Genesis 2:18-25

2006.Jun.02 22:24

A Helper

Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’
(Genesis 2:18, NASB)

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
(Genesis 2:22, NASB)

Jehovah has placed man in a home, Eden, and sees (as though he wants us to believe this surprises him), that man needs a helper. He gives Adam the chance to find a helper of all that God created prior to man. The NASB phrases as "”Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky”" (Genesis 2:19, NASB) , again making me ponder that “create” in Genesis 1 is a mental act of creation rather than a physical, that is, laying out the specification rather than the construction. In any event, God passes all these animals by Adam, who gives them names but "”there was not found a helper suitable for him”" (Genesis 2:20, NASB) . Jehovah then places Adam into a deep sleep, grabs out a rib and closes back the opened flesh. Of this rib, Jehovah forms a specific woman, later to be known as Eve. And lo, for Adam, a helper, a companion, a wife. And naked they roam through the garden, unashamed and unfamiliar with sin.

Melissa and I have discussed that in addition to humanity created in God’s image, it seems to us he also made a distinction of making man (as in boys) in the image of God, and women in the image of humanity. Or, a better way of putting it, he made man in the image of God as bridegroom and woman in the image of humanity as bride. Now, I am used to the idea of the church (as in the unity of all believers) as the bride, although it takes a bit of a stretch to come to the conclusion from anything I’ve read in the Bible (Google’s thoughts). Still, since this whole paragraph and the next three are pretty much entirely me fleshing out ideas that may or may not have any real biblical grounding and the metaphor is useful, I’m going with it. I hope that this continued study will shed more light on what is useful in these thoughts.

The idea is that God uses male humans (see below for gender roles dicussion) to symbolize himself and female humans to symbolize humanity in the relationship between God and humanity, and specifically husbands and wives in these roles. Since we’re mostly like God, but separated from him due to sin, and since he wants us to develop a relationship with him, it’s useful for us to learn that relationship without so much of the being smitten. I have wondered if maybe God created gender roles (perhaps less at this point, as after the fall) in order to force us to learn to develop a relationship with someone similar in so many ways but also distinctly different. How much of these roles are biological versus social versus pick-your-argument is probably unimportant here, and it’s important to note that this would not be an endorsement of all gender roles. What matters is that he has men and women experience life differently so that we can help each other understand the dynamics of the relationship God desires with us, especially within marriage.

The distinction that man is to particularly understand God’s role and woman humanity’s role is also important and I think demonstrated twice in this passage. First, to the male is giving the role of naming things and since God creates by naming things, by speaking, Adam is experiencing this aspect of God’s activity. Second, woman is created from the flesh of man, reminiscient of man being giving life through the breath of God (maybe that’s a stretch, but it somehow makes sense to me). Then, it tends to make sense that God assigns the priesthood to men (he does not in contrast assign prophecy only to men), not because they’re better suited for it so much as to push this experience of men acting in a God role and women acting in a humanity role. Likewise, the man may not be head of the house for any inherent reason but rather because God wants husbands to experience the role of Christ so as to help the entire church understand that aspect of the relationship. (NB: I tend to focus on man’s role in this extended metaphor, because I am a man.)

Women experience the bride side. (And yet, we as men, probably because we learn to take on the authority–read: more often than not ignorance and pride–of the headship role, tend to think we are the best suited to decide how the practical aspects of the church should run. Seems to me the church survives largely because women–those experiencing the bride side–do what the bride ought to do, which is love and worship God, and serve him, while men try to think up new dynamics and terms–hello, emergent church, baby! Rant over for the moment). They understand better how to accept and respect authority and probably better understand God’s love because they have learned to respect and honor authorities that really ought not be, in contrast to God. Well, anyway, I could go all sorts of directions here, but the point I want to make is that it’s imperative that each gender learn from the other and learn how to interact and overcome the divisions implied by those gender roles, which again, I think God may have brought in order to teach us more about the relationship he desires with us. Again, how much of this is biblical, I don’t yet know.

In any event, it’s clear that God has a plan and that he does desire a relationship with us and that this is symbolized in the relationship between husband and wife. And it’s so awesome to realize that he puts all this into motion before the fall. He knew that we would forsake him and already he was building up the way to show us back. How awesome is Jehovah! He is great and greatly to be praised! It’s also important to note that man could not find for himself a helper, that even if Adam is being brought into the image of bridegroom role, he is reminded that he is in truth a part of humanity and God is the provider of all humanity. And, of course, this all comes even more into play when the serpent–whom, it’s worth remembering, the God of peace will crush under our feet (Romans 16:20)–shows up.

Genesis 2:8-17

2006.May.29 15:44

A home for humanity

Read Genesis 2:8-17 | Full Chapter

God makes a home for man, that is, the dust-figure. The sort of home he makes for man is a garden, which he names Eden (or, at least, that’s what we’ve decided he might have named it). The garden is full of trees and watered by a river which then divides into four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates–at least thus sayeth the translation. And, as it turns out, that’s nearly all this passage has to say about Eden. I can suppose that is quite beautiful and lush, filled with all sorts of vegetation and animals, despite, from my limited geographical reckoning, being in what is now a desert. Go figure.

What he places in this garden of particular importance are two special trees:

The tree of life
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil

I would guess that these are symbolic in nature. That is, the fruit of either tree is not particularly special, but by naming the trees as he does God sets them up to have meaning. The tree of life is only named in this chapter; it is not really discussed. However, in addition to God setting up a labor for man, to cultivate the garden, God instructs man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Romans 5:20 says "”The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”" (Romans 5:20, NASB) This is the first example of the Law. Because humanity, in my guess, wishes to be as God, wherever there is Law, we will try to break it as a statement of our own godhood. This fits with God’s plan because then he can offer us grace and if we humble ourselves and accept his grace, we can develop a relationship with him not disturbed by our trying to attain equal or greater status to him. And having committed one sin–that of taking of the fruit–humanity realizes this way of attaining a pretense at godhood and will now continue to do so, until we receive God’s grace and he has perfected us.

In other words, everything is beautiful and good for humanity but we desire to be as God and so the one thing forbidden is the one we will take to prove our power. Only in doing so, we reveal to ourselves our sin and separate ourselves from God. Could God somehow have sidestepped all the resulting havoc and heartache? I don’t think so, if we are really to be the bride of Christ. But it is sad to realize how much pain we put him through because of our pride.

Genesis 2:4-7

2006.May.20 10:51

Making Humans, Part 2

Read Genesis 2:4-7 | Full Chapter

I don’t know how the word create in Genesis 1 reads in the original Hebrew, but I’m wondering if perhaps it meant create in the sense of creating the ideas and concepts. For example, if I create a movie, that could just mean defining the concept of the movie, rather than the actual making of the product. It might explain the sort of double creation story, as well as the line "”When God made the earth and the heavens and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth…”" (Genesis 2:4-5, NASB) . In any event, voila, we have an earth. Now we start to see more of humanity.

God creates man from the dust of the ground and breathes life into him. This is different certainly from the accounts of God creating other things because of the direct physical action. Additionally, God’s breath goes into man, perhaps yet another symbol that he wishes for intimate friendship with us. Finally, that after that, "”then man became a living being”" (Genesis 2:7, NIV) , shows again our dependance on God. My interpretation on this is that God makes us in his image, but with the understanding that we are dependant on him and ought not be rivals.

I know this is not much, but next week I’ll look at Eden itself. I just can’t seem to think this week. Well, that’s not true, but I feel as though I can’t.

Genesis 2:1-3

2006.May.03 16:02

Day of Rest

Read Genesis 2:1-3 | Full Chapter

So God completed all this crazy creation stuff in six days. Of course, we get another story after this, but more on that later. On the seventh day, he rests. God does not really need rest, I assume, but he rests anyway because he desires to, and he sanctifies the seventh day as one of rest. On the other hand, one of the things I’m going to ponder the week after next (next is a sidebar), is how much physical creation took place in “the week”.

To the point, though, God blesses and sets apart the seventh day. Here he adds the distinction between labor and rest, and the concept that times of rest are and ought to be set aside and times of blessing. However, he does not disdain his labor nor the time spent on it, which he calls very good. It is the combination of these two, of activity and reflection/refreshment that he designs as a desirable circumstance.

God values both my labor and my rest, and because I am made in his image, I can know that such a combination will best suit me. Neither alone will be satisfying but to consider both good increases me and my joy in God.

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