s sin eventually caught up with him. In a similar way, people today may knowingly do something wrong but when God doesn’t punish them right away, they may think, “It’s not a big deal, God doesn’t care- I’m getting away with it.” The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes talks about this kind of attitude when it says, “Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” (Ecclesiastes 8:11 TLB).

We should never forget that choices have consequences and just because God hasn’t acted in a situation doesn’t mean that He can’t or won’t act. For Adam, it took hundreds of years before he had to pay the consequences for his actions but he still had to pay, just as everyone eventually will.

IV

“When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:6-7).

Genesis 5:6-7 begins a section that continues on to the end of chapter five and provides us with a record and family history of some of Adam’s descendants. A closer look at this section also tells us that…

• The time period covered by this chapter is about 1650 years.
• The average life span of the people mentioned in Genesis chapter five is 907 years (not including Enoch- we’ll talk about him next).
• The average age when these people had their first child was 155 years of age.

Now one obvious thing that stands out in this chapter is the fact that the life expectancies of these people were really, really long. While an average person might live for 70-80 years today, the people mentioned in Genesis chapter five regularly lived to be 800-900 years old before they died. In fact, nobody in Genesis chapter five lived for less for than 365 years and the person who lived for 365 years really didn’t die. So how were these great life expectancies possible?

Well, it’s clear that people lived for much longer life spans before the Great Flood that we’ll talk about later when we look at Genesis chapter six. It’s thought that one reason for this may lie in the possibility that the overall environment before the Flood was a lot more favorable for human life than the environment that we live in today. The result was that people aged less quickly and were able to live much longer lives. Another possibility is that these early human beings had far fewer genetic flaws that cause people to become sick than people do today,

In any event, it seems that the consequences of Adam’s sin had much less of a physical effect on people, at least in the beginning. The result was that people lived for life spans that went on for centuries.

Just imagine what it would be like if this situation existed in our world today. Imagine what it would be like to talk to someone who was around when the steam engine was invented? What would it be like to personally talk to someone like Christopher Columbus or Leonardo DaVinci or Thomas Edison? What would it be like to speak with someone who lived during the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution? Almost everyone mentioned in Genesis chapter five would have been around for those things if people lived for similar life-spans today.

V

One person whose time on earth much shorter than the other people mentioned in Genesis chapter five was a man named Enoch (pronounced “ee-nock”). You can read about his story beginning in Genesis chapter five, verse twenty-one (5:21)…

“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:21-24).

As far as Biblical characters go, Enoch is really a man of mystery. Outside of one mention in the New Testament book of Hebrews, almost everything that we know about Enoch comes from what we read here in Genesis chapter five.

Now when it says that Enoch,“…was no more, because God took him away,” the wording used seems to indicate that God somehow just snatched Enoch right off the planet sometime after his 365th birthday. So why would God take Enoch away to be with Him like this?

Well, Hebrews 11:5 tells us that before he was taken away, Enoch was known as someone who was pleasing to God. Genesis 5:24 simply tells us that “…Enoch walked with God.” In other words, Enoch pleased God by moving steadily forward in his relationship with Him, just like you do when you walk with somebody. Enoch didn’t run ahead and he didn’t stop and start- he just walked with God.

This idea of “walking with God” is also mentioned in the Old Testament book of Micah where it says, “.. the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what He requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8 NLT). You see, if you want to walk with God, then you have to be where God is going- and the road that God is on includes things like justice, mercy, and humility. Like Enoch, you can also be someone who is pleasing to God by walking along the life-road of justice, mercy, and humility with Him.

Now there’s one more thing to consider before we leave this chapter. After looking at the ages of some of the people mentioned in this chapter, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that the oldest person mentioned in the Bible is found right here in Genesis chapter five. That person’s name was Methuselah (pronounced “meth-thoo-sel-ah”) and he lived for 969 years. Methuselah’s father was Enoch, the man who walked with God, and the name that Enoch gave his son is very interesting. According to one scholar-type, Methuselah’s name means, “when he dies, judgment.” ₍₁₎

So what might that judgment refer to? Well, that answer comes in the next chapter.

(1) Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record pg. 155

Next

Previous

I

“Adam lay with 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 4:1-2).

Now most people have probably heard of Cain and Abel but there’s a lot more to their story than Cain’s famous question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” in Genesis chapter four, verse nine.

Let’s take a look at Cain first. The Scripture quoted above tells us that Cain was the very first human being ever born and his name means “possession.” ₍₁₎ While “possession” may seem like a strange name to give to a baby, his name indicates that Adam and Eve understood that Cain’s existence was something that God allowed them to have or possess.

Eve later had another son named Abel. His name means “breath, vapor, vanity” ₍₂₎ This name tells us that by the time Abel was born, Adam and Eve may have realized that the effects of their wrongdoing in the Garden of Eden were not going to be fixed anytime soon.

Anyway, Cain and Abel eventually went on to pursue very different lifestyles. Abel became a rancher and managed the family’s livestock. Cain became a farmer and helped provide everyone with food to eat. Unfortunately, Cain and Abel were also moving in two very different spiritual directions as well…

“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it'” (Genesis 4:3-7).

So Cain and Abel both brought their offerings to God. Cain brought some of his farm produce as a gift and Abel made an offering to God from among his animals. However, there was a problem: While God approved of Abel’s gift, He did not have respect for Cain’s offering. The question is, why?

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993,

(2) Notes taken from the NET Bible® footnotes, copyright (c) 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press L.L.C. All rights reserved. Used by permission from www.bible.org

II

“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor” (Genesis 4:3-5a).

So why did God accept Abel’s gift and reject Cain’s offering? Well, we may be able to find one possible answer to that question within the description of each offering. Did you notice that Genesis 4:3 says,“Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD” but Genesis 4:4 tells us that “…Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.”

The fat portion was considered to be the very best part of the animal and that was the portion that Abel presented to God. We’re also told that Abel’s gift came from among the firstborn of his flock. So in looking at this offering, we can say that Abel took what was his first and best and gave it to God. In other words, Abel made sure to offer God something that was worthy of Him.

Cain’s offering was different. Unlike Abel, Cain did not necessarily give his first and best to God- it just says that Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. There’s nothing really special about that and there’s a big difference between giving “some” to God (like Cain did) and bringing your first and best to God (like Abel did).

Each of these gifts says something about where Cain and Abel were spiritually. For example, the New Testament book of Hebrews talks about Abel’s internal attitude in offering his gifts to God…

“By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4).

Abel faithfully gave his first and best to God and because of this, God looked at Abel with favor or respect. There may be no higher compliment in the world than to say that God looks on someone with respect -and that’s how God responded to Abel.

Unfortunately, Cain’s response is also going to say a lot about his internal attitude towards God as well. You see, Cain could have said to himself, “God didn’t care for my gift. I’m going to have to go back and rethink this so I can bring God something that He’ll like better.” But Cain had a different internal attitude towards God than his brother did- and that internal attitude towards God will soon lead to a bad external response.

III

The external problem with Cain’s offering to God was that He didn’t give God the kind of gift that He really deserved. In other words, Cain didn’t really give his first and best to God. The internal problem with Cain’s offering shows up on the back end of Genesis chapter four, verse five: “So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.”

The word used for “angry” in the original language of Genesis means, “to be hot, furious, to burn.” ₍₁₎ This tells us that Cain didn’t just get mad about the situation- he got so furious that you could see his anger reflected in his face. This reaction to the fact that God didn’t look favorably on his offering tells us a lot about Cain’s internal attitude.

Here’s why: Let’s say that you bring a gift to someone you really love, but that person rejects your gift. In that situation, how do you think you would feel? Would you feel sorrow? Disappointment? Sadness? Confusion? Regret? Well, those are the responses that you would normally expect to see in a situation where a gift is rejected by someone you care for.

Now let’s take the opposite situation. Let’s say that you bring a gift to someone that you don’t really care for. If that person rejects your gift, then how do you think you would respond? Well, most people would probably be more likely to respond with disgust or anger and say, “If you don’t want my gift, that’s OK with me- I’ll just give it to someone else” or something like that.

The point is that in both instances, someone’s internal attitude towards another person will be expressed by their external actions. Since Cain became angry when God did not look favorably on his gift, that response tells us a lot about how he really felt about God.

So how did Cain express the way he felt? Well, as we’ll see in a little while, Cain expressed his anger through the murder of his innocent brother. This brings to mind something that Jesus once said in Matthew 15:18-20…

“…the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’…”

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

IV

“Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it'” (Genesis 4:6-7).

Notice that God didn’t react toward Cain in the same way that Cain reacted towards God. For instance, the Bible doesn’t say that God was angry at Cain or that He zapped Cain with a lightning bolt or that He said to him, “Why can’t you be more like your brother?”

Instead, God responded very graciously- He basically said to Cain, “If you do the right thing then everything will be OK between us. But we read that God also told him, “…if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master” (NLT).

This is the very first appearance of the word “sin” in the Bible. Now “sin” is a word that people use a lot, but rarely seem to define. For instance, most people probably have a general idea that “sin” refers to something bad, but what exactly is it? Well, the word “sin” as used in the Bible means, “to miss the mark.” ₍₁₎

To illustrate the meaning of this word, we might imagine an archer shooting at a bull’s-eye. The archer takes aim, draws his bow and let’s the arrow fly- but in this case, the arrow falls short and lands in the ground in front of the target. In this instance, the archer has missed the mark.

Like the archer in our illustration, the Biblical definition of “sin” doesn’t just mean rebelling against God or doing something wrong- it means “to miss the mark.” It means failing to live up to everything that God created you to be. Another definition of sin is “a path, a life-style, or act deviating from that which God has marked out.” ₍₂₎ That’s what God was warning Cain about.

The truth is that no matter who we are, we have all sinned- sometimes without knowing it and sometimes on purpose. Everyone has failed to live up to God’s standards in some way and for that reason, everyone is guilty before God. As the New Testament book of James tells us, “…the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is” (James 2:10 TLB).

(1) Fausset’s Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright © 1998, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved

(2) Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers

V

“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:8).

There’s a word that describes what happened to Abel in this verse. That word is “murder.” Now murder is defined as “the unlawful killing of one human being by another” ₍₁₎ and while you may not realize it, not all murder is the same.

For example, there is a premeditated murder which describes the type of murder that occurs when someone begins with an intent to kill another person. When someone intentionally plans and commits a murder, that’s usually referred to as a first degree criminal homicide here in the United States.

Then there is a non-premeditated murder, also known as manslaughter. This occurs when one person kills someone but didn’t intend to do so or think about doing it beforehand. Involuntary manslaughter is unintentional, like an accidental killing. Voluntary manslaughter involves the intent to injure but not kill someone. For instance, let’s say that two people are fighting and the first person pushes the second person off a balcony to his or her death. That would be an example of voluntary manslaughter.

So you can see that there are many different types of murders. Knowing this, which one of these types of murder do you think that Cain would be charged with if he were put on trial in a court of law today? Well, based on the information we have, we can say that Cain would almost certainly be charged with first degree murder in the death of his brother if he were to appear in court today.

While it’s possible that Cain and Abel went out to the field and had a spontaneous argument that resulted in Abel’s death, a good detective would want to know why Cain invited Abel there in the first place. This is because…

1. The only reason that Abel seems to be there is because his brother invited him.
2. Cain’s anger over the acceptance of his brother’s sacrifice provided him with a potential motive to kill his brother when no one else was around.

Besides, Genesis 4:8 specifically says that, “…while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother…” There’s no indication that Abel had anything to do with it. Then there is 1 John 3:12 which tells us: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.”

This is why Cain would be almost certainly be looking at a first degree murder charge if he was being put on trial in the death of his brother today.

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

VI

We should also remember that God had already given Cain a word of warning when he became angry over the rejection of his offering. Genesis 4:7 records that conversation for us: “…if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” So God clearly warned Cain about the consequences that would follow his choices, but Cain apparently chose not to listen.

In one sense, God continues to repeat His warning to Cain to people today through the pages of His Word. For example, the New Testament book of Galatians says this…

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT).

So we can say that there are definite consequences that follow the way that someone chooses to live. As the Scripture quoted above tells us, bad choices are sure to be followed by bad consequences. And while it may be easy to think that those consequences will only affect the person making the choice, the truth is that they are not just limited to the person involved- those consequences also affect other people as well.

Let’s think about the other people who were affected by Cain’s decision to murder his brother. For instance, we can say that Abel’s death certainly had an impact on Adam and Eve. Remember that Cain was Adam and Eve’s first son. Adam and Eve probably had great hope for their first-born son, just as any good parent would. Perhaps they even thought that Cain would turn out to be the deliverer that God had promised to give them so many years earlier when they were still in the Garden of Eden.

But what happened? Well, it turned out that Cain was far from being the deliverer that God had promised. The unfortunate reality is that Cain actually went on to become the very first murderer. Cain and Abel may have been the only two human beings that existed other than Adam and Eve at this time- and now one of them was gone. That means that the first person ever born in the history of the human race also turned out to be the first criminal ever in the history of the human race.

VII

“Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?'” (Genesis 4:9-12).

So Abel became the very first person to die for doing what was right. Perhaps Cain thought that he could hide his brother’s murder by bringing him out to a remote location, but the reality is that nothing can ever be hidden from God (see Hebrews 4:13).

It’s interesting to notice that God doesn’t start His conversation with Cain by making an accusation. He simply begins with a single question: ‘”Where is your brother Abel?” Just as Adam was faced with a choice in responding to God, Cain was also faced with a choice in responding to this question from God. He could choose to be honest and upfront with God about his actions or he could choose to respond to God in some other way. Unfortunately, Cain also chose to go with option number two, just as Adam did.

Rather than responding to God in a way that gave God the respect that He deserved, Cain instead chose to give God a sarcastic response: “…the Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother? Where is Abel?’ ‘How should I know?’ Cain retorted. ‘Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?'” (Genesis 4:9 TLB).

When God questioned Adam and Eve after they disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden, they both at least responded respectfully to His questions. Unfortunately, Cain’s response to God was very different. Not only did Cain murder an innocent man, he then proceeded to make his crime even worse by disrespecting God and then trying to lie to Him about it.

“The LORD said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth'” (Genesis 4:10-12).

Remember that Cain was a farmer, so this punishment was really bad. Basically, this verdict was a more intense version of the judgment that God placed on Adam for his wrongdoing in Genesis chapter three. So while growing enough food to eat was difficult enough for Adam, it was now going to be impossible for Cain.

Not only that, Cain was also condemned to a bitter future- a future of continually drifting from region to region, looking for a home and a place of his own, but never quite finding that place.

VIII

“Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ But the LORD said to him, ‘Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Genesis 4:13-16).

Cain’s reply to God gives us another important clue about his attitude toward God. The Scripture quoted above tells us that Cain responded to God’s verdict by saying, “This punishment is too hard!” (CEV). In other words, Cain didn’t feel bad about the fact that he did something wrong- he felt bad about the punishment that he received for doing wrong. Like many people today, the thing that Cain was most sorry about was the fact that he was caught and now had to suffer the consequences.

You see, there’s a big difference between being sorry for doing something wrong and being sorry that you got caught doing something wrong. The Bible talks about this difference in the Old Testament book of Proverbs…

“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble” (Proverbs 28:13-14).

This passage of Scripture tells us that it’s not enough to simply feel sorry about doing something wrong. Instead of just feeling sorry, the first thing we should do is be honest and upfront with God about the things we’ve done wrong and not try to hide them. The next step is to “renounce” (a word that means “to give up” or “reject”) those things we’ve done wrong and ask God to help us make choices that honor Him.

These verses also help to illustrate the Biblical concept of “repentence.” This idea of repentance literally means, “to change your mind” and it implies a lot more than just feeling sorry about doing something wrong. Real repentance always involves action, just like a motor vehicle driver might stop from going the wrong way by making a U-turn and going back in the right direction.

On the other hand, someone who is not honest with themselves or with God about the things that they’ve done wrong will surely have to deal with some bad consequences, just like Cain.

IX

There was one additional problem for Cain other than the punishment of exile that he received for murdering his brother. That other problem for Cain is found in Genesis 4:14: “whoever finds me will kill me.”

Cain apparently was afraid that someone else might try to kill him in revenge for what he did to his brother. It seems that this fear also caused a sudden change in Cain’s attitude towards God as well. Now that his life might possibly be in danger, Cain pleaded with God saying, “My punishment is more than I can bear” (Genesis 4:13). Cain also stopped making sarcastic remarks to God like, “How should I know (where Abel is)? Am I his babysitter?” (Genesis 4:9 MSG) now that he needed God’s help.

Cain’s attitude towards God was revealed in the way that he spoke to God, but God’s attitude towards Cain was also revealed in the way that He spoke to Cain. You see, when Cain said, “whoever finds me will kill me,” God could have replied by saying something like, “That’s too bad- I guess you should have thought about that before murdering your brother and then making a wisecrack remark to me when I asked you where he was.”

Rather than saying something like that, we read instead that God placed a mark on Cain so that anyone who found him would know not to kill him (see Genesis 4:15). Whatever this mark was, it served to protect Cain from anyone who wanted to treat him in the same way that he had treated Abel. This gracious protection from God later enabled Cain to build a city and produce a large number of descendants that we’ll read about later.

“So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Genesis 4:16).

The word “Nod” means “wandering” which certainly made it an appropriate place to be for someone who was condemned to be a “…a restless wanderer on the earth” (Genesis 4:12). In fact, it’s possible that this reference to the land of Nod does not indicate an actual geographic area, but is merely used as a figure of speech to illustrate Cain’s nomadic lifestyle from that point forward.

So we’ve seen that Cain was the first human being ever born but also that he was humanity’s first murderer as well. To this list, we can also add another first- the Scriptures tell us that Cain was also the very first person to leave God’s presence, as the Biblical verse quoted above tells us. Unfortunately, once someone turns from the presence of God, bad things are sure to follow.

X

“Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch” (Genesis 4:17).

This verse brings up one of the most famous Biblical questions of all time: Who was Cain’s wife? Since Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel are the only human beings mentioned in the Bible up to this point, where did Cain’s wife come from?

Well, we can find one possible answer later on in Genesis chapter five where there is a long list of people who eventually descended from Adam. This chapter tells us that Adam lived for a total of 930 years and “…had other sons and daughters” as well (Genesis 5:4-5). So if -like Adam- the life span of an average person lasted for hundreds of years during that era, there would be plenty of time for people to produce many children who are not necessarily mentioned in Genesis.

So let’s say that each new generation of people born during this time began to turn out another new generation every 20-25 years while their parents continued to have additional children. This would create an enormous potential for a human population explosion in a very short time. If that was the case, then it means that Cain simply chose a wife from among the large number of bachelorettes available.

However, this would also mean that Cain’s wife was probably one of his sisters or at least a very close relative. Now besides the “eeeewwww” factor involved with the idea of someone marrying his sister, the Old Testament book of Leviticus specifically warns against this…

“If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible” (Leviticus 20:17).

Another problem is that marriage between close relatives also increases the possibility for genetic defects to show up in any children that they might have. So how should we look at these issues?

Well, first we should remember that Cain’s marriage took place long before the law in Leviticus went into effect. This means that we can’t say that Cain’s marriage went against the Bible’s teachings on this subject because it took place long before God gave people those teachings.

Secondly, the human “gene pool” was probably a lot cleaner during these first generations. The genetics of these early human beings were probably still pure enough to allow for intermarriage between close relatives without the genetic problems that we might see today. However, there eventually came a time when God prohibited marriages between close relatives, apparently due to the genetic dangers involved. That’s the ruling that comes into effect in Leviticus 20:17.

XI

“To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah” (Genesis 4:18-22).

So these verses provide us with a list of people who descended from Adam and Eve’s son Cain. Genesis 4:19 tells us that Cain eventually had a great-great-great grandson whose name was Lamech. According to the Scriptures, Lamech is the first recorded example of someone who chose to reject the original marriage standard of one man and one woman that God had established way back in the Garden of Eden.

Lamech’s wives then went on to give birth to three sons who turned out to be very important. The first son was named Jabal and he was the first person to travel from place to place while raising and producing livestock. This tent-based lifestyle allowed people to easily relocate in search of good pastures for domestic animals like camels, donkeys, goats, and sheep.

Next up was a man named Jubal. While his brother Jabal was more of an outdoorsman, Jubal turned out to be much more artistic in nature. Jubal was a musician who worked with and played various wind and string instruments. So if you are a musician who plays an instrument in a band, you and Jubal have something in common.

The third brother mentioned is a man named Tubal-Cain. He went on to become the very first metal worker ever. Tubal-Cain was the forerunner of a modern day iron worker and he developed the methods and procedures for casting and forging things out of iron and bronze. Because of this ability to create and develop various metal tools, Tubal-Cain’s work would have been important in helping farmers plant and harvest enough food to feed the growing human population.

So these verses describe three men who were extremely skilled and talented at a very early point in human history. While it’s certainly true that human achievements have become more complex and sophisticated over time, these Scriptures give us some insight into the great advancements that people were capable of even at this early stage of human development.

XII

If you thought that boasting and trash-talking on the field, on the court, or at the microphone was something new, then guess again…

“Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times'” (Genesis 4:23-24).

So we might say that the Bible identifies this guy Lamech as the original trash-talker. Of course, Lamech isn’t boasting to anyone other than his own two wives so it may be a little difficult to take what he says seriously. Nevertheless, Lamech says: “If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times, then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!” (NLT).

Now you may remember that God had issued an earlier warning that promised a sevenfold punishment on anyone who killed Cain. But now Lamech basically says, “If God promises a sevenfold punishment on anyone who kills Cain, I guarantee a seventy-sevenfold punishment on anyone who tries to kill me.”

So it seems that Lamech feels that he is so important that he can issue a greater punishment than God. But for all his trash-talking, Lamech really didn’t really amount to very much in the end- he and his descendants are never heard from again in the Bible.

So it seems that Adam’s descendants (like Cain and Lamech) are quickly moving away from a God-honoring attitude. But that doesn’t include everyone…

“Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:25-26).

The name Seth means “appointed” and the idea seems to be that Seth was the replacement for Abel, the righteous man that Cain murdered earlier. Seth is an important person in the Scriptures because we’ll find that his lineage will eventually lead to other Godly men such as Noah, Abraham, David, and ultimately on to Jesus Christ.

It was also during this time that, “…men began to call on the name of the LORD.” This could mean that people first started to pray to God, worship God, or even begin to have some sort of regularly scheduled church service at this time. Whatever this phrase refers to, we can say that this marks the first time in history that a group of people began to turn to God in faith.

Next

Previous

I

As you read about what happens in Genesis chapter three, you’re certain to find some things that should be familiar to everyone.

For example, is there anyone who hasn’t been tricked or deceived by someone else? Well, that happens in Genesis chapter three. Is there anyone who hasn’t made a horrible choice and lived to regret it later on? That happens in Genesis chapter three as well. Is there anyone who doesn’t know what it’s like to fall into temptation and knowingly do something that they shouldn’t have done? These are things that are common to the human experience and we see all of them occur in Genesis chapter three.

Genesis chapter three also answers some basic questions about why things are the way that they are in our world today. For instance, have you ever really thought about why the world can be such a bad place? Have you ever asked yourself why people lie, cheat, steal, and even kill each other? Have you ever wondered why things like disease and death exist? Have you ever thought about why so many things seem to have no purpose or meaning in life? Have you ever wondered how everything got to be this way?

But the truth is that we can narrow these questions down even further. For example, have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I do things that I know are wrong? Why do I do things that I know are going to hurt myself and other people? Why does there always seem to be so much pain in my life? Why do things seem so meaningless and without purpose in my own life?”

You see, if we are really honest with ourselves, we have to admit that there are some things that are very wrong in our world today. If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that things are really not the way they should be. And if we’re really, really honest with ourselves, we must confess that we are not the way we should be either.

Genesis chapter three tells us how things got to be the way they are today and once you know how everything got broken, it then becomes a lot easier to know how to get them fixed.

If we were to think of Genesis chapter three in terms of a theatrical drama, it would be resemble a play with four main characters. The first character enters with the specific intent to deceive someone else. Character number two is set up as the target of that deception. The third character enters but knowingly does something wrong. The fourth and final Person is left to come in, clean up the mess, and start the process necessary to make everything right.

II

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”

“‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'” (Genesis 3:1-5).

Now when most people think about a serpent today, the image of a snake-like creature is probably what comes to mind. So let’s imagine that you are walking along in the garden of Eden and all of a sudden, a talking serpent comes up to you and starts having a conversation. If you were in that situation, would you respond by continuing the conversation as if this was nothing out of the ordinary?

For most people, the answer would be probably not. This may be an indication that the serpent mentioned in Genesis chapter three was not like the snakes or serpents that we know today, at least not at the beginning. But we’ll talk more about that as we move on towards the end of this chapter.

Anyway, it might be tempting to read these verses and think, “Wait a minute- I just read in the first two chapters how God made everything. It says that God saw that everything He made was good. The one thing that wasn’t good was for the man to be alone and God fixed that by making a woman. Now this serpent suddenly shows up out of nowhere and starts telling lies- what’s up with that??”

Well, as it turns out, Eve is having a conversation with a creature that is either personified by the devil or possibly with the devil himself. We can say this with certainty because the last book of the Bible identifies the individual who is really behind what’s happening in these verses.

You see, the book of Revelation speaks twice about, “…that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan…” in Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2. So we know that this serpent in Genesis chapter three is either Satan himself or some type of creature that he is using as a tool for his purposes.

III

So how did this come to be? Where did this cunning, crafty, subtle liar in the garden of Eden come from?

Well, probably everyone has heard of the devil, a being who is also known as Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and so forth. Satan is sometimes portrayed as a comical individual with a red suit, horns, and a pitchfork. Sometimes he is depicted as God’s opposite, a kind of “anti-god” or evil god who is locked in an eternal struggle for people’s souls. But in reality, the devil is neither a clown or God’s “anti-equal.”

The individual that we call “the devil” is actually a fallen angelic being. “Satan” is his name and “devil” is his title or “job description” if you want to think of it that way. The word devil means “accuser.” It comes from a word that means, “a false witness.” ₍₁₎ The name Satan means “adversary” which implies that he is an enemy or opponent. ₍₂₎

Contrary to what many people believe, the Bible does not represent Satan as a myth or a legend but as an actual being. For example…

• Satan has the ability to reason (Job 1:9-10)
• He has emotions (Revelation 12:17)
• He has desires (Luke 22:31)
• He has plans (Ephesians 6:11)
• And he has the ability to carry out his intentions (2 Timothy 2:26).

So where did Satan come from and how did he end up in the garden of Eden? Well, there are two Old Testament passages that have some information on Satan and his beginnings. These two passages are found in the Biblical books of Isaiah (in chapter fourteen, verses twelve to fifteen [14:12-15]) and Ezekiel (in chapter twenty eight, verses eleven to nineteen [28:11-19]).

For example, if you read Ezekiel 28:12-13, you’ll find that it tells us how God instructed the prophet Ezekiel to “Take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre.” Tyre was an ancient city that was located on the coast of the Mediterranean sea with residents who had done some things that really offended God.

However, when you go on to read what God tells Ezekiel to say, you’ll find that the subject is a guardian angelic being who was on the holy mountain of God in Eden. So it seems that Ezekiel was doing much more than just speaking to the king of this city- he was speaking of someone who was the real power behind that king’s actions.

And who was that “someone”? Well, Isaiah and Ezekiel tell us about a being who was, “…the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12). He was blameless in all his ways until he became proud of his beauty. At that time, wickedness was found in him and he grew corrupt because of his splendor according to Ezekiel 28:15-17. Finally, he began to plot to take over the throne of God saying, “…I will raise my throne above the stars of God… I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13, 14).

(1) Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc.

(2) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

IV

In fact, we can learn a lot more about Satan’s origin by taking a closer look at Isaiah 14:13-14…

“You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High'” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

These statements have been called the five “I will’s” of Satan. Let’s take a look at each of them and see what they can tell us about who Satan is and what he is all about…

• “I will ascend to heaven.” Heaven is the place of God and it appears that Satan wanted to rise to a position of equal (or greater) importance than God.

• “I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” Scholar-types believe that the word “stars” is a reference to other angelic beings. This tells us that Satan wanted to have the same rule and authority over other angels as God does.

• “I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.” Earlier in the book of Isaiah it says that, “…the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2). So it appears that one of Satan’s goals was to replace God as the highest authority and have everyone look to him instead of God.

• “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds.” This is a poetic way of saying that Satan wanted to be the highest, greatest, and uppermost being in the universe.

• “I will make myself like the Most High.” This tells us that Satan wanted the same power, authority, and worship as God.

Because of this attempt to overthrow God and put himself in God’s place, Satan’s name was changed from Lucifer (which means shining one or morning star) to Satan (adversary). Satan was thrown out of heaven according to Isaiah 14:12 but he apparently still has some sort of limited access (you can see Job 1:6-10 for an example).

The Bible doesn’t tell us when all this happened, but we know that these things must have occurred sometime before Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden because Satan coordinated that event in the personage of this serpent.

V

In the Bible, Satan is referred to as…

• The evil one (Matthew 6:13)
• The wicked one (1John 2:13)
• A liar and a murderer (John 8:44)
• A deceiver (Revelation 20:10)
• The ruler of this world (John 12:31)

The Scriptures describe Satan as an intelligent, crafty, and relentless being. In fact, Revelation 12:10 tells us that Satan accuses God’s people day and night, which indicates that he never gets tired and he doesn’t give up. He is also so powerful that he is apparently a match even for the archangel Michael (see Jude 9).

If all that wasn’t enough, the Bible also describes Satan as a master of deceit who can assume different forms to suit his purposes when necessary (see 2 Corinthians 11:14). This may explain why the being that the woman is speaking to in Genesis 3:1-5 is identified as a serpent. It also may explain why she was so unconcerned about having a conversation with a talking serpent- his appearance may have been altered in a way that made him appear to be totally non-threatening.

So what’s the very first action taken by the devil in the personage of this serpent? Well, he doesn’t come in and immediately start wrecking everything- he simply opens up a conversation: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'” (Genesis 3:1).

While that may seem like an innocent question, it’s really not when you think about it. Notice that the question isn’t, “What did God say?” The question is, “Did God really say that?” It’s almost as if the serpent has heard something so incredible that he couldn’t believe it: “God really said that?!? You can’t eat the fruit from any tree in the garden?”

Now you have to watch carefully to really understand what’s going on here. For instance, did you notice how the serpent cleverly rephrased what God actually said back in Genesis 2:16-17? In that passage, you may remember that God said to Adam, “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…” That’s a positive statement with almost unlimited freedom and one small restriction.

But the serpent turns this into a negative statement by taking what God actually said and rephrasing it to maneuver the woman into focusing on this one limitation. You see, the motivation behind this question wasn’t to get a better and more accurate understanding of what God said. As we’ll see, the real motivation was to suggest to the woman that God was holding something back from her. The suggestion was that God had made some sort of mistake in putting any restrictions in place.

VI

“The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die'” (Genesis 3:2-3).

Now it’s easy to say, “Well, this woman shouldn’t have spoken to that serpent to begin with” because we all know how the story turns out. However, it is true that Eve could have handled this situation in a better way. For instance, she could have said, “God’s decisions are up to Him. I’ve seen enough from God to know that I can trust Him when He says that something is not good even if I don’t totally understand why.”

But even so, she starts off OK with her answer: “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden…” (CEV). It might have been better if she said, “We can freely eat from the trees in the garden…” which is what God actually told Adam, but this seems like a pretty good start.

But notice that she identifies this tree as,“…the tree that is in the middle of the garden…” and not as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Maybe she thought that this tree was like any other tree in the Garden of Eden; the only difference was that you couldn’t eat any fruit from it. In any event, it doesn’t seem like she associated it with the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps Adam simply told her, “See that tree over there- don’t eat anything from it.”

Anyway, here’s where things really start getting off course: “…You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” So what’s the problem with that? Well, the first part is OK but the second part added something that God didn’t say. Here’s exactly what God told Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…

“…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 of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

God never said anything about coming into contact with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil- He just said, “Don’t eat any fruit from it.” It might have been a good idea not to touch that tree, but there’s a big difference between taking a reasonable safety precaution and saying that God said something when He really didn’t.

This tells us where Eve’s weak point was: she had a shaky understanding of what God said. First, she left out the word “freely” that we talked about earlier. Then she added something that God didn’t say about coming into contact with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The truth is that Eve could have made a hammock or built a tree house in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without going against anything that God said. As long as she didn’t eat any of it’s fruit, she would have been OK.

VII

Of course, Eve is not the only person who has ever added to something to God’s Word. For example, there are many well-known sayings that are often thought to be Biblical but really don’t come from the Bible. See if you can identify which of these well-known sayings appear in the Bible and which ones don’t…

1. God helps those who help themselves
2. God is love
3. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil
4. Trust your heart
5. Do to others as you would have them do to you
6. Live and let live ₍₁₎

This example demonstrates why it’s important to know what God’s Word really says. Eve didn’t, and that’s why she is about to get into trouble…

“…God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”

“‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman” (Genesis 3:4).

Here is an outright, in-your-face denial: “You’re not gonna die.” Since this directly contradicts what God told Adam earlier in Genesis 2:16-17, the serpent also implies that God is a liar as well. These words spoken by the serpent also hold some other bad implications about God when you think about it…

1. It implies that God did something wrong because He didn’t tell the truth
2. If God didn’t tell the truth when He said that eating this fruit was bad, then the opposite must be true- it actually must be something good
3. So if eating this fruit was something good then why didn’t God want her to have it?

Now if God was really lying (as the serpent claimed), then there had to be a reason for it. That part comes next…

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).

The serpent’s explanation was that God wasn’t truthful because He was afraid. He claimed that God was afraid that Eve would learn that she could become like God too. This wasn’t true of course, and given what we know about Satan, it seems that he is trying to accuse God of the very same thing that he himself was guilty of (see Isaiah 14:14).

Now it’s one thing to know that something is wrong by identifying it, but it’s another thing to know that something is wrong by experiencing it. Adam and Eve didn’t need to learn what was wrong by doing something wrong because God had already identified it for them. This principle also holds true for people today. You can avoid a lot of the hurt and pain that often comes by experience by reading the Scriptures and allowing God to identify and help you avoid things that are wrong.

Unfortunately, you can’t always believe everything that someone tells you; we’ll find out why next.

(1) 2 (1 John 4:16), 3 (1 Timothy 6:10) and 5 (Luke 6:31) are all found within the Scriptures. The others are not -especially number 3 (see Jeremiah 17:9)

VIII

As we said earlier, there are four major characters found within Genesis chapter three. We’ve already seen two of these characters (the woman and the serpent) in the opening verses. We also know that God is the fourth and final character, so the last missing person is Adam- and we’ll find out where he’s been in a little while…

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom…” (Genesis 3:6a).

Along with our four major characters, there are also four important things that occur in this verse. First, notice we’re told that the woman “saw … the fruit of the tree.” Now does this mean that she had never seen that tree and it’s fruit ever before? Well, Eve was certainly aware of the tree and it’s fruit before her conversation with the serpent, but now she “saw” it in the sense that she was considering it, dwelling on it, and thinking about it.

So the first important thing to remember from this verse is that it’s possible for someone to look at something but never really “see” it. It’s possible to be aware of something but never really consider it or think about it. Eve now began to see this tree and consider it’s fruit from the wrong perspective. The problem is that once you start thinking about doing something wrong, it’s only a short step towards actually doing something wrong.

OK, so what was it that she saw about this tree and it’s fruit? That’s the next important thing- she saw that “…the fruit of the tree was good for food.” Now there’s nothing really wrong with that, is there? After all, people have to eat, right?

While that’s certainly true, don’t forget that this event takes place in the Garden of Eden, the most perfect place that has ever existed on earth. The Garden of Eden already had plenty of great stuff to eat and the woman was free to eat as much of it as she wanted. This tells us that Eve made the mistake of focusing on what she didn’t have instead of focusing on all the great things that God had already provided for her.

So if she didn’t need to eat the fruit off this particular tree then why did she go after it? That part comes next: it was, “…pleasing to the eye.” This is another easy concept for people to understand today. You see, people often get into all sorts of trouble because they go for something that looks good but may not be good.

IX

“…the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was… pleasing to the eye…” (Genesis 3:6a)

It’s possible for something to look good, but not be good. For example, someone may purchase a car just because it looks good on the outside but later regret that decision when their new car starts breaking down. A good-looking car doesn’t count for much when your friends begin to make fun of you because your car won’t start.

Or let’s say that someone gets into a relationship with another person who is physically attractive only to find out later that physical attractiveness by itself is definitely not the best way to make relationship decisions.

These are two modern-day examples of what can happen when you make choices that are based strictly on what’s “… pleasing to the eye.” Unfortunately, people often duplicate Eve’s mistake in Genesis chapter three by making decisions based on what looks good but not necessarily on what is good.

Finally, we’re told that the woman also saw that this fruit was, “…desirable for gaining wisdom.” It’s possible that Eve looked at this fruit and thought, “This is something that’s going to make me wise- I don’t want this serpent to think that I’m stupid.” Like so many people today, Eve was encouraged to do something wrong because someone else dishonestly told her that it was a smart thing to do. This means that we are now looking at the first recorded example of someone caving in to peer pressure.

So the woman saw that the fruit of this tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. This is exactly what the New Testament will later describe as,“…the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16 NKJ).

The “lust of the flesh” part relates to how the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food even though she already had plenty of other good things to eat. The “lust of the eyes” part is obvious: she saw that the fruit of this tree was pleasing to the eye. Finally, the “pride of life” was tied up in the fact that she saw that eating this fruit was desirable for gaining wisdom.

So this whole situation is like a speeding automobile that’s heading right for the cliff. But there’s still one person left who can apply the brakes and steer this car away from disaster. We’ll see what that person does next.

X

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).

In the first five verses of Genesis chapter three, we’ve seen that Eve has been involved in a conversation with a serpent who is either Satan himself or a creature that Satan is using as a tool for his purposes. Now in reading these verses, you might think that Eve and the serpent have been carrying on a private conversation, but a closer look at Genesis 3:6 tells us that this is not the case.

You see, someone else has also been there during this conversation. That “someone else” was Adam. How do we know that Adam was there during this conversation? Well, we know that Adam was there because Genesis 3:6 tells us, “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her…” (emphasis added).

In other words, Adam was there with his wife during this incident but apparently said nothing during the conversation. When Eve made the decision to disobey God and eat some of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it seems that Adam simply went along and joined her without saying a word. Unfortunately, this “non-action” on Adam’s part is going to lead to some serious consequences.

For instance, have you ever noticed that whenever the Bible talks about what happened in Genesis chapter three, Adam is always the one who takes the responsibility for what occurred? You can find one example of this in the New Testament book of Romans where it says, “Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world” (Romans 5:12 CEV). Another example is found in the Old Testament book of Hosea which tells us, “Like Adam, they have broken the covenant — they were unfaithful to me…” (Hosea 6:7).

However, Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve was actually the first person to disobey God, so why does Adam have to take the blame? Well, remember that Adam was the one that God spoke to about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so he was the one who was accountable to God to make sure that His instructions were carried out. The problem is that Adam didn’t take the lead in making sure that he and his wife did what God told him to do.

If Adam had stepped in during Eve’s conversation with the serpent instead of standing by and saying nothing, then things might be very different today. But Adam chose not to step up and make sure that he and his wife maintained a God-honoring relationship. So while Eve was certainly responsible for doing something wrong, Adam also had accountability as well- that’s why he gets the blame.

XI

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Genesis 3:7).

You may remember that we talked earlier about how the concept of “nakedness” in the Garden of Eden involved more than just a lack of clothing. It also carried the idea of being totally open and exposed as a person.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were free to be totally open and exposed to each other both physically and emotionally. There were no secrets, no head games, and no facades in their relationship. They had nothing to hide from each other because there was nothing to hide. Adam and Eve had the complete freedom to explore and enjoy everything that their relationship could offer without any secrets.

But now that they had done something wrong, things were different. Before, there was nothing to hide. Now they both felt that they could no longer be totally open and exposed with each other. Before, no cover ups were necessary. Now they realized that there were things that they wanted to hide and conceal from each other.

But Adam and Eve weren’t only hiding things from each other…

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid'” (Genesis 3:8-10).

It’s important to notice what God does not do here. Remember, we’re told that Adam and Eve heard God as he was walked in the garden. It doesn’t say that God immediately ran up to them in anger as soon as they ate the forbidden fruit. It doesn’t say that God incinerated them with a lightning bolt from heaven for what they had done. It doesn’t say, “Then the LORD God appeareth to the man and woman to visit His vengeance upon them for their disobedience” or anything like that. It just says that God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

Now compare what God did to Adam and Eve’s response. We’re told that God looked for them but they tried to hide from Him behind some trees in the Garden. This illustrates one of the most basic consequences of sin- when you do something wrong, it separates you from God. God went looking for Adam and his wife but they separated themselves from Him because of what they had done.

XII

“But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'” (Genesis 3:9).

A person who doesn’t care very much about spiritual things may look at this verse and think, “Are you kidding me? Why would God ask Adam where he was? If God is supposed to know everything then how come He didn’t go directly to where Adam and Eve were hiding? This may seem like a good question at first glance but it doesn’t really give this verse the attention that it deserves when you stop to think about it.

Let’s consider the question that God asks here: “Where are you?” What does that question imply to you? Well, one implication might be that God asks this question because He doesn’t know the answer. But the Scriptures tell us that God is all-knowing (see Psalm 147:5), so it’s not like God is asking the question because He needs some information.

So if God is not asking this question for His own benefit, then why is He asking it? Well, the answer is that God is really asking this question for someone else’s benefit. You see, the question “where are you” also implies that someone is not where he or she is supposed to be.

For instance, let’s say that you have plans to meet someone after school. If you show up at the designated time and place and the person that you’re supposed to meet isn’t there, then what are you likely to do? If you’re like most people, the chances are pretty good that you’ll try to contact the person that you’re supposed to meet and say, “where are you?” Why? Because the person that you planned to meet is not where he or she is supposed to be.

In a similar way, the question “Where are you?” told Adam and Eve that they were not where they were supposed to be. Remember that human beings were created to love God and have a relationship with Him (see Matthew 22:35-38) but Adam and Eve had now separated themselves from the relationship that God created them to have with Him. They were no longer in the place with God where they were supposed to be.

In any event, the answer to God’s question comes in verse ten…

“He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid'” (Genesis 3:10).

Before, Adam and Eve had no reason to hide from God. Now they did. Before, they had no reason to be afraid of God. Now they had a reason. Before, there was no need for Adam and Eve to feel self-conscious about their appearance. Now there was.

So Adam gave God an honest answer but it won’t be long before the two people involved in this mess start trying to shift the blame.

XIII

So God didn’t immediately respond in anger or take revenge on Adam and Eve for what they did. Their choice to disobey God led to consequences that He traced right back to the source: “Have you eaten fruit from the tree I warned you about?” (TLB).

As we saw last time, this question didn’t help God by providing Him with information that he didn’t already have. This question really was for Adam’s benefit. You see, Adam was faced with two choices in responding to God’s question. He could choose to be honest and upfront with God about his actions or he could choose to respond to God in some other way. Unfortunately, Adam chose to go with option number two…

“The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it’ (Genesis 3:12).

So what’s the first thing Adam does? Well, instead of taking responsibility for what he did, Adam starts first by trying to blame Eve. Notice that in his response to God’s question, the first two words out of Adam’s mouth are, “The woman…”

Now this is bad enough, but the next thing that Adam does in response to God’s question is to try and blame God as well! He says, “The woman you put here with me…” (emphasis added). The obvious meaning behind this statement was for Adam to imply that his wrongdoing was God’s fault because God had given him a wife. Notice that Adam doesn’t say, “I did something wrong and I take full responsibility for what I did.” Instead, he first tries to suggest that it was really Eve’s fault and then he tries to put the blame on God.

“Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate'” (Genesis 3:13).

To her credit, Eve answered God’s question in a much more honest way. She said, “The serpent lead me astray- I was tricked into doing what I did.” Like Adam, Eve also tried to shift the blame and avoid responsibility for what she did, but at least she put the responsibility where it really belonged: “The serpent deceived me…”

So now that God has heard Adam and Eve’s explanation (not that He needed to), He’s going to talk to them about the consequences of their decision next. But before He gets to that, He first has something to say to the bad guy…

XIV

“So the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life'” (Genesis 3:14).

This verse is worded in a way that implies continuous action. So the idea is that the serpent was either still there with Adam and Eve or at least close enough for God to speak to after they both finished admitting what they had done.

Now as we said earlier, the serpent in Genesis chapter three is either Satan himself or some type of creature that he is using as a tool for his purposes. So what was the motivation behind Satan’s actions here in the Garden of Eden and what could he possibly gain? Well, based on what we know about the devil from the Scriptures, here’s one possibility.

First, we should recognize that the Bible refers to Satan as “…the god of this world…” (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV). The way that Satan got to be the “god of this world” is through what happened here in Genesis chapter three. Remember that humanity had received a God-given responsibility for taking care of the earth in Genesis 1:28 but Satan has now persuaded the first human couple to follow him instead of God. The effect of that decision separated Adam and Eve from their Creator and subjected them (along with that responsibility) to Satan’s leadership instead.

But the earth is just one planet in a gigantic universe. Why would a being as powerful as Satan even want to bother with these two insignificant little humans on one insignificant little planet? Well, the answer is that it wasn’t so much about who these humans were- it was more about what they could do. You see, these two unimportant little human beings had one ability that he didn’t- they had the ability to reproduce themselves.

So what’s the big deal about that? Well, think about it- with the right leadership and influence, these two human beings could eventually produce billions of other human beings who would also conform to the example of their very first parents in following Satan’s lead. And what would that accomplish? Well, we got the answer to that question when we looked at Isaiah chapter 14…

“‘I will ascend to heaven… I will raise my throne above the stars of God… I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13, 14).

Ultimately, Satan wants the same (or greater) power, authority, and worship as God. An army of human beings under his influence and direction could help him achieve that. In fact, Revelation 20:7-9 tells us that Satan will actually attempt to gather such an army in the future. But for now, everything starts with the first man and woman here in Genesis chapter three.

However, there was one flaw in this plan- God wasn’t having any of it.

XV

It’s interesting to see that when God does speak to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, He doesn’t ask any questions as He did with Adam and Eve. God doesn’t ask the serpent to provide an explanation or give his side of the story. There are no discussions, no excuses, and no debates of any kind- instead, God comes right down with the verdict…

“…Because you have done this, ‘Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life'” (Genesis 3:14).

While pigs, sheep, and cattle are not very dignified animals, they at least get to stand up on their own legs. Now God has delivered a sentence that has condemned the serpent to live and crawl along on the ground in the dust below everything else- even the livestock.

But that’s not all…

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

The word “enmity” seen above refers to a feeling of hatred or hostility towards someone or something else. ₍₁₎ It also carries the idea of antagonism, dislike, and mutual opposition between two or more people. Now a feeling of enmity between the serpent and the woman is not too difficult to understand. Since Eve was a victim of the serpent’s deception, it’s easy to understand why she would feel a sense of dislike and opposition towards him. But what about that part where God refers to“…your offspring and hers”? What does that allude to?

Well, when God makes this reference to “your offspring” it can only mean that the devil has descendants of some sort. Now we’re not talking about some kind of horror movie with “children of the devil” or anything like that. “Your offspring” is a reference to those people who have the same kind of attitude towards God that the serpent does.

For example, this would include someone who wants nothing to do with God or those who choose to live as if God did not exist. It would include someone who is openly hostile towards God or someone who just isn’t interested in anything involving God at all. Either way, such people are following along in the very same pattern originally created by the devil whether they realize it or not.

(1) See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enmity

XVI

“…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

So now that we’ve talked about God’s reference to the serpent’s offspring, let’s look at this allusion to the woman’s offspring. As it turns out, this next passage will prove to be one of the most important portions of Scripture in the entire Bible: “…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

First, the word “he” tells us that God is speaking about one specific individual who will eventually come through the lineage of this woman that Satan has tricked. This specific person will also take a specific action: “…he will crush your head…” In other words, this person will ultimately inflict a fatal injury upon the serpent.

But what about that “…you will strike his heel” part? Well, we might be able to understand this reference better if we think of it in terms of a prizefight. For example, a fighter with a wounded heel might be in a bad position to fight, but he will still be able to strike at his opponent. However, a fighter with a fatal head injury is someone who has completely lost their fight.

That’s the idea behind“…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The woman’s offspring will be wounded (you shall bruise His heel), but he will ultimately get in the last shot that permanently ends the fight.

Scholar-types call this portion of Scripture the protoevangelium (pronounced pro-toe-ee-van-gel-ee-um). The beginning part of this word (“proto”) means “first.” This term may sound familiar because it’s still used as a part of other words today. For instance, when we talk about a “prototype” of something, we’re speaking about the very first example of an item. That’s because “proto” refers to something that is the original or very first example.

The root of the second portion of this word (“evangelium”) is “evangel,” a word that means “good news.” Evangel is another familiar term because it forms the basis for other well-known modern words like “evangelize” and “evangelism.” So when taken together, the words proto and evangelium create the very first example of the “good news” in all the Bible.

There is no doubt that this verse refers to Jesus’ ultimate defeat of Satan. When Jesus became a human being, He placed Himself in a position where the enemy could strike at him and inflict damage. That damage occurred when Jesus was beaten, whipped, and hung on a cross. But with His death and resurrection, Jesus permanently ended the conflict between Satan and humanity that started here in the Garden of Eden.

XVII

Every decision carries it’s own set of consequences. Bad choices usually lead to bad consequences and a decision to knowingly do something that God says is wrong is never a good option. So here in Genesis 3:16, God now begins to talk with Adam and Eve and tell them about the bad consequences that will come from their decision to do what He warned them not to do.

God starts first with the woman and tells her that she will experience two consequences for her actions. First, there will be a physical consequence: “…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing…” Second, there will also be an emotional consequence for her as well: “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Now the word “desire” that we see here in Genesis 3:16 is a word that means to reach out or long for something. ₍₁₎ But how would this apply as a consequence for Eve? In what way would she reach out or long for her husband and why would that matter?

Well, remember that Genesis 2:18 tells us that, “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” You might remember that in this context, the word “suitable” refers to someone who is comparable and completely equipped to be the right partner. That “someone” of course, turned out to be the woman that God created in Genesis 2:21-23.

So when God says, “Your desire will be for your husband…” it tells us that Eve will continue to look for certain things from her husband. It implies that she will continue to look for that same kind of comparable and corresponding relationship that she enjoyed with him previously when everything was perfect. She will still continue to desire and reach out for the same kind of companionship that she had always enjoyed with her husband up to this point.

But now, her husband will not be a partner like he was before- now he will be a ruler. Her husband will no longer be someone who was suitable like he was before- now he will become someone who will govern her.

(1) Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary

XVIII

“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you'” (Genesis 3:16b).

Now before we continue, we should make sure that we are very clear on something. Before anyone gets the idea that the Bible tells us that it’s OK for “men to rule over women” in this verse, we should first remember that God originally created men and women in His image as two equal components of humanity. We can say this because Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (NLT). So God created these two parts of humanity as different but equal, with both parts equally created in God’s image.

We also need to be aware that the Bible never says that God approves of this change in Adam and Eve’s relationship. Unlike other portions of Genesis where we’re told that, “…God saw that it was good…” Genesis 3:16 doesn’t say that it was good or right that “…he will rule over you.” This verse simply tells us about a certain consequence that will come about as a result of Eve’s decision to disregard God’s warning. It tells us that there is going to be a radical shift away from what God originally created male/female relationships to be.

So what does this verse mean for people today? Well, we can say that one result of what happened in the Garden of Eden is that male/female relationships now often fall far short of God’s original design. At best, women often seem to receive a lot less than what they really want or desire in many relationships. For instance, we might say that guys often deliver a lot less emotional connection, a lot less understanding, and a lot less desire to really listen and communicate with their partner in many male/female relationships today.

At worst, the unfortunate truth is that men have historically dominated and intimidated women in many different cultures and in many different ways over the centuries. At various times throughout history, women have not received the same rights and privileges as men and are still viewed as unworthy of certain rights in some cultures today. One historical consequence that has come about as a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden is that men have often come to regard women as subjects to be ruled over instead of partners that God has blessed them with.

But that’s only half the story- the other half comes next…

XIX

Now that we’ve seen what God said to Eve, let’s take a look at what God says to Adam about what he had done…

“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19).

Remember that Adam’s job in the Garden of Eden was to tend the Garden and take care of it (see Genesis 2:15). That work must have been rewarding and enjoyable for Adam before he made the decision to disobey God because now everything has changed:“Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you” (Genesis 3:17 GNB).

There’s something else that’s important to recognize but may be easy to overlook in these verses. Did you notice that when God spoke to Adam, the very first thing that God said to him was,“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you…” So does this mean that Adam made a mistake in listening to what his wife had to say? Well, the problem was not so much that Adam heard the words she spoke; the real problem centers around what he did with what he heard.

You see, the problem was not that Adam listened to her; it’s that he listened to her. Here’s the difference- Adam listened to his wife instead of taking the right course of action. Remember that God had already spoken to Adam about eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When the serpent came along and suggested to his wife that she ought to do something else, Adam should have stepped in. Adam should have acted to deal with the situation and make sure that he and his wife both did what God had told him to do. Instead of listening to her, he should have taken the responsibility to do what God had said.

Adam should have acted on what God had told him. Instead, he chose to listen instead of act on was right and that’s one reason why they each got into so much trouble.

XX

“…Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17b-19).

Adam’s decision to disregard God’s warning affected more than just his relationship with Eve. This one small decision to do something that God said was wrong had an effect on the entire planet as well as everyone who followed.

Just imagine if you were in Adam’s position and you had to live out the remainder of your life with the memory of these words: “…the ground is cursed because of you” (NLT, emphasis added). This reminds us that a decision to disregard what God says may lead to consequences that reach farther than we ever imagined.

Now you may remember that we asked some important questions about life earlier on in our look at this chapter. For instance, why do so many things appear to have no purpose or meaning in life? Why does it seem like we work so much but accomplish so little? Why do we invest so much but often get so little back? Well, Genesis 3:19 provides us with the answers to those questions.

One consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience was that it began a cycle of futility that still exists to this day. “Futility” is a word that means “useless and without purpose” and Genesis 3:19 tells us how that cycle would play itself out in Adam’s life…

• Adam came from the dust
• He would spend the rest of his life trying to grow things to eat out of that dust so he could survive
• His work would be difficult and produce a poor return on his investment
• Then went back to the dust after he died.
• Following his death, Adam’s lifeless body would decay and serve the next generation that was trying to grow things to eat out of the dust.

This cycle of futility was far different from God’s design for humanity that we saw in Genesis chapters one and two. In the first two chapters of Genesis we saw things like life, growth, and progress. But here in Genesis chapter three, we now see death, deterioration, and regression.

Everything was now subject to death because two people did something wrong. It was a small act with a big impact that continues to this day.

XXI

Everybody fully knows and understands the truth about what we read in Genesis 3:17-19. Everyone knows and understands that everything eventually wears out, breaks down, and stops functioning. This is true for living and non-living things alike: Batteries run out of power, automobiles rust, buildings fall apart, bridges and roads break down, and all living things eventually die.

These things all follow the same basic cycle that Adam brought about after he ignored God’s warning: “…you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19).

“Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).

Now up to this point, Adam’s partner has been called a female (Genesis 1:27), a helper (Genesis 2:18), a woman (Genesis 2:23) and wife (Genesis 2:24). Now, she gets a personal name: Eve. In the original language of this verse, the name Eve means life giver. So what’s the significance of this particular name? Why would Adam pick the name “life giver” for his wife when wasn’t a mother and didn’t have any children?

Well, let’s not forget what God said to the serpent earlier in Genesis chapter three: “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Remember that the word “he” (as in “he will crush your head”) tells us that God is speaking about one specific individual.

God is talking about one particular person who will eventually come through the lineage of this woman that Satan has tricked. This specific person will also take a specific action: “…he will crush your head…” In other words, this person will ultimately inflict a fatal injury upon the serpent.

In giving his wife the name “life-giver,” Adam clearly recognized the meaning of what God said in Genesis 3:15. It meant that even though Adam and Eve would both eventually die because of what they had done, humanity would continue through the offspring that God would give to his wife. This name also expressed Adam’s belief that God would make good on His promise to send Someone who would eventually crush the serpent.

So this name demonstrated Adam’s faith and belief that God would give his wife children and produce a deliverer who would fix what he had done wrong.

XXII

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).

Whenever someone disregards God and does something wrong, there’s always a price to pay. We see the first example of that price here in Genesis chapter three.

Genesis 3:21 tells us that “…the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife” (NLT). Now if Adam and Eve both received leather clothing to wear, then what does that imply about how those clothes was made?

Well, if they each had a fur coat or leather jacket, then it must mean that whatever was originally wearing that fur or leather wasn’t wearing it any longer. So Genesis 3:21 tells us that something had to die in order for Adam and Eve to be clothed.

Remember that God gave Adam fair warning about the death penalty that would come into effect if he chose to ignore God’s warning (see Genesis 2:16-17). Now that penalty is further executed in the death of an innocent animal to cover the physical results of what Adam and Eve had done. Later on, we’ll see the death of an innocent Person to cover the spiritual results of what Adam and Eve (and everyone who followed them) had done.

This simple act of making clothes for Adam and Eve should also tell us a lot about the character of God. The truth is that God could have obliterated Adam and Eve for what they did, but He chose not to. God could have wiped them out for their act of disobedience if He wanted to, but God instead chose to make clothes for them.

You see, God obviously knew that things were going to be very difficult for Adam and Eve in the future. As we’ll soon see, Adam and Eve will no longer be allowed to live in the Garden of Eden as a consequence of what they had done. But before God sends them out into the world, He graciously sets them up with clothing that will allow them to survive outside the protected environment of the Garden.

Before Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, everything in the Garden of Eden was perfect. The weather was great. There weren’t any diseases. There weren’t any dangers from plants or animals. It was the kind of place where someone could walk around without any external protection and never have to worry.

Now things were different and fig leaf clothing just wasn’t going to be good enough. God knew that Adam and Eve would need something better and He made sure to provide it for them.

XXIII

“And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil…'” (Genesis 3:22a).

Did you notice that Genesis 3:22 quotes “the LORD God” as saying, “The man has now become like one of us…” (emphasis added). This combination of singular and plural usage is another clue that gives us some insight into the nature of God.

You may remember that we’ve already spent some time looking at the use of this term “LORD God” in the Scriptures. In the original language of Genesis, the term “LORD God” is “Yahweh Elohim.” Yahweh is the personal name of God and Elohim is a two part word: the first part (“El“) means “strong. great or mighty.” The “im” portion indicates a plural ending. So the use of this word Elohim in the Scriptures tells us something about the nature of God; it tells us that He is One, yet more than one.

We’ve also talked about how it would ordinarily seem to be a contradiction to say that something can be one yet more than one at the same time. For example, if we were to say that God is one being and more than one being at the same time and in the same way, then that would be a definitely be a contradiction.

But if we were to say that God is one in substance (or essence) and one or more in persons, then the contradiction no longer exists. This is how we have come to the understanding that the God of the Scriptures is three Persons in one substance, essence, or being. This also explains how the LORD God (singular) can say that the man has now become like one of us (plural).

So Adam and Eve had become “like God” in the sense that they now had direct experience with both good and evil. This means that there was something of an element of truth in what the serpent told them earlier: “‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'” (Genesis 3:4-5).

Of course, it’s one thing to know about right and wrong as an idea or a concept; it’s something very different to know about right and wrong by actually doing something wrong as the serpent suggested. Adam and Eve rejected God’s warning about eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and as a result, they came to know about good and evil in a way they had not known before.

XXIV

“And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken” (Genesis 3:22-23).

Why would God be so concerned about Adam and this tree of life? Well, let’s think about what happened to Adam and Eve as a result of their decision to disregard God’s warning that, “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). We’ve already seen one aspect of that death occur in Adam and Eve’s separation from God because of what they had done.

But what if Adam and Eve could never physically die? What if they could eat this fruit from the tree of life and become physically immortal? If that happened, then it would mean that Adam and Eve would be eternally separated from God in a physical body that would grow old, but never die.

So in saying, “He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever…” God actually prevented humanity from serving an eternal death sentence- an eternity of separation from God while confined to a physical body that grew older but could never die. This gracious act of God tells us that even though people are separated from Him, God doesn’t want them to permanently remain that way.

“After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24).

So Adam and Eve have now lost the paradise of Eden and can’t go back anymore. But let’s say that someone today wanted to take a look at where the Garden was located. Would it be possible for someone in the 21st century to find out where the Garden of Eden once existed? Well, the answer is probably not.

Remember that landscape of the Earth was greatly changed by the great flood that will happen later on in Genesis chapter 6. That means that it’s unlikely that the Garden of Eden survived, at least in the form that Adam and Eve knew it. But even if the Garden of Eden was unaffected by the flood, the chances are pretty good that it eventually began to break down and deteriorate over time just like everything else that surrounded it.

Even if the Garden of Eden still survived today, it would probably be unrecognizable from everything else that surrounded it.

Next

Previous

I

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:1-3).

When we use a word like “rest” today, we usually apply it in connection with the concept of sleep or the idea of taking a break because we’re tired. But God is someone who never gets tired. He never feels fatigued and He never needs to take a break. So why would this passage tell us that God “rested” from all His work on the seventh day when God is someone who never gets tired or needs to rest?

Well, the reason is that just because a word like “rest” can often refer to things like sleep or relaxation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it always refers to those things. You see, when the word “rested” is used in this passage, it means, “…to desist (from labor).” ₍₁₎ In other words, God rested in the sense that He simply ended His creative labor. So it’s not like God was tired and needed to take a break after all His creative work; He just stopped creating and ceased from any more creative activity.

This passage also emphasizes the point that this rest occurred on the “the seventh day” by repeating it twice in two verses. This emphasis should alert us to the definite possibility that there may be some additional meaning or significance found within this passage. As it turns out, the word used for “seventh” in theses verses comes from an original word with a root meaning that conveys the idea of being, “…full, completed, entirely made up.” ₍₂₎ This indicates that God had now finished everything that He set out to do as far as His creation of the universe and life.

So these verses tell us that all of the creation work that God performed throughout Genesis chapter one was now entirely complete. This pattern also provided humanity with a future model to follow by separating each week into it’s own seven-day period with the final day set aside as a time to rest.

(1) From The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

(2) Notes on Genesis 2005 Edition Copyright 2005 by Thomas L. Constable Pg 29 http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/genesis.pdf

II

Genesis 2:3 then tells us that God blessed this seventh day and set it apart from the other six days. It’s interesting to notice that the seventh day of each week is a day that is also separated and set apart in many cultures today.

For example, Sunday is a day that is set apart because it’s often seen as both the first and last day of the week. In many countries, Sunday represents the last day before the new school or work week begins but it also represents the first day of a new calendar week as well.

Of course, those people who start their week on Monday may see the seventh day as a day to do whatever they want without any consideration of God at all. Then there are others who are totally dedicated to following the “seventh day” rule stated in the Biblical book of Leviticus: “There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:3).

Obviously, God considers this seventh day to be important, so how should Christians respond to Genesis 2:3 today? Well in looking at this question, we should remember something that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 5:17. In that passage, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

A little later on in the New Testament, the book of Colossians also says, “…don’t let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating Jewish holidays and feasts or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing-of Christ himself” (Colossians 2:16-17 TLB).

These Scriptures tell us that the “no Sabbath day work” requirement that we see in the Old Testament was fulfilled by Jesus through His death on the cross. But this also means that every day can now be a day that’s set apart for God, not just one particular day anymore. It’s also important to remember that even though Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament requirements quoted above, Christians today still have a similar responsibility to worship and honor God by regularly setting apart some time that’s dedicated to Him (see also Hebrews 10:25).

This is why most churches traditionally have their main services on Sunday mornings. It’s a good way to show respect for God by setting aside the first part of the first day of the week to worship Him and learn from His Word. This is one way that people today can follow God’s good example as seen in Genesis 2:3.

III

“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).

As we mentioned earlier, the Scriptures tell us that the human author of Genesis was a man named Moses. However, all of the events in the book of Genesis took place hundreds of years before Moses was born. So how did Moses know about all the things that he wrote about in this book?

Well, one possibility is that Moses took actual written historical documents from before his time and included them in the book of Genesis as guided by the Holy Spirit. One clue that indicates this possibility is seen in the way that the book of Genesis is structured. For example, there are a number of sections in the book of Genesis that begin with this kind of wording…

• “This is the history of…” (NKJV)
• “This is the account of…” (NIV)
• “These are the generations of…” (KJV)

We can find the first use of this type of wording right here in Genesis 2:4.

The original word that’s translated as “history,” “account,” or “generations” in this passage is the Hebrew word toledah. Scholar-types tell us that this word can refer to “an account of men and their descendants” or “the course of history (used of creation, etc).” ₍₁₎ So if Moses used this kind of historical documentation to help construct the book of Genesis, then the phrase, “These are the generations of…” indicates where one written history ends and another begins.

If that’s the case, then the next question would be, who provided the historical information that we’re about to see in Genesis chapter two? Well, one answer to that question involves looking at the differences in the way that God is described in Genesis 1 and the way that He is spoken of in Genesis 2. For example, did you notice that God is simply referred to as “God” in Genesis 1:1 but is now referred to as “LORD God” here in Genesis 2:4?

That may not seem a big difference at first, but it may be more important than you think. You see, when the word LORD appears in all capitals in the Old Testament, it refers to the personal name of God. That name would be Yahweh or Jehovah as some versions translate it. The phrase “LORD God” used here literally means, “Yahweh Elohim.” ₍₂₎ “Yahweh” is the personal name of God and Elohim means “strong. great or mighty.”

This change from “God” in Genesis chapter one to “LORD God” in Genesis chapter two suggests that there may be a change of source material for this chapter. For example, let’s say that someone like Adam (or an early descendant) was originally responsible for providing the historical account that we see here in Genesis chapter two. We would normally expect to see a record of that person’s experiences begin with a statement like, “This is the account…” or something similar just as we see in Genesis 2:4.

We would also expect an early human author like Adam (or one of his descendants) to refer to his Creator as both LORD and God and use that language in documenting his experiences. So while this may be something of an educated guess, it would help to explain how this portion of Genesis came to us in the form that we know today.

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993,

(2) Interlinear Transliterated Bible. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved

IV

“…and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground– the LORD God formed the 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).

While these verses begin with a quick pre-history of the world, we’re about to see the focus quickly shift to God’s creation of humanity. This change begins in verse seven where we get right to the good stuff: “The time came when the Lord God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7 TLB).

We’re told here that God created the very first human being out of some basic elements, or the “dust of the ground” as it says above. The material that God used to create this first human being wasn’t anything extraordinary, but the way that this material was structured and organized was definitely special. Like a skilled musician who takes a basic instrument and makes it sound fantastic, God took a common element like dust and used it to create the most advanced life form on the planet.

To illustrate what God accomplished in doing this, let’s say that you wanted to create your very own human being as well. To do this, you’d need to begin with lots of water. Once you have that, you’d need to put in some carbon, salt, calcium, phosphorous, iron, and potassium. Then you’d mix all that up with some oxygen and hydrogen; add in a little nitrogen and a few other things and there you go- you’ve got yourself a human being. ₍₁₎

Of course, creating a human being is not as easy as that, is it? The truth is that the human body is infinitely more complicated than the most complex piece of hardware or software ever produced. However, God didn’t need to create any beta testers or prototypes like designers and engineers must do before building things today. God’s first human being worked perfectly right from the beginning.

But what God accomplished went far beyond the creation of a human machine. You see, when it says that God formed a man from the dust of the ground, the original language paints the word-picture of an artist designing, shaping, and forming a piece of sculpture. ₍₂₎ So the idea is that God personally molded and formed the first human being much as an artist or sculptor might design and create a work of art today.

The material that God used to create humanity is also illustrated by the name given to the first human person. You see, the Old Testament word for “ground” is “adamah.” ₍₃₎ This word refers to the soil and it is apparently the word that gave Adam his name. BTW, it’s interesting that Adam is never actually mentioned by name in these verses- he’s simply referred to as “the man” throughout this chapter until you get to verse 20 when he’s finally referred to as “Adam.”

(1) “What are the elements that make up the human body?” http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_elements_that_make_up_the_human_body

(2) The original word for “formed” is the Hebrew word Yatsar. “Yatsar is a technical potter’s word, and it is often used in connection with the potter at work… The word is sometimes used as a general term of ‘craftsmanship or handiwork,’ whether molding, carving, or casting…” (from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

(3) Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers And Concordance With Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. All rights reserved.

V

“…the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Perhaps you’ve seen a video portrayal of someone who was clinically dead but was brought back to life through mouth to mouth resuscitation. That image is probably as close as we can get to an illustration of what we see here in Genesis 2:7. In this verse we find that God not only gave consciousness to the first human being but He also “breathed life” into Adam, something that was not done with any of the other life forms that God had previously created.

“Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And 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 Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates” (Genesis 2:8-14).

Since the word “Eden” means “pleasure,” ₍₁₎ we can say that humanity’s first home was a place of enjoyment, contentment, and satisfaction. In other words, Eden was a paradise- it was the perfect place to live and God personally built it Himself.

So where was Eden located? Well, we’re told that Eden was located “in the east” but we really don’t know exactly what it was east of. It’s possible that Eden was located somewhere to the east of the place where Adam was originally created. Another possible clue to Eden’s location might be found in the four rivers that are identified for us in verses 11-14.

Since both the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers are known to us today, it might not seem too difficult to find out where the Garden of Eden originally existed. The problem is that just because we have rivers named “Tigris” and “Euphrates” today doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the same rivers that are mentioned here in Genesis chapter two.

We should also remember that the Garden of Eden existed well before the time of Noah’s flood. That event won’t happen until Genesis chapters 6-7, but for now, we can at least say that the world’s geography has probably changed a lot since that time. But if we had to take a guess, it seems that the most likely location for the Garden of Eden would be in the general area where the modern-day country of Iraq exists today.

Now before we move on, let’s take a moment to go over what we’ve seen in this chapter so far:

• We have a perfect environment
• It was personally built by God
• It was capable of meeting humanity’s needs both physically and artistically
• It was source of pleasure, just as the name implies.

In short, Eden was the perfect place to be. Keep those things in mind because we’re going to come back to them a little later when we get to Genesis chapter three.

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

VI

“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).

How often have you heard people say things like, “I hate work. I wish I didn’t have school work, I wish I didn’t have homework. I wish I didn’t have to work a part time job after school. I wish that I didn’t have to do any chores. I hate work!” Perhaps you’ve often felt that way yourself.

But what if someone had the ability to offer you the chance to never have to do any work again. That means no chores to do, no tasks to perform, no labor, no toil, and no work of any kind. Would you do it? It certainly sounds like a great deal, right? Well, before you jump at that opportunity, let’s think for a moment about what life would be like if you never had to do any work.

For instance, if you never had to work for anything then you would never see any achievement, would you? If you never had to work, then you would never enjoy the personal satisfaction of passing a test, successfully playing a difficult musical piece, or making the game winning score.

Without work, your talents would go to waste because you would never work to develop them. If work did not exist then you would have very little sense of fulfillment, success, or accomplishment. When we take these things into consideration, we can see that a life without any work is really not as great as it may seem at first glance.

Now someone might say, Yeah, OK, but work is difficult- that’s why I don’t like it. While it’s certainly true that work is often difficult, remember that just because work can be difficult doesn’t necessarily mean that it must be difficult. For example, let’s say that you are working at something that you like to do. If you work at something that you like and enjoy, then work usually doesn’t feel like a chore or a burden despite all the effort that you put into it.

You see, it’s not necessarily “work” that people dislike- it’s the drudgery and toil and labor that often comes with it that we really object to. That’s the main difference between the work that Adam was given and the work that people often do today.

VII

It’s clear that the perfect environment of Eden included work because Genesis 2:15 tells us, “The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it” (CEV). But the big difference between Adam’s work and the work that many people do today is that Adam had work but he didn’t have labor. ₍₁₎

In other words, there was work to do but it wasn’t exhausting, difficult labor that Adam toiled at and hated. Instead, work was something enjoyable back then- not like it often is today. And you know what? There’s going to come a time when work will become enjoyable once again, just like it was here in Genesis chapter two.

You see, everyone has dreams of what they’d really like to do if given the chance. Unfortunately, very few people ever realize those dreams because everyone has limitations. We each have physical limitations, financial limitations, time limitations, and other limitations that prevent us from doing what we’d really like to do.

Another problem (if we really want to be honest about it), is that most people probably lack the talent, skill, or ability to do the things that they would really like to do if they could.

The good news is that the time will come when there will be no more limitations like these. At that time, people will be free to work and express themselves without any restrictions to the glory of God. You see, Jesus once said, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

In one sense, that time exists right now for every Christian. However, there will be an even greater fulfillment of that promise in the future when all work will once again become something to enjoy as we honor God with the full extent of the skills, talents, and abilities that He has given to us.

That’s part of what the Bible means when it refers to “eternal life” (see John 3:16 for one example). Eternal life doesn’t mean that Christians live forever and everybody else goes off into nothingness- it means “life in all it’s fullness.” It means being everything that God created you to be. It means living a totally God-honoring life without any limitations or restrictions.

So Adam’s example in the garden of Eden tells us that God’s perfect ideal for humanity doesn’t involve hanging around on the couch all day eating ice cream and watching music videos. Instead, God’s perfect environment for humanity involves activity, responsibility, and things to do.

(1) We’ll get the confirmation for that when we get to Genesis chapter three. Or if you want to read ahead a little and see for yourself, take a look at Genesis 3:17

VIII

“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 of it you will surely die'” (Genesis 2:16-17).

It’s easy to read this passage and assume that once someone ate some fruit from this tree, they would immediately know all about good and evil. In other words, we may read this verse and automatically assume that this fruit had some sort of power or ability to instill the knowledge of good and evil in someone.

But there’s something not quite right about that when you think about it. For instance, we could say that Adam already had a knowledge of good and evil before he ever touched that fruit. How? Well, that’s easy: Adam knew because God told him! You see, this verse tells us that Adam definitely knew at least two things about good and evil:

1. He knew that it was good (or right, just, and appropriate) not to eat this fruit
2. He also knew that it was bad (or evil, disobedient, and wrong) to eat this fruit

So Adam knew that the concepts of “good” and “evil” both existed and that they were two very different things. In fact, Adam had at least some knowledge of good and evil as soon as God told him, “…you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die” (GW).

To make this extremely complex and difficult idea easier to understand, let’s break it down like this…

1. Eat fruit –bad!
2. Not eat fruit –good!

Everybody got that? OK, let’s move on.

Now at this point, someone may be thinking, “Well, why did God even put that stupid tree there in the first place? If that tree was never there then we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” That’s a really good question and to answer it, you first have to ask yourself this: What does God want from people? What is God really after in His relationship with humanity?

The one word answer to that question is love.

You see, the Bible tells us that the reason we are here is to love God and have a relationship with Him. Jesus talked about this in response to a question that was asked by a religious teacher of His day…

“One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:35-38).

So Jesus said that our greatest responsibility is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Jesus also said in Revelation 3:20 that He will come and have fellowship with anyone who opens the door to Him. So we can see that God desires that we love Him and have a relationship with Him.

We’ll find out what all this has to do with Adam next.

IX

Now here’s a funny thing about love: love involves choices. In any loving relationship, people must choose to love first.

This may become easier to understand if you think about it like this: Is it possible for one person to force another person to love him or her? Can you threaten someone else and make that person love another person? Of course not. Sure, you can make someone say that they love you. You might even get someone to act like they love you. But that’s not real love. The truth is that you cannot force someone else to love you because they must freely choose to do so.

Now let’s stop for a moment and think this through. Remember that love involves choices. So in order for people to love God and really have it mean something, people must be able to choose to do so. However, having a choice to love God also means that people must have the equal ability to choose not to love God as well.

After all, if there’s no ability to choose not to love God, then that means that there’s really no choice at all, is there? This would be like the person who tells you that you can choose any ice cream flavor you want as long as your choice is vanilla. Well, that’s really no choice at all, is it? In order for your choice to really mean something, then you must have the ability to choose from more than one ice cream flavor.

In a similar way, God allows for the potential that people will choose not to love Him in giving us the ability to return His love. But remember that having a free choice also makes it possible to make a bad choice- like rejecting or disobeying God. So in order to really love, we must have the ability to choose to love God but also have the ability to choose not to love God as well.

That’s why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was there in the Garden of Eden. It was there to give humanity a choice. God created a human person and demonstrated His love by placing him in an area that was made especially for him. God also gave this person total authority and control over the other things that He created. God provided him with good things to eat and a beautiful environment live to in. He had a job that was satisfying and fulfilling.

All these things demonstrated God’s love for His creation. The existence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil allowed Adam to demonstrate his love for God in return.

X

“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'” (Genesis 2:18).

As we’ve read through the book of Genesis so far, we’ve seen a certain phrase that’s been repeated over and over. That phrase is, “And God saw that it was good.” In fact, we’ve seen this phrase (or a variation of it) repeated six different times in Genesis chapter one.

But here in chapter two, we suddenly find something that isn’t good: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” In other words, Adam -as a single individual- didn’t completely serve the purpose that he was created for. God’s solution for this “not good” situation was to, “… make a helper suitable for him.” This word “suitable” means matching or corresponding and it refers to someone who was comparable and totally equipped to be a partner with Adam.

But before God takes action to do something about this situation, He has a job for Adam to take care of first…

“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. 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 of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found” (Genesis 2:19-20).

Now put yourself in Adam’s position for a moment. Let’s say that God brought every animal and every bird to you and asked you to give each one a name. Could you do that? Most people would probably have a difficult time trying to come up with a different name for every different bird and animal on the planet. But Adam seems to be able to handle this task without any problems despite the fact that he has no apparent training in biology, zoology, or anything else. Adam’s ability to do this should tell us something important about how much human beings are really capable of when they’re in God’s plan.

Anyway, these verses also go on to say that, “…not one of them was a suitable companion to help him” (GNB). In giving this responsibility to Adam, it seems that God had something more in mind for him than simply just providing names for all the animals. You see, this responsibility demonstrated to Adam that every animal was both different and unequal to him.

We know that each animal brought to Adam also had a corresponding mate because God had already given them the command to reproduce (see Genesis 1:22). So while every animal had a companion that was just right, Adam could see that he was the only one without a mate who was comparable to him. In naming these animals, Adam could see that he was on his own without a corresponding, suitable companion.

But that’s soon about to change…

XI

“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 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'” (Genesis 2:21-23).

Those of you who hope to enter the medical field should be interested to know that Genesis 2:21 describes the very first use of anesthesia as well as the very first surgical procedure ever performed. But more importantly, these verses also tell us about the very first marriage ever.

The word “rib” seen above can also be translated as “side” ₍₁₎ which may explain why Adam later said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Anyway, modern genetic research tells us that every cell with in a human being contains the complete genetic blueprint for that person. So if we wanted to speculate about what God does here using 21st century language, we might say that these verses describes how God manipulated this genetic blueprint to create another human being who was the same yet very different.

That’s the scientific side of these verses. The social and cultural part of these verses tell us some other important things about God’s intention for male-female relationships. The first thing we should notice is that it was God who took the initiative in forming this relationship between the man and the woman: “Then the LORD God made a woman… and he brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:22).

This tells you that the whole idea of a marriage relationship between a man and a woman is not something that people thought up on their own. The institution of marriage is something that was God’s idea all the way: “…he (speaking of God) brought her (speaking of the woman) to the man.” In other words, God was the one who began the whole idea of a husband/wife relationship.

These verses also tells us that God’s idea of an actual marriage relationship is supposed to be one man and one woman. It’s not two men or two women together. It’s not one man and many different women. It’s not one woman and many different men. It’s not two men, three women, and a pet goldfish. God’s ideal for a marriage relationship is demonstrated here in Genesis 2:21-23- it’s one man and one woman.

(1) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993

XII

For instance, let’s say that we have that two unmarried people who are living together. This couple sleeps together and lives together just as if they were married, but they’ve never actually made a marriage commitment to each other.

If these two people are unwilling to commit to each other in marriage, then the question is, why? Why would these two people hold back from getting married, especially if they are in a situation where they both supposedly love one another?

Does either partner have a fear of commitment? If so, why? Is one partner offering the possibility of marriage “someday” but is unwilling to commit now because that person is really more interested in his or her own self-gratification?

Is this couple living together because one person feels that they have no other prospects for a relationship and he or she is afraid of losing the other person and being single? Or does each partner simply want the option to back out of the relationship because all they’re really looking for is a “friend with benefits.”

You see, without a marriage commitment, it’s very easy for each partner to think, “We’re going to stay together as long as it works out, or until you stop meeting my needs, or until I get tired of you, or until somebody better comes along.”

The problem is that this kind of relationship is not love, no matter what someone may call it. A relationship like this is really more like a business arrangement with one or both sides agreeing to stay together as long as they each can benefit.

Of course, two people who live together may like the fact that they have no commitments to each other. They may appreciate the ability to enjoy the benefits of a physical and emotional relationship without any of the obligations and responsibilities that go along with marriage. While it’s good to be honest about those motivations, the truth is that two people in this kind of relationship are really just using each other to meet their own needs. Again, that’s not love- that’s a business relationship.

OTOH, it’s the security of a God initiated, committed marriage relationship that provides a couple with the freedom to really trust each other and become one with each other.

In one sense, a marriage relationship is also supposed to be an example of the kind of relationship that God wants to have with people. If you want to see an example of this from the Scriptures, then you don’t have to look any further than Ephesians 5:31-32 where it quotes Genesis 2:24 and then adds this…

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

If you can imagine what a “perfect marriage” would be, then you’re thinking about that same kind of deep, intimate relationship that God wants to have with you.

XIII

“…she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:23b-24).

Some other versions of the Bible translate Genesis 2:24 as, “…a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife” (KJV). These two ideas are also important for people to understand and apply in marriage relationships today.

For example, “leaving” your father and mother doesn’t mean that you go away from them and never come back. It doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a relationship with your parents after you get married. It doesn’t mean that you no longer have to honor your parents and or that you can’t get advice from them after your wedding. The idea of “leaving” in this sense means that your parents don’t make your decisions for you anymore like they did when you were growing up. It means that you and your husband or wife depart from your parents to begin your own separate family unit.

The word “cleave” carries the idea of clinging, adhering, and being joined or united together. ₍₁₎ The word-picture here is that a married couple is now “glued” or fused together as one. This tells us that someone should never enter a marriage relationship with the idea that, “if this relationship doesn’t work out I’ll just go and find somebody else.” It means that when you decide to enter a marriage relationship with someone, you make the decision to stick with your marriage partner. ₍₂₎

So these verses tell us that God’s desire for two people in a marriage relationship is that they become “one flesh” as it says above. In other words, a marriage relationship combines two distinct people who become one emotionally, physically, and spiritually. This explains why someone can’t be in a marriage relationship and still have a girlfriend or boyfriend on the side. It also explains why someone can’t have multiple wives or husbands and still achieve God’s ideal.

You really can’t become “one” with another person if you’re giving part of yourself to someone else. When two people get married, each person makes the commitment to leave everyone else and have an intimate, exclusive relationship with their marriage partner alone.

This is also why you can’t live together without the commitment of marriage and really be “one” with another person. Now this can be a very controversial idea because two people living together may believe that a marriage certificate is nothing more than a piece of paper that has no real impact on the feelings that they have for each other.

Of course, it’s certainly true that a marriage certificate is just a piece of paper, but remember that we’re not talking about the paper itself- we’re talking about what that paper means or represents. A marriage certificate represents or demonstrates someone’s commitment, loyalty, and faithfulness to another person.

(1) Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers

(2) See Matthew 19:9 and 1st Corinthians 7:15 for potential exceptions to this rule

XIV

“The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25).

Obviously, the main idea behind this verse is that Adam and Eve didn’t feel any sense of embarrassment or self-conscious anxiety over the fact that they weren’t wearing any clothes. But this word “nakedness” actually refers to more than just a lack of clothing. You see, this concept of “nakedness” also carries the idea of being totally open and exposed as a person.

The idea of being completely open and exposed as an individual is something that’s almost impossible for us to imagine today. To illustrate why, let’s think about what it would be like if a total stranger suddenly came up to you and began to ask a lot of personal questions about your life.

For instance, let’s say that someone approached you and asked you the following questions:

• What is your shoe size?
• Where were you born?
• What is your favorite color?

How would you react to these questions? Well, if you are like most people, you’d probably think, “Who is this person and why do they want to know all these things about me?”

You see, most people become uncomfortable if they sense that someone else is trying to discover things about them- and often with good reason. The truth is that it’s not always safe or wise to let others know too much about us.

This is why we really don’t want to be totally open and exposed to other people. We want to remain hidden from others and only reveal to them what we want them to know about us. We want to let our private information out a little bit at a time and then only to certain people at certain times.

This concept can often be seen in dating relationships as well. For example, two people in a dating relationship may have a tendency to say, “I really want to impress the person that I’m dating so I’m going to be on my best behavior.” While it’s certainly good to be on your best behavior, there can often be a really big difference “best behavior” and “normal behavior.”

If someone feels the need to be on their “best behavior” in a dating relationship, it might suggest that he or she is concerned about how that other person might respond if they behaved normally. In other words, that person really doesn’t want their dating partner to see him or her the way they really are.

This is totally different from the kind of relationship that Adam and Eve originally enjoyed. Adam and Eve were free to be totally open and exposed to each other both physically and emotionally. There were no secrets, no head games, and no facades in their relationship.

Adam and Eve were not ashamed because there was nothing to be ashamed of. They had nothing to hide because there was nothing to hide. Adam and Eve had the complete freedom to explore and enjoy everything that their relationship could offer without any secrets.

Next

Previous

I

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

While it can be easy to speed past a statement like “in the beginning,” these three words should suggest something very important to anyone who is reading the book of Genesis carefully.

For example, most people would probably read Genesis 1:1 and automatically assume that God only created “the heavens and the earth” right? But let’s back up for a moment- what about that “in the beginning” part. What does that imply to you?

Well, remember that you can’t talk about the “beginning” of something without assuming the existence of time. Now perhaps you’ve never really thought about this, but “time” represents a lot more than watches and clocks and calendars. Time is a “continuous, measurable quantity in which events occur in a sequence proceeding from the past through the present to the future.” ₍₁₎  It’s also been jokingly said that “time” is the way that God keeps everything from happening all at once.

So why is this such a big deal? Well, “In the beginning…” means that the Scriptures don’t support the belief that the world or the universe is eternal and has always existed. Instead of an eternal universe, the Bible teaches instead that the universe and everything within it had a beginning that you can read about in Genesis 1:1.

So who or what caused this beginning? Well, that part comes next: “In the beginning God…” Outside this universal starting point is a being known as God. This tells us that God is not a part of creation but is separate and distinct from it. Unlike those who believe that “God is everything and everything is God,” the Scriptures instead confirm that God is a Being that exists apart from the created universe.

While Genesis 1:1 may not appear to give us very much information about who this God is or what this God is like, a look behind the scenes at the original language used to author the book of Genesis provides us with some additional information. You see, the word translated “God” in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew word Elohim (ell-oh-heem), a word that’s used over 2700 times in the Old Testament and more than 30 times in Genesis chapter one alone.

This word Elohim is a two-part word; the first part, “El” means “strong, great or mighty.” The “im” portion indicates a plural quantity and is somewhat similar to our use of the letter “s” in a word to indicate an amount that is greater than one.

However, one of the interesting things about this plural word Elohim is that the Scriptures use it in a singular manner when speaking of God. Because of this, Elohim has been called a “uniplural” word- it refers to “one” but more than one. ₍₂₎

(1) “time.” The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 04 Mar. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/time>

(2) See “Elohim, ‘God'” INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Electronic Database Copyright © 1995-1996, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.

II

Of course, it’s natural to question how something like this could be possible. How could God possibly be one yet more than one at the same time? After all, isn’t it a contradiction to say that something can be one yet more than one at the same time? If so, then how can we make sense of what seems to be an obvious contradiction?

Well, if we were to say that God is one being and more than one being at the same time and in the same way, then that would be a definitely be a contradiction. But if we were to say that God is one in substance (or essence) and one or more in persons, then the contradiction goes away. If this is still a little difficult to understand then it might help to look at the idea of marriage as an illustration.

When a man and a woman get married, they still maintain their individual identities yet they both have become one (see Genesis 2:24). In a similar way, the use of the word Elohim in the Scriptures tells us that God is one, yet more than one.

This truth about God is further developed later on in the Bible where we’re told that God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4) and that the Father is God (John 6:27), the Son is God (Hebrews 1:8), and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). This Biblical teaching has lead us to the understanding that the God of the Scriptures is a unity subsisting in three Persons. ₍₁₎

So with that, let’s see what we have in Genesis 1:1 so far:

1. In the beginning tells us about the start of time.
2. God tells us that there is a Being known as God who is strong and powerful and is One, yet more than one.

What’s next? Well, “In the beginning God created….” Now there are many different ways to create things but one thing that’s  common to every human creation is the fact that each one has been made from something that already existed. For example, an inventor, an artist, or a designer may create something new and unique but that creation (whatever it may be) is always fashioned from materials that are already in existence.

However, the word used to describe God’s act of creation in Genesis 1:1 is a word that means to create something out of nothing. ₍₂₎ This means that God brought things into existence that didn’t exist before He created them.

In other words, there were no raw materials, no building blocks, no primordial soup, and no pre-existent matter of any kind before Genesis 1:1. Everything that God created was fresh, new, and totally without any previous existence.

God’s act of creation in Genesis 1:1 also undercuts something that many people believe today- the idea that the universe came into existence through random chance. The problem with this theory is that there is no possibility that “chance” brought the universe (or anything else) into existence when you take the time to really look into it.

(1) Dr. Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties © 1982, The Zondervan Corporation

(2) The word used in the original language of Genesis is the Hebrew word bara meaning, to create, (to) make.“…Only God can “create” in the sense implied by bara. The verb expresses creation out of nothing…” (from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

III

Generally speaking, there are two different explanations that people often use to explain the origin of life. The first approach would be to say that the universe and life started with the work of an “intelligent designer” or a being that planned and created the cosmos and living things.

This “intelligent design” theory doesn’t necessarily say that the God of the Scriptures is responsible for creating everything, but this approach does fit in with a Biblical worldview for the most part.

The second theory generally says that the universe and life originated through random chance and that human beings are the product of evolutionary development without the involvement of “God” or any other intelligent designer.

Both of these models seek to answer the question, “How did the universe and life begin?” The person who accepts the first approach can find the answer to that question right here in Genesis chapter 1. On the other hand, the person who accepts the random chance/evolutionary development model faces some important challenges.

For example, when someone who believes in a “random chance” theory of origin is asked, “How did the universe and life begin?” a common response would be that the universe started with the so-called “Big Bang.” This “Big Bang” theory is a theory of origins which states that the universe began as a tremendously dense, hot point of matter and then expanded from that point to eventually become the universe that exists today.

Now the Big Bang theory is not necessarily a bad or wrong theory. In fact, the “Big Bang” theory has been accepted by many people precisely because it explains the observable evidence very well. The problem for us is that this theory doesn’t really answer the question of how life and the universe began because we can simply back up one step and say, “OK, so what caused the Big Bang?” ₍₁₎

In other words, if the universe began with a “big bang” of a tremendously hot, dense point of matter, then where did that matter come from? And who or what lit the fuse that caused the “big bang” to happen in the first place? If we say that nothing existed before the Big Bang, then we still have a problem because the next question will be, “Then how did it happen?”

You see, the idea that nothing can produce “something” like the Big Bang can’t possibly be true since “nothing” cannot do anything. In fact, “nothing” doesn’t even exist! Because of this, it’s impossible to say that nothing existed prior to the Big Bang- something must have been there first in order to cause it to happen.

Think about it like this: If there ever was a time when absolutely nothing existed, then what could possibly exist now? The answer to that question has to be nothing. So to say that the universe started with the Big Bang doesn’t really answer our question.

(1) The theory that someone could go back through an infinite number of causes to explain how the Big Bang occurred is called “infinite regress.” Take a look over here for more on the issues with infinite regress and scroll down to the section on “Why Can’t We Just Keep Going Back Through Time?”

IV

Now at this point, someone might say, “Well, isn’t it possible that the universe came into existence through random chance?” This is a common belief held by many people and it states that the universe came into existence through a totally arbitrary (or random) process. The idea is that -given a timeless eternity- the probability of our universe coming into existence through a process of random chance is pretty good.

But let’s think for a moment- what ability does “random chance” really have to bring the universe into existence? Well first, let’s think about the meaning of the word “chance” in this context. When used in this way, the word “chance” describes the likelihood of something happening. To put it another way, the word “chance” conveys the statistical probability that something will occur.

These definitions are good on their own, but here’s the issue: the problem with saying that the universe came into existence by chance is that chance by itself can’t do anything.

Here’s an illustration that helps explain why. Let’s say that two people decide to play a card game. Person number one shuffles the card deck and then randomly deals a number of cards to person number two. Now here’s the question: what ability did “chance” have to influence the cards that were dealt to person number two? Did “random chance” have any ability to manipulate or control the cards that person number two received? Did “random chance” have any power to make person number two receive one particular card instead of another?

Well, of  course the answer is no. Chance simply describes the statistical probability that one type of card will be dealt instead of another. In the same way, this illustration helps to explain why “random chance” cannot be responsible for the existence of the universe and life. Chance doesn’t make things happen- it only describes the probability that something will happen.

Here’s another way to demonstrate this idea. Let’s imagine that someone is about to flip a coin into the air. When someone flips a coin in the air, the chance that it will land on “heads” is 50%, right? However, “chance” doesn’t make that coin land on heads. What will make that coin land on heads is determined by many different things.

For example, the coin’s landing will be affected by the size, shape, and weight of the coin as well as the number of revolutions that it makes after it is flipped. It will be affected by the environment that exists where the coin is flipped. It will be affected by the decision to catch the coin or let it fall to the ground. If the coin is caught, it will be affected by where it is caught and whether it is flipped over after it is caught. If it falls to the ground, it will be affected by the surface features of the ground where it lands.

The point is that “chance” will not make a coin land on heads or tails- that will be determined by many different factors as we’ve just seen. Chance only describes the statistical probability that a coin will land in a particular way.

In the same way, the idea that “random chance” brought the universe into existence is an impossibility because chance has no ability to “do” anything.

V

Despite the fact that the first verse of the Bible is only ten words in length, we’ve already seen that it tells us quite a bit about time, the nature of God, and how God brought things into existence that never existed previously. Now it’s time to begin our look at what God created…

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

In this context, the word “heavens” refers to the place where the sun, moon, and stars exist, or what we might call “outer space” today. ₍₁₎ Now when people speak of “outer space,” it’s natural to think of objects like stars, planets, or other luminous bodies that are visible in the night time sky.

But notice that Genesis 1:1 doesn’t actually refer to any celestial bodies- it’s just “the heavens.” So it seems as if the universe has been brought into existence in Genesis 1:1 but there isn’t anything “inside” it yet.

Now a phrase like “…the heavens…” is something that’s easy to say but almost impossible to fully grasp and understand. To illustrate why, just think about this: if you were able to travel at the speed of light (which is 186,000 miles per second [299,000 kps] or 700 million miles per hour) it would take about seven light-hours just to reach the edge of our solar system. At that speed, it would take over 100,000 years just for someone to travel across our own Milky Way galaxy.

But let’s say that you wanted to stop and visit each of the estimated 100 billion stars within the Milky Way. If you were able to travel within our galaxy and visit one new star per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it would take over 12 million years to visit each one. Yet the Milky Way is just one of billions of other galaxies in the known universe. This helps to give us an idea of the tremendous size of the area that God brought into existence in Genesis 1:1.

So the very first sentence of Genesis tells us some important things about how everything in our universe got started. To rephrase this verse using 21st century terminology, we might say that Genesis 1:1 describes God’s creation of time, space, and matter. It’s also been speculated that Genesis 1:1 simply records God’s creation of the materials and elements that He will use to assemble the rest of creation in the days to come- but more on this in a moment…

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

Other versions of Genesis 1:2 tell us that the earth that existed at this point was “…without form and void…” (NKJV) or “…a shapeless, chaotic mass…” (LB). This would seem to support the idea that Genesis 1:1 describes how God generated the basic elements of what would later become creation as we know it.

To put this another way, we could say that the raw materials of creation were in existence during this phase but were apparently suspended in a kind of fluid state without any structure or organization. But while it appears that God’s creation was fluid and unformed at this early stage, the earth was still somehow separate and distinct from everything else.

(1) The term “heavens” can also refer to the area within the earth’s atmosphere or the place where God dwells depending on how it is used

VI

The use of terms like “darkness” and “…the deep…” implies that God’s creation existed at this stage as a watery, shapeless jumble in a vacant universe- no stars, no planets, no people, no energy, no light. Verse two then goes on to lay the foundation for the next step on this road to creation: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

This verse provides us with the very first mention of the Holy Spirit found within the Bible. Now you may remember that the word that is used for “God” in Genesis 1:1 is the word Elohim which refers to “one” but more than one. Elohim is a plural word that’s used in a singular manner with respect to God. Now we get a glimpse of this “One yet more than one” nature implied by the word Elohim in this reference to the Spirit of God.

This action taken by the Spirit of God is described by the word “hover” or “move” as it’s seen in different Biblical versions. This word indicates a kind of rapid, back and forth movement and is translated as “flutter” (Deuteronomy 32:11) or “shake” (Jeremiah 23:9) in other portions of the Bible. Whatever this particular action refers to, it appears that it is somehow connected with God’s next act of creation…

 “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). 

This phrase, “And God said…” appears multiple times in Genesis chapter one and it literally means to exist, become, (to) come to pass. In other words, God said something and that “something” got done immediately. While the creation of visible light is certainly the central idea of this verse, we should take a moment to remember that there’s a lot more to light than what we can actually see.

Visible light is just one part of the electromagnetic spectrum and a statement like “Let there be light…” might also be understood to account for the existence of things like gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet radiation, infrared radiation, microwaves and radio waves. In fact, one commentator has even said, “The statement ‘Let there be light’ may mean ‘Let there be energy of all wavelengths and in all forms.'”  ₍₁₎

So after creating time, space, and matter in verse one, God calls light or “energy” into existence in verse three. While the famous inventor Thomas Edison made hundreds of attempts before he was able to successfully create one light bulb, the Scriptures tell us that God commanded light to come into reality on the very first try.

(1) Lambert Dolphin What is Light? http://ldolphin.org/light.html

VII

“God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4 NIV).

So Genesis 1:4 tells us that this new creation was “good.” In other words, the work that God performed served the exact purpose that He intended for it.

Now at this point, we should probably stop and recognize the fact that many people find the creation account that we see in these verses as something that’s very difficult to believe. However, Genesis’ explanation for how everything got started really shouldn’t be a problem for anyone who accepts the idea that “God” exists.

After all, a God who is truly God should have the ability to do the things that we see in the first four verses of Genesis chapter one. On the other hand, a “god” that couldn’t create things like space, time, matter, and energy out of nothing wouldn’t be really a god at all.

Such a “god” would be more like a comic book superhero- a being with special abilities but nothing more than that. So if you accept the existence of “God,” then you should really have no problem with the creation account that we see in the first four verses of Genesis chapter one.

However, verse five definitely presents some very interesting and challenging things…

“God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day” (Genesis 1:5 NIV).

OK, so God called the light “day,” and the darkness “night” -sounds pretty harmless, right? Well, this verse might not sound like a big deal until you really start thinking about it. Let’s illustrate this by asking a simple question: what is a “day?”

If you asked most people to define the word “day,” you would probably get an answer that agrees with the common dictionary definition of this word: “the period of light between dawn and nightfall; the interval from sunrise to sunset.” ₍₁₎ So with this definition of a “day” in mind, can you identify a critical element that’s missing from Genesis 1:5?

In case you haven’t guessed it by now, the critical element that’s missing in this verse would be the sun. Remember that at this point in creation, the sun does not yet exist. In fact, if you read ahead to Genesis 1:14, you’ll find that the sun isn’t even created until creation day number four.

So how can there be ” daytime” without the sun? After all, it seems kind of impossible to have a sunrise and a sunset without a sun, right? And even if there was light without the sun, how could there be things like “evening and morning?” These are all good questions, but fortunately, we also have some good answers.

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

VIII

You see, people usually tend to think of a “day” as the period of time that lasts from sunrise to sunset, just as we see in the definition that we saw earlier. That’s a good, common definition for the word “day,” but some of you may know that there is an even more precise definition than this. You see, a “day” can also be more accurately defined as, ” the 24-hour period during which Earth completes one rotation on its axis.” ₍₁₎

Why is this second, more precise definition important? Well, remember that the earth was a kind of large, unformed mass at this stage in its development. If the earth was a stationary (or motionless) mass at this point, then it would be very difficult to understand how things like “day” and “night” could exist. However, notice that the Bible doesn’t say that this unformed mass was unmoving or set in position.

If this shapeless, unformed earth-mass was spinning on an axis as it does today, then any external light source could produce a “daytime” and a “night time.”  In other words, if God provided a source of light upon the earth as it rotated, then it would be possible to have a day and a night even if that light didn’t come from the sun.

So let’s say that the unformed earth that we read about in Genesis 1:4 rotated at the same 1070 mph (1722 kph) speed that it does today. If this was the case, then the sequence of time that we would describe as morning, daytime, evening, and night time could also exist even though the planet is still “under construction” at this point.

So it appears that God provided some sort of external light source that illuminated the partially formed earth as it turned, much as a potter might illuminate a piece of clay while shaping it upon a wheel.

But this verse also brings up another question that’s almost guaranteed to start a major argument when people start trying to answer it. You see, Genesis 1:5 ends with the words, “…And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day” just as we saw quoted above. Later on, Genesis 2:2 goes tells us that, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing…” (NIV). When you do the math, this says that God finished His total work of creation in six days.

Now God doesn’t need six days to do anything, so the first thing we might be tempted to ask is why God took six days to do something that He could have easily accomplished in less than a second.

But since the Scriptures are pretty clear on this point, let’s instead concentrate on this: does the book of Genesis teach that God literally completed all His creation work in six individual 24 hour periods? To be more exact, did God actually create things like time, space, matter, energy and everything else in six separate 23 hour, 56 minute, and 4.09 second lengths of time?

This is a question that people have been discussing and debating for a long, long time and so far, no one has been able to come up with one answer that everyone can agree on. However, the good news is that scholar-types have some interesting ways to address this question and we’ll look at some of those possibilities next.

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

IX

“…And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day” (Genesis 1:5).

The original word that’s translated “day” in Genesis 1:5 is the Hebrew word yom. When this word appears in the Old Testament, it is translated for us in the following ways…

• This word is translated 1181 times as a normal, 24 hour solar day
• It is translated 67 times as a reference to time in general
• There are 30 instances where this word is translated as “today”
• There are 18 translations of this word as “forever”
• This word is translated 10 times as “continually”
• There are 6 examples where this word is translated as “age”
• It is translated 4 times as “life”
• And finally, this word is translated twice as “perpetually” ₍₁₎

So it’s clear that this word can have many different meanings depending on the context where it is used. However, we should notice that this word most often refers to what we know as a standard, 24 hour day. That’s the way it’s translated in a large majority of Biblical verses, just as we see above. However, it’s also true that this word can refer to extended periods of time. We can see many examples of this usage in the references given above as well.

This has lead scholar-types to take two basic positions regarding the amount of time that God took during the creation of the world. The first position says that God completed His creation work in six actual 24 hours days, just as we normally understand the word “day” today. The second position states that God finished His creation work in six separate “ages” of time. This second theory is sometimes known as the “Day-Age” theory because it interprets the word “yom” as a reference to an age or extended length of time.

So which one is it? Does Genesis 1:5 refer to a single 24 hour period of time or does it refer to something more? Well, we’ll look at some possible answers to that question next:.

(1) Dr. Raymond Barber, “What The Bible Teaches” pg 38

X

Arguments In Favor Of a 24 Hour Creation Day	Arguments In Favor Of The Day-Age Position
When the Old Testament word for “day” is paired with a number in the Bible, it always refers to a literal 24 hour period of time.	God’s “seventh day of rest” (Genesis 2:2) still continues today.
Terms like “evening” and “morning” don’t hold any real meaning if we define a day as an “extended period of time.”	Light from distant stars and galaxies that are thousands of light-years away must have had long periods of time to reach the Earth.
God specifically associates the “seventh day” with the Sabbath day (Exodus 31:14-15) which is an actual, literal 24 hour period.	“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8).
It’s been said that if a passage of Scripture makes good sense, then we should accept it as it is -otherwise we may end up with nonsense. So when looking at God’s creation Genesis chapter 1, we should acknowledge that the most basic, direct, and straightforward meaning is that God created everything in six days just as we commonly understand that word today.	We shouldn’t automatically assume that time now is exactly the same as it was during the creation period. 2 Peter 3:4 implies that it can be a big mistake to assume that “…everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  We also know today that time can be affected by things like mass, acceleration, and gravity. These advancements in knowledge tell us that God has allowed for too many variables to be totally sure.

So there seems to be some good arguments on both sides of this question and believe it or not, it’s possible that God specifically designed it that way. You see, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes says this in chapter 3, verse eleven (3:11)…

“(God) has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

This may explain why it has been so difficult (if not impossible) to come up with one definite answer that satisfies everyone on this question. Remember that Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that “…people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (emphasis added).

For our purposes, we can apply this verse to our question by saying that it’s impossible for limited human beings to have a complete and total understanding of how and why everything happened during the creation period.

In other words, God has given us some of the information that we need to answer this question but not necessarily all of the information. We simply don’t have all the evidence that we need to give an absolutely definite answer one way or the other.

XI

Up to this point, the book of Genesis has described the earth as nothing more than a kind of watery mass spinning around in space. Now that’s about to change because verses six and seven go on to describe the next stage in earth’s development…

“And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse ‘sky.’ And there was evening, and there was morning–the second day” (Genesis 1:6-7).

The word expanse seen above is sometimes translated as firmament in other versions of the Bible. We can illustrate the meaning of this word by using the image of a sheet that has been opened and stretched or spread out.

So in stretching out this expanse that separates the water above from the water below, the Scriptures appear to describe the creation of what we know today as earth’s atmosphere. While the Bible does not go into great detail in describing the atmospheric layers that lie between this planet and outer space, this description would also likely include the elements that make up our atmosphere like oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc.

Genesis 1:8 tells us that God called this expanse “sky.” The word used for “sky” in the original language of the Old Testament is also translated as “heaven” in other Biblical versions. This word has three different meanings depending on the context where it’s found.

For example, this word may refer to the place where God dwells, a place outside the physical universe. It also can be used to describe the area where the stars and planets are, a place that we would call “outer space” today.

Finally, this word can also be used as a reference to the area within the earth’s atmosphere directly above the ground. This third meaning is the one that Genesis 1:8 refers to.

It’s likely that the atmosphere that’s described in Genesis 1:8 was very different from the one that we know today. One clue that things were very different back then comes from Genesis 2:5 where we’re told that “…the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth.” This has lead many scholar-types to suspect that a layer of mist or water vapor also covered the earth at this time- but we’ll talk more about that later on.

“And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:9-10).

If we could take an educated guess, we could say that it’s possible that the elements that God used to create the dry land in these verses were either dissolved or suspended in the waters that remained after God separated some of them to form the atmosphere.

This is a good possibility because the word for “land” in verse 10 is the same word that’s used for “earth” in Genesis 1:1 where we read that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

XII

So it seems that God began to combine these elements in various ways to form the earth. The end result was a planet with three main parts: an inner core which is surrounded by a mantle and an outer crust. The Scriptures don’t tell us about the method that God used to accomplish this, but we do know that the individual continents as we know them today did not exist at this time.

We can say this because the Scriptures specifically tell us that God commanded the “…water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear” (emphasis added). So we can say that at this stage of the earth’s development, all the dry land was in one area and all of the earth’s waters were in another area.

We then get some more activity in verse 11…

“Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so.” 

“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the third day” (Genesis 1:11-13).

If you’ve been reading carefully, you’ll notice that something happens in these verses that hasn’t happened with the other aspects of God’s creation that we’ve seen so far. You see, everything that has been created up to this point has been specifically called into existence by God. But in these verses, notice that God doesn’t directly create these trees and the plants- He has them produced from the ground that He has already created.

What’s the importance of this? Well, this tells us that we can’t automatically assume that God always does things in the same way. In other words, just because God has done something one way in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that He’s going to use that exact same method again in the future.

Remember that God reserves the right to move forward in ways that may seem unexpected. This is true whether His objective includes something as large as the creation of the world or as small as working out His individual plan for someone’s life.

So we find that Genesis 1:11-13 describes three general categories that cover all growing, living plant life. First there are the ground covering plants and vegetation. This includes things like grass, moss, algae, mushrooms and fungi.

Next, we have “Plants bearing seed.” This covers other plant life like vegetables, grain plants, bushes, shrubs, and flowers. Then we have the final classification of larger fruit-producing trees. This refers to larger wooden plants with cones, nuts, berries, fruit and so forth. Each of these categories represent many tremendously complex living organisms -and none of them existed until God said so.

XIII

So far, we’ve seen God create things like time, space, and matter during our look at Genesis chapter one. We’ve also seen God create a planet with dry land areas from a watery, formless beginning. Along the way we’ve also seen the addition of an atmosphere along with a large variety of plant life. Now it’s time to provide a physical source for the light that God has already created…

“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. God made two great lights–the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night” (Genesis 1:14-16a).

So here we find that God created two great lights- a larger, brighter light for the daytime and a secondary light to illuminate the night. These references are pretty obvious and someone doesn’t need to be a genius to figure out that this refers to the creation of the sun and moon.

Now it’s probably true that most people don’t think about the sun or moon very much as they go about their daily lives unless the weather somehow interferes with their plans. This means that it can be very easy to rush past these verses without really taking the time to consider the incredible work of creation that God performs here.

For example, let’s think about the sun for a moment. The interior regions of the sun are at least 10 million degrees Fahrenheit and it’s diameter is approximately 870,000 miles (1.4 million km). This means that you could fit about one million earth-sized planets inside the diameter of the sun.

The sun is also 93 million miles (150 million km) away from the Earth. If you were able to drive that distance in a car traveling at 60 miles an hour (97 kph), it would take you approximately 176 years to make the trip.

While this 93 million mile distance may sound like a lot, if the sun were any closer to Earth then life on this planet might be more like living on the planet Venus where the average surface temperature is a toasty 875 degrees f (468 c). On the other hand, if the sun was farther away, living on Earth would be more like living on Mars where the surface temperatures can get down to -200 degrees f (-129 c). So the sun is placed in just the right location to make the planet Earth suitable for human life.

How about the moon? Well, the moon is about 240,000 miles (386,000 km) away from the Earth. This happens to be just the right distance to provide enough gravitational pull to produce the tides that help keep the Earth’s oceans from growing stagnant.

If the moon was smaller or farther way, there would be no tides and the Earth’s oceans would be more like swamps. If the moon was larger or closer, many coastal cities would be under water for a large part of each day due to the increased gravitational pull. So just as we see with the sun, the moon is also strategically located in a way that’s just right for human life.

XIV

While the sun and moon provide things like heat, light and important gravitational effects, they also provide something else that’s easy to overlook. That “something else” is found in verse 14: “…let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.”

Now this might not seem like a very significant verse but it actually serves as an important example of how people can avoid mistakes by simply reading the God’s Word and applying it in their lives.

You see, think about the large number of people who manage and coordinate their lives through the use of astrology, or the belief that the movement and arrangement of the stars and planets have an impact on human events. Such people believe that once the sun or moon is arranged in a particular manner with other stars or planets, then certain things are likely to occur.

However, Genesis 1:14 tells us that the sun and moon don’t exist to predict or foretell future events as astrology would have you believe. Instead, the sun and moon have a part to play in helping people measure things like time or direction. In astrology, the sun, moon, stars, and planets are thought to have control over the events in people’s lives.

But the Scriptures instead tell us that the sun and moon are there to help assist people, not to control the events surrounding their lives. They help people by serving as a clock, a compass, and a calendar all in one.

Now before we move on, we should also look at something else concerning the way that the sun and moon are described in Genesis chapter one. You may remember that Genesis 1:16 says, “…God made two great lights– the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.” The greater light, of course is the sun which can certainly be called a light.

However, the moon (which is referred to as the “lesser light”) isn’t really a light at all, is it? In fact, humanity has known for many years that the moon is simply a reflector of the light that’s provided by the sun. So if the Bible refers to the moon as a “light,” does that mean that the Bible is in error?

Well, this is one of those instances where we need to dig a little to come up with the right answer. Here’s why: if you research the word for “light” that’s used in the original language of these verses, you’ll find that it refers to “light (as an element) or luminous body.” ₍₁₎

As it turns out, both of these definitions fit perfectly with the way that the sun and moon are described for us in Genesis chapter one. The sun serves as a basic source of light or “light as an element.” The moon serves as a “luminous body” that reflects the light from the sun and illuminates the night.

This is a good reminder that a possible explanation exists for every difficult passage found within the Scriptures. When you are confronted with some apparent contradiction in the Bible, just remember that there is always a possible answer- you just have to find it.

(1) Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary

XV

“He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the fourth day” ( Genesis 1:16b- 19 NIV).

It might be said that no other sentence in the Bible packs more meaning into fewer words than, “He also made the stars.”

For those who don’t have any real interest in the stars, it may be easy to read a sentence like, “…He also made the stars” and quickly move on. But let’s stop and for a moment and imagine that we could get into a car and drive across the heavens just as easily as we might drive across town. What would that tell us about a statement like, “He also made the stars.”

If we could do that, our departure of course, would be from here on earth. Our travel would not be measured in miles or kilometers but in light-years, or the distance that’s traveled by light in one year at 186,000 miles per second (or 299,000 kilometers per second). Our trip would begin with a drive through our own celestial “neighborhood” or the planetary community that consists of the other worlds that orbit our sun like Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and so forth. As we reach the outermost planet in our solar system, our distance would be about seven light-hours away from home.

As we move away from our solar system on our trip across the heavens, we would then begin to travel through the galaxy to which our solar system belongs -the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy (like all galaxies) is a large independent system of stars. The closest star in the Milky Way to our own solar system would be Alpha Centauri at 4.3 light-years away. That doesn’t sound too far away, right? Unfortunately, we would need to use up the equivalent of all the electrical power that the United States produces for one million years in order to have the ability to travel that distance in 4.3 light-years.

But if we were able to continue our trip across the heavens, we would eventually move out beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Perhaps we could return sometime to visit some of the other 100 billion stars contained within the Milky Way, but as we said earlier, we would need plenty of time to do that.

You see, if we were to visit one new star every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it would take over 12 million years to visit every star in the Milky Way. That’s what God has created has just within our own galaxy.

We are now 100,000 light-years from home.

XVI

As we move out beyond the Milky Way, we would begin to encounter other galaxies, each with it’s own collection of billions of stars. There are elliptical galaxies that are shaped somewhat like American footballs. There are disk galaxies that are shaped somewhat like celestial Frisbees. There are spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way that are similar in appearance to the cutting blades inside a food processor.

In fact, astronomers believe that there could be 100 billion major galaxies within the range of current telescope technology, with a total number of stars estimated to be 10²⁶ power. That would be one hundred million, billion, billion stars.

We are now 15 billion light years from home. No wonder Proverbs 3:19 tells us that, “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place.”

Since we’re on this subject, it’s also interesting to see how the Bible has predicted some of our most important astronomical discoveries. For example, the idea of an expanding universe is hinted at in the Old Testament…

“It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts” (Isaiah 45:12).

The phrase translated “stretched out” means “to stretch forth, to spread out, to extend outward.” It can also mean, “to extend in every direction…” or exactly what we believe to be true about our universe’s origin today.

Jeremiah 33:22 says, “I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky…” Today, we can estimate the number of starts that exist in the universe but it would be an impossible task to try and count them all. A Biblical statement like “as countless as the stars of the sky” is something that could not have been scientifically confirmed before the age of the telescope, but now has proven to be true.

1 Corinthians 15:41 also tells us that, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.” Today we know that stars differ greatly in color, temperature, and luminosity (or the measurement of the amount of energy given off by each star). There are blue giant stars, red giant stars, white dwarf stars, neutron stars and others.

Today we know that one star differs from another star in glory just as the Scriptures said thousands of years ago. This means that stars are a lot more than just the pinpoints of light in the sky that they might appear to be.

Finally, there is a Scripture found in the Old Testament book that records the messages that God gave to a man named Isaiah. Now you should remember that scholar-types believe that the book of Isaiah was written sometime between 740-680 BC. Yet Isaiah 40:22 tells us that, “He (speaking of God) sits enthroned upon the circle of the earth.”

This means that during a time when most people believed that the earth was flat, the Bible instead told people that the earth was really spherical in shape. This was centuries before people generally accepted that fact to be the truth.

Psalm 8:3-4 describes the feelings of a writer who says, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” The more we learn about what’s “out there,” the more impressed we should be with what God has created.

XVII

We’ve already seen the creation of plant life during our look at Genesis chapter one. Now it’s time for the creation of some completely different forms of life- birds and marine animals.

“And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.’ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ And there was evening, and there was morning–the fifth day” (Genesis 1:20-23).

This represents an important change from the previous kinds of life forms that we’ve already seen God create in the book of Genesis.

You see, both plants and animals fit the dictionary definition that identifies “life” as, “The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from… inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment…” ₁ However, there can often be a lot more to life than just the ability to grow, reproduce, and respond to the environment.

Generally speaking, the big difference between the plant life that God created earlier and the animal life that He created in Genesis 1:20-23 involves the existence of things like consciousness or self-awareness. For instance, a flower that grows along a pathway is certainly alive, but it doesn’t possess a consciousness.

In other words, a plant doesn’t have the ability to make choices and take action. It doesn’t possess a mind that can process information and make responses in the way that most birds or sea creatures can. That’s one big difference between the kind of life that God created earlier and the kind of life that He created here in verses 20-23.

So verse 20 says, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.” Just as we saw earlier with the land-based vegetation that God created, it seems that God apparently worked out exactly what kind of creatures He wanted and how they would function before they ever came into existence.

Notice that there’s no description of how God engineered all the different varieties of bird and marine life. We don’t read about the complexities of things like feathers or gills. There’s no hint of anything like the differences in DNA between these creatures. There’s nothing about the nautical principles that permit one type of creature to swim or the aerodynamics that allow another type of creature to fly through the air.

It seems as if God basically said, “This is what I have in mind” and then immediately executed the creation of every single variety of bird and marine animal. Like an artist who “sees” a painting before he or she ever puts a brush on a canvas or a musician who has already worked out the lyrics and chord progressions before producing a song, God made His conception happen in reality.

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.

XVII

Now before we continue, there’s something else in these verses that’s interesting. Did you happen to notice that verse 21 says, “…God created the great creatures of the sea”? Now you might read that and think, “Ok, so that probably means that God created something big like a a shark or a whale.”

Ordinarily, that would be a good guess, but it turns out that those animals are probably not what this verse refers to.

You see, while it is sometimes translated as “whale” in the Old Testament, the original word used for “creatures” in this verse literally means, “sea monster” or “sea serpent.” One more thing- this word is also the word that is most frequently translated as “dragon” in the Old Testament. You can make of that whatever you will.

So first we have all the creation of every kind of living and moving marine creature in the sea. This includes everything from fish to shellfish to squid, turtles, and so forth. This passage also goes on to say that God created “… every winged bird according to its kind.” This idea of “according to its kind” is important to understand, especially in light of current evolutionary theory.

“According to its kind” is a phrase that can also mean, according to its species. In other words, this phrase means that each individual kind of creature was genetically distinctive from another. Unlike like evolutionary theory that states that there is a progression from simpler life forms to more complex life forms, Genesis 1:21 tells us that each species is genetically separate and is capable of reproducing only within it’s group.

Now with that said, we should recognize that there is a huge difference between things that “evolve” and “evolution” as a concept. For example, we can say from Genesis chapter one that single-celled organisms did not make several stops on the evolutionary ladder on their way to becoming more complex life forms.

Instead, God created each genetic variety of creature separately according to its kind. However, this does not mean that there can’t be tremendous variations or adaptations in the development of a particular species.

For instance, there’s no question that human beings are not the same today as they once were. On average, human beings are generally taller and heavier than they were 100 years ago. Perhaps the best way to see this is in the evolution of athletes who compete in professional sports.

Today’s professional athletes are generally bigger, stronger, and faster than they were in your parent’s generation, right? That’s because human beings have gradually evolved into better athletes as things like training techniques, exercise methods, and nutrition have improved. But human DNA is still human DNA even though today’s professional athletes have evolved into much bigger and stronger athletes than they once were.

The important thing to remember is that while there can be a wide amount of variation in the DNA of various species, one “kind” does not transform into another kind. Its not unusual to see a particular species change and adapt to it’s environment over time but a bird is still a bird and a dog is still a dog and a fish is still a fish. This places the Scriptures directly on a collision course with evolutionary theory.

XIX

“And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:24-25).

We’ve already seen how God created specific life forms to live within the sea and air environments that He made earlier. Now God turns His attention to the creation of those creatures who will live on the land areas that He has produced. If you look closely at Genesis 1:24 you’ll find that these land animals are divided into three general classifications…

• Livestock. This would be a general reference to any large domesticated animal or perhaps any animal that you might expect to find living on a farm or ranch.
• Creatures that move along the ground. This would include creatures like worms, snakes, reptiles, and most insects. This category also covers any creature with no legs or short legs like rats, mice or any other animal that moves close to the ground.
• Wild animals. This refers to the type of animal that you might expect to see in a zoo such as elephants, hyenas, mountain lions, or any other type of untamed animal.

So this section ends by saying, “And God saw that it was good.” Just as we saw with the creation of light, dry land, the sea, plant life, the sun and moon, birds, and marine life, the creation of these land animals perfectly served the purpose for which God created them.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground'” (Genesis 1:26-28).

So now we’ve finally come to the starting point- the place where everything began for humanity.

XX

In saying, “Let us make man…” in Genesis 1:26, the Scriptures tell us that humanity first began with a concept in the mind of God. That means that you, as a human being, were specifically conceived and designed in the mind of God before you ever came to be. This passage also tells us that God had a specific purpose in mind for humanity as well.

These two basic truths are so important that someone’s decision to accept or reject them will have a big effect on the direction of that person’s life, whether he or she realizes it or not.

You see, there are a many people (including many youth) who feel an overwhelming sense of something called “futility.” The word “futility” means “useless and without purpose” ₍₁₎ and that’s how some people view life. They see the world as a place without reason, a place without purpose, and a place without hope for the future.

One possible reason for this is found in the idea that a Creator doesn’t really exist and that our own existence is just a product of random chance. If those beliefs are true, then it means that human beings are really nothing more than cosmic accidents. It also implies that everyone came from “nothingness” and then goes back into “nothingness” when they die.

Now anyone who seriously thinks about the meaning of these beliefs must eventually come to terms with an important question: If I came from nothing and then I return to nothing when I die, then what does everything I do in-between add up to? When phrased in this way, the answer to that question ultimately has to be… nothing.

Now most people probably don’t walk around all day thinking, If God doesn’t exist then life has no meaning. However, that core belief is something that constantly expresses itself through the choices that we make and the way that we feel about life even when we’re not always conscious of it.

This is because people act on what they believe even if they don’t immediately realize the reasoning behind their actions. If someone believes deep down that life is ultimately pointless, then that belief is sure to eventually lead to actions and feelings that reflect that conviction. ₍₂₎

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company

(2) Someone might respond to this by saying, “Well, if you want to believe that ‘God’ exists because that belief gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in life, then that’s OK for you.” But here’s the thing: if God doesn’t really exist, then any hope or desire for His existence won’t make Him real. OTOH, if God does exist, then any hope or desire for His “non-existence” means nothing as well. Either God exists or He doesn’t- our thoughts and feelings and desires don’t do anything to affect His existence or non-existence.

XXI

In Genesis chapter one, we find that out that humanity’s existence is not a product of random chance and that we are not just highly evolved animals. Genesis chapter one also tells us that there is a God who exists and that this God created you in His image to reflect His likeness.

This word “image” means, “resemblance (or) a representative figure.” The word “likeness” means “(to) model.” ₍₁₎ When we talk about the word “image” we’re speaking of a word that involves the idea of appearance. The word “likeness” implies a kind of similarity. So we find that you, as a human being, resemble, model, and represent the God who created you.

So how are human beings made in the image and likeness of God? Well, let’s look at some examples:

• The God of the Scriptures has consciousness, or awareness. Human beings also possess consciousness as well. This would include things like moral consciousness (being aware of what is right and wrong in a particular situation), self-consciousness (awareness of yourself as an individual), and social consciousness (or the proper way to act and react with others).
• God has a personality, and every human being also maintains his or her own distinctive personality.
• God possesses things like knowledge, will, and emotion. Human beings possess these attributes too.
• God can love, and humanity resembles God in the sense that human beings also possess the capacity to love as well.

So because human beings are made in the image of God, we have the ability to interact with God in a way that is meaningful. The fact that human beings are made in the image of God also implies that every human person has a basic, inherent, fundamental value that is worthy of respect.

Now someone may ask, If we’re made in the image of God, does that mean that God has a physical body like we do? Well, to answer that question, let’s see what the Biblical book of John says in chapter four, verse twenty-four (4:24)…

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

This tells us that God doesn’t have a physical body like human beings do. But this still doesn’t affect the fact that human beings are made in the image of God. Here’s why: God has given people physical bodies that can do many of the same things that He can do but on a much smaller scale.

For example, Genesis 16:13 tells us that God can see- human beings can do that as well. Psalm 94:9 says that God can hear- human beings have that ability too. Genesis 8:21 tells us that God has the ability to smell things- so can human beings.

The Scriptures also tell us that God can do things like speak, move, and touch. These are all abilities that human beings can accomplish using the physical bodies that God has provided. These are some of the ways that people have been made in the image of God and model or resemble Him.

(1) Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers And Concordance With Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary.

XXII

If we look more closely at Genesis 1:26, we can find something else that’s very interesting…

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness'” (Genesis 1:26). 

So who exactly is God speaking to when He uses words like “us” and “our” in this verse?

Well, you might remember that we’ve talked about how the word translated as “God” in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew word Elohim. This word Elohim is a two-part word; the first part, “El” means “strong, great or mighty.” The “im” portion indicates a plural quantity and is somewhat similar to our use of the letter “s” in a word to indicate an amount that is greater than one.

We’ve already seen that the Scriptures use this plural word Elohim in a singular manner whenever God is the subject. Because of this, Elohim has been called a “uniplural” word- it refers to “one” but more than one.

We can see another example of this usage right here in Genesis 1:26: “God (singular) said, “Let us (plural) make man in our (plural) image, in our (plural) likeness.” So this passage identifies one person (God) who is speaking in a “more than one” way- the creation of humanity in “our” image and likeness.

Since the Scriptures tell us that there is only one God (see Deuteronomy 6:4), this gives strong evidence of the triune (or three in one) nature of God that will be more fully revealed later on in the Bible.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

So here we find that male and female human beings are a direct creation of God. The original word used for “created” in this passage is a another word that we’ve already seen- it’s the word bara which means to create or make something out of nothing.

However, we’re also told a little later on in Genesis 2:7 that,“…the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground…” which means that God used pre-existing materials in the creation of humanity as well.

This could seem like a contradiction until you notice the emphasis on the term “image” in this verse. You see, Genesis 2:7 tells us that human beings are physically created out of the same materials God produced on the first day of creation. But Genesis 1:27 emphasizes the fact that human beings resemble or “image” God in other ways that nothing else does or has before.

Notice that the Bible also speaks about men and women as two equal components of humanity in this verse. The word “man” provides a basic description of humanity which consists of two equal parts: male and female.

These two components are different, but equal, with both males and females created in God’s image. This verse only provides us with a quick overview of humanity’s creation, but we’ll get a lot more detail beginning in Genesis chapter two.

XXIII

God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground'” (Genesis 1:28).

So what’s the very first thing that God does with His brand new creation? Well, the passage quoted above tells us that the first thing that God did after creating humanity was to give them His blessing. This is a long, long way from the Old Testament image of God as a strict authority and disciplinarian that some people seem to have.

So God gave His blessing to humanity and gave human beings -men and women- the total responsibility for managing His creation. Can you imagine what it would be like for someone to be in this position?

Think about how great it would be to have such responsibilities. Just imagine what it would be like to be a human being with perfect intelligence and the opportunity to oversee everything that God had just created. Think about what you could do if you were responsible for managing and taking charge of the earth.

You would have the opportunity to be the ultimate expert in science or the environment. You could discover and learn all about the biological and environmental processes that God created. You could invent and use different types of technologies. You could run your own research and development lab in whatever area interested you as part of your God-given leadership responsibility to oversee the earth. And you would have God’s full permission and blessing to do it!

“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food’ And it was so” (Genesis 1:29-30).

So it appears that all people were originally vegetarians, at least at the beginning. So if you are a vegan or if you have any vegan friends, then you should feel pretty good about the fact that this was the diet that God originally chose for humanity.

The great thing about this arrangement is that the food supply could never run out because “every seed-bearing plant” was self-replicating in the form of seeds that could be re-grown into fruit that could be eaten again.

We should also notice that this passage refers to every seed-bearing plant “…on the face of the whole earth.” This tells us that there wasn’t anywhere on earth at that time where food wouldn’t grow. In other words, there were no deserts, there were no glaciers, there were no salt flats, or any other place where it was impossible to grow food. Anyone could live and eat anywhere on earth at the beginning. Human beings got the seed bearing plants and fruit to eat and the animals got all the remaining green plants.

Next

Previous

 

I
What do Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz both have in common? Well, besides the fact that Alice and Dorothy are both storybook characters, they both received the same good advice- the best place to start is at the beginning.

Why is it important to start at the beginning? Well, have you ever started to watch a movie that was already in progress? If so, then you know that it can sometimes be difficult to understand what’s happening within the movie if you weren’t around to see the beginning. That’s because the beginning of a book or movie is important for understanding everything else that follows.

This “begin at the beginning” approach also holds true when reading the Scriptures as well. You see, the first book of the Bible is important for understanding the rest of the Scriptures that follow. This book also answers some important questions that every thinking person must eventually ask, including, How did the world get started? How did we get here? and Why are things the way that they are?

The first book of the Bible is known as “Genesis,” a word that means “origin.” ₍₁₎ In the original language used to write the book of Genesis, it’s title is Bereshith, a word that literally means “the beginning.” ₍₂₎ This is certainly an appropriate title because the book of Genesis gives us with some important information about the origins of such things as:

• The universe and everything within it
• The variety of plant and animal life on this planet
• The human race
• Evil
• The various language groups that exist

Perhaps most importantly, the book of Genesis also tells us who or what God is by answering questions such as…

• What is God like?
• Is “god” some kind of force or consciousness?
• Are there many gods?
• Is God interested in what happens here on this planet?
• Can we even know anything about God?

It could be argued that the book of Genesis is the single most important book ever written and has probably had a greater influence on history than any other book ever produced. As a result, no other book is quoted more often or referred to more frequently than the book of Genesis within the Bible.

For example, there are at least 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament. Over one hundred of these are taken from the first eleven chapters of Genesis. ₍₃₎

The book of Genesis is part of a larger body of work called the “Pentateuch,” which is also known as the “Law” or Torah. The word Pentateuch is a word that means “five volumes” and those five volumes consist of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers- the first five books of the Bible. Genesis is the part of this set that covers the time period beginning with the creation of the world up until about 1800 years before Jesus’ birth.

(1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

(2) The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.

(3) Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record  pg. 21

II

According to the Scriptures, the human author of the Pentateuch was a man named Moses but believe it or not, Moses is never actually mentioned in the book of Genesis.

Now there are many people who believe that Genesis and the rest of the books of the Law were not written by Moses but were actually written by different people at different times. This is known as the Documentary Hypothesis and it tries to explain why there are different styles of writing and different names for God used throughout the first five books of the Bible.

This theory teaches that the book of Genesis and the other four books of the Law are split up into four sections that were each written by different authors at various times. While this theory may represent an honest attempt to explain why those differences exist, the problem is that it goes against what’s actually said within the books and what Jesus Himself said about them.

You see, when you read the first five books of the Bible, you’ll find that it specifically tells us that Moses was the person that God used to write the the books of the Law. For example, Exodus 24:4,7 tells us that, “Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said… Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.”  ₍₁₎

Later on, Exodus 34:27-28 goes on to say that “the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant–the Ten Commandments” (NIV). It’s tough to get more specific than that.

Jesus also made some important statements about the authorship of Genesis and the other books of the Law. For example, Jesus was once involved in a discussion with some people who accused Him of breaking one of the Old Testament laws. In responding to that accusation, Jesus said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:46-47, see also Luke 24:25-27).

If that wasn’t enough, there are details and information about customs and geography that would have been very difficult for someone to make up at a much later date. For example, Genesis 13:10 tells us that “Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar” which sounds an awful lot like a description that was taken from an eyewitness account. Besides, Acts 7:22 says that “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action” so he certainly had the brainpower to be used by God to write whatever God wanted to say.

(1) Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

III

This is not to say that there aren’t any questions about the authorship of Genesis. For example, Moses was born about 300 years after the last events written about in the book of Genesis occurred. If Moses really produced the book of Genesis, then where did he get his information?

After all, the very first verse of Genesis says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Moses certainly wasn’t around for that so how did he know?

Then there’s Deuteronomy 34:5-6 which says, “…Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.” It’s not likely that Moses wrote about his death before it happened, so how do we explain that?

We also have to account for those differences in style and word usage that were mentioned earlier. If the books of the Law were all written by one person, then we should expect them all to maintain the author’s particular writing style from beginning to end. But there are stylistic differences in the way that the books of the Law are written and the way that words are used within them. So how can we account for these things?

Well, there are a couple of ways that we can look at these questions. First, we can say that Moses received at least some of the things that he wrote in the book of Genesis directly from God. In other words, God gave Moses what He wanted him to write and Moses wrote those things down in the way that they were given to him. We saw an example of this earlier in Exodus 24:4 where we read that “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said…” (NIV). If God said different things in different ways, than Moses wrote those things down in exactly the same way that he received them.

Another possibility is that Moses used some or all of the spoken histories that had been passed down from generation to generation up to his time and arranged them under the direction of the Holy Spirit to help produce the book of Genesis. In other words, God guided Moses in writing down some or all of the verbal histories that were available in a manner that was similar to the way that the Gospel of Luke was later produced (see Luke 1:14).

Now a reasonable objection to this theory is the fact that messages can easily get messed up when passed along from person to person. It’s easy to imagine how verbal information like this could get lost or misunderstood in passing from person to person and one generation to another. If verbal histories were used by Moses in authoring the book of Genesis, then how do we know they were accurate?

IV

First we should remember that there was a much greater emphasis placed on memorization in earlier cultures than there is today. Back then, someone had to rely on his or her memory because people didn’t have easy access to writing implements or the benefits of 21st century technology as we do today.

Because there were very few options for storing important information at that time, people had to memorize and hold on to valuable facts or data because they really had no other choice.

The second important thing to remember is that it was God Himself who was ultimately responsible for maintaining the accuracy of any verbal histories that Moses may have used in writing the book of Genesis (take a look over here for more on that).

Finally, it’s thought that Moses may have also had access to ancient historical documents and built those documents into the book of Genesis as guided by the Holy Spirit. One clue that indicates this possibility is found in the way that the book of Genesis is structured.

You see, there are ten sections within the book of Genesis that are each divided by the same language: “This is the book of the genealogy of…” or “This is the book of the generations of…” You see this kind of phrasing used in the following passages:

• “The Book of the Generations of Adam” (5:1)
• “The Generations of Noah” (6:9)
• “The Generations of the Sons of Noah” (10:1)
• “The Generations of Shem” (11:10)
• “The Generations of Terah” (11:27)
• “The Generations of Ishmael” (25:12)
• “The Generations of Isaac” (25:19)
• “The Generations of Esau” (36:1)
• “The Generations of Esau ” (36: 9)
• “The Generations of Jacob” (37:2)

Since the Hebrew word for “generation” refers to “a genealogical list of one’s descendants, one’s contemporaries or the course of history,“ ₍₁₎ it’s thought that Moses may have taken actual written documentation (perhaps going as far back as Adam) and used that information in putting together the book of Genesis. In this case, the phrase, “These are the generations of…” indicates the place where one written history ends and another begins. ₍₂₎

In fact, we could even take this theory one step further because Genesis 2:4 says, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” The only one who could have personally lived that history -or at least dictated it- is God Himself. Whatever the case, God had to be directly involved in the original authorship of that section at a minimum.

There’s one other interesting thing that involves something that God said in Genesis 26:5: “Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” In the original language, that word “commands” is synonymous with the word “Torah,” the very same word that is used to identify the five books of Moses today. ₍₃₎ This tells us that God’s Word must have been in existence (either in written or verbal form) long before Moses actually produced the book of Genesis.

So this would help to explain the differences in style and type of words that are used within the books of the Law. The differences within each written history were carried over as Moses put them together and organized them into the form that we know today.

V

The books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are certainly not light reading. These books take time to read and they certainly must have taken a long time to write. If Moses really was the human author of these books, then when did he find the time to produce them all?

Well, the most likely answer would be during the time of Israel’s exodus from the nation of Egypt. You can read the history of Israel’s exodus beginning in Exodus 12 and if you are familiar with the story, then you know that the nation of Israel had to spend forty years walking around in the wilderness before they were allowed to reach the land that God had promised to give them.

While this certainly wasn’t an ideal way to get to the promised land, it would have allowed plenty of time for Moses to write the books of the Law with the exception of the last part of Deuteronomy 34 which must have been added on after his death.

So a basic summary of the book of Genesis would look something like this:

 

Before the creation (Genesis 1:1-3) The six days of creation (Genesis 1:3-26) Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2) Adam and Eve disobey God (Genesis 3:1-7) Exile from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8-24) Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) Noah is born (Genesis 5) Noah builds the Ark (Genesis 6) The Great Flood (Genesis 7) The earth is repopulated after the flood (Genesis 7-8) Noah’s son’s disrespect (Genesis 9) The genealogy of Noah’s sons (Genesis 10) The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) God speaks to Abram (Abraham) (Genesis 12-13) Abraham rescues Lot (Genesis 14) God renews His promise to Abraham (Genesis 15) Ishmael is born (Genesis 16) The sign of the covenant (Genesis 17) Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19) Abraham’s deception of Abimelech (Genesis 20) Isaac is born (Genesis 21)

Abraham’s test of faith (Genesis 22) Sarah’s death (Genesis 23) Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24-26) Rebekah and Jacob deceive Isaac (Genesis 27) God appears to Jacob (Genesis 28) Jacob’s family (Genesis 29-31) Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32) Esau and Jacob reconcile (Genesis 33) Jacob’s son’s carry out a revenge killing (Genesis 34) God changes Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 35) Esau’s genealogy (Genesis 36) Joseph is sold out by his brothers (Genesis 37) The incident with Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 39-41) Joseph’s brothers meet  him in Egypt (Genesis 42-44) Joseph announces himself to his brothers (Genesis 45) Jacob and his family relocate to Egypt (Genesis 46) The Hebrew population grows in Egypt (Genesis 47) Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons (Genesis 48) Jacob tells the future to his sons (Genesis 49) Joseph’s final directions before his death (Genesis 50)

VI

As was mentioned earlier, there are some basic questions about life that every thinking person must eventually face. Two of those questions are ones that people often seem to try and ignore or push away: “Why is there “something” instead of nothing?” and “What does that answer mean for me?” The direction of your life will greatly depend on the way that you face these basic questions about life and you’ll find their answers right here in the book of Genesis.

Now you may remember that the beginning of this study mentioned Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. There’s no doubt that many people believe that the book of Genesis should also be placed in the same category as these storybook characters.

There’s certainly no shortage of people who believe that the book of Genesis is nothing more than a big collection of myths, fables, stories, legends, and fairy tales. The idea of a “God” who created the universe and humanity sounds crazy to some people, just as the accounts of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Great Flood and the other people and events found in the book of Genesis do as well.

However, it’s important to realize that human beings don’t have all the facts when it comes to events that have occurred in the distant past. There’s a lot that we don’t know about things that have happened in the past and to reject the book of Genesis just because it may challenge some preconceptions is a big mistake.

We also need to remember that Jesus accepted the people and events written about in the book Genesis as people who actually lived and events that actually happened. For example, Jesus accepted the reality of the following Biblical people and events mentioned in the book of Genesis…

• Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4)
• Abraham (John 8:56-58)
• Noah and the Great Flood (Luke 17:26-27)
• Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:29)

Jesus certainly didn’t consider these people and events to be myths or legends or fairy tales; He considered these accounts from the book of Genesis to be truthful and accurate and He used them in His teachings.

Finally, there’s a story about the well known scientist Albert Einstein that illustrates how important it is to take the ancient book of Genesis seriously. As the story goes, a group of  Einstein’s students got together one day and told Einstein that they had decided that God did not exist. Einstein considered this decision for a moment and then asked the group a question.

Einstein asked his students to estimate how much of the world’s knowledge they had among themselves as a group. The students discussed this question for a few minutes and finally decided that their group possessed 5% of all the knowledge that existed in the world. While Einstein thought that even this small percentage was probably too much, he agreed to accept their estimate. He then replied, “Is it possible that God exists in the other 95% that you don’t know?” ₍₁₎

The book of Genesis will provide that information about God’s existence for anyone who is willing to read it with an open mind.

(1) This story is probably not true, but why should that wreck a good illustration?

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