Genesis 1-3
Overview of Chapter 1
The key to this chapter is the first verse, "In the beginning God..." And we see right away that God is creative (vs.1). God's first order of business was to separate "the light from the darkness" (vs. 4). God continues for six days creating everything, light, the sky, land, seas, vegetation, stars, moon, sun, sea animals, flying animals, land animals, and humans.
Humans are special, they are made in the image of God. God puts the humans to work; they are to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over the creatures of the earth.
Then after surveying all that He had done God concluded it was "very good."
Take note of the fact that God seems to be having a conversation with Himself and even refers to Himself as Us and Our (vs. 26). This is a key concept for understanding the doctrine of the Trinity.
Overview of Chapter 2
After all the creative work of the six previous days God decides to take a rest. This rest was so important that God blessed the seventh day and set it apart.
Beginning in verse 4 we will see a retelling of the creation of humans that gives us more detail into how God created us. From this point on as you read the Bible you will be reading about Gods relationship with His most prized creation - humans.
Notice in verse 7 that all the pieces of man were together, all the essential ingredients had been added, but life did not exist until God himself breathed life into this first man.
After creating the first man God begins to show loving care for him by planting a garden an putting the man there. He gave him the job of cultivating and keeping the garden. In turn the garden would provide the man with food. Only one rule was imposed on this man - do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God did not want the man to be alone so God creates a helper who is suitable for him; a woman. In verse 24 we see the foundation of marriage as God created it, a man and a woman joined together to become one flesh. Together before God they had no shame.
Overview of Chapter 3
The serenity of the garden is broken as the serpent steps in. As we learn here the serpent is crafty, and I don't mean handy with scissors and glue, he is deceptive. The serpent separates the woman from the man, because she had not heard the word of God directly. Immediately He questions the word of God; "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" In verse 4 he claims the word of God to be false; "You surely will not die!" And so begins Satans attack on God's creation.
Unfortunately Adams wife falls for this deception and eats the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam joins his wife in breaking the command of God. After eating they find there innocence lost, before they only had knowledge of good, but now they have knowledge of good and evil. New emotions overtake them; shame (vs. 7) and fear (vs. 10). For the first time they could not face God.
Both Adam and his wife attempt to place blame away from themselves but both must admit to God, "I ate" (vs. 12, 13). God curses the serpent, gives pain and humility to the woman, and difficult labor to the man. God also repeats his promise of death for this sin both by telling Adam he will return to the dust and by driving him and his wife out of the garden where the tree of life is.
Adam and Eves sin did not lead to death for just them, but for the first time animals were killed to cover the sin of humans (vs. 21).
Reflection
Have you taken time recently to get out of your house (mans creation) and into nature (God's creation)? Have you really become one flesh with your spouse? Do you set aside one day each week for rest? Do you hear God's word for yourself or rely on someone else (friend,family member, Pastor) to tell you about it? Notice Satan's pattern for temptation - get you alone, question the word of God, call the word of God untrue. Do you feel fear and shame in your life, and if so could it be a result of sin?
For Further Study
Creation: Psalm 8, Psalm 148, Romans 1:20-23
Trinity: Matthew 3:16
Life: Genesis 2:7, Job 7:7, Deuteronomy 21:23
Sabbath: Exodus 20:8-11, Matthew 12:1-21, Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 4:1-11
Satan: 2Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9
The key to this chapter is the first verse, "In the beginning God..." And we see right away that God is creative (vs.1). God's first order of business was to separate "the light from the darkness" (vs. 4). God continues for six days creating everything, light, the sky, land, seas, vegetation, stars, moon, sun, sea animals, flying animals, land animals, and humans.
Humans are special, they are made in the image of God. God puts the humans to work; they are to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over the creatures of the earth.
Then after surveying all that He had done God concluded it was "very good."
Take note of the fact that God seems to be having a conversation with Himself and even refers to Himself as Us and Our (vs. 26). This is a key concept for understanding the doctrine of the Trinity.
Overview of Chapter 2
After all the creative work of the six previous days God decides to take a rest. This rest was so important that God blessed the seventh day and set it apart.
Beginning in verse 4 we will see a retelling of the creation of humans that gives us more detail into how God created us. From this point on as you read the Bible you will be reading about Gods relationship with His most prized creation - humans.
Notice in verse 7 that all the pieces of man were together, all the essential ingredients had been added, but life did not exist until God himself breathed life into this first man.
After creating the first man God begins to show loving care for him by planting a garden an putting the man there. He gave him the job of cultivating and keeping the garden. In turn the garden would provide the man with food. Only one rule was imposed on this man - do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God did not want the man to be alone so God creates a helper who is suitable for him; a woman. In verse 24 we see the foundation of marriage as God created it, a man and a woman joined together to become one flesh. Together before God they had no shame.
Overview of Chapter 3
The serenity of the garden is broken as the serpent steps in. As we learn here the serpent is crafty, and I don't mean handy with scissors and glue, he is deceptive. The serpent separates the woman from the man, because she had not heard the word of God directly. Immediately He questions the word of God; "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" In verse 4 he claims the word of God to be false; "You surely will not die!" And so begins Satans attack on God's creation.
Unfortunately Adams wife falls for this deception and eats the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam joins his wife in breaking the command of God. After eating they find there innocence lost, before they only had knowledge of good, but now they have knowledge of good and evil. New emotions overtake them; shame (vs. 7) and fear (vs. 10). For the first time they could not face God.
Both Adam and his wife attempt to place blame away from themselves but both must admit to God, "I ate" (vs. 12, 13). God curses the serpent, gives pain and humility to the woman, and difficult labor to the man. God also repeats his promise of death for this sin both by telling Adam he will return to the dust and by driving him and his wife out of the garden where the tree of life is.
Adam and Eves sin did not lead to death for just them, but for the first time animals were killed to cover the sin of humans (vs. 21).
Reflection
Have you taken time recently to get out of your house (mans creation) and into nature (God's creation)? Have you really become one flesh with your spouse? Do you set aside one day each week for rest? Do you hear God's word for yourself or rely on someone else (friend,family member, Pastor) to tell you about it? Notice Satan's pattern for temptation - get you alone, question the word of God, call the word of God untrue. Do you feel fear and shame in your life, and if so could it be a result of sin?
For Further Study
Creation: Psalm 8, Psalm 148, Romans 1:20-23
Trinity: Matthew 3:16
Life: Genesis 2:7, Job 7:7, Deuteronomy 21:23
Sabbath: Exodus 20:8-11, Matthew 12:1-21, Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 4:1-11
Satan: 2Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9
posted by Shaun Sells | 12:03 AM
4 Comments:
As I read through these verses, I noticed that the serpent tempted, Eve sinned, Adam followed in sin.
When God confronted them, he confronted Adam first, who attempted to pass his blame to Eve. Then God confronted Eve, who attempted to pass her blame to the serpent. Then God confronted the serpent.
However, as God gave His judgments to each, He went back to the original order: the serpent, Eve, and then Adam.
As I pondered this, I began to wonder why...or if there was any relevance to it. Any thoughts on this?
As Belinda and I sat down to read Genesis 1-3 we discussed a few questions that I came up with. Belinda was reading from the New Living Translation (NLT) and I read from the New American Standard (NAS). The first thing that grabbed me was Gen. 3:3 when Eve replied to Satan, "You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die," in reference to Gen. 2:16-17, "The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Eve, in her reply to Satan had changed or perverted the orignal command given to Adam by adding "touch it"... I thought this was significant... in that Adam either added to God's Word or Eve did... any thoughts?
The other question that came to mind comes from Gen. 3:6. In the NLT it reads "So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too". This seems to imply that Adam was sitting by with Eve while she was engaged in a conversation with Satan... the NAS states "she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate". What occured to me, if my understanding is correct... is that if Adam was present during the conversation then wouldn't this make him even more accountable... I mean, my previous readings had always lead me to believe that Adam was off tendng the garden or something when this conversation took place... but if he were in fact present during this conversation then his copability would be even more than I first thought. Am I off base on this?
An additional question came to mind in Gen. 3:15 "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." The question that I have is does it mean by "your seed" in comparision to "her seed"? Is this a reference to a serpant's seed, of whom Satan spoke through, or something else?
And finally, (I'm sorry if these are too many questions, but I'm just curious) In Genesis 3:21 it reads "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." Does this correctly apply to animal skins or could it be to other skins such as found in 1 Cor. 15:40 "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." I just thought that I would ask this question as this scripture came to mind while reading.
This is just a guess on my part, but it would seem that God approached Adam first because He had given the instruction to Adam, then he followed the stories until He got to the root. When it was time for judgment He then started with the root and worked His way back to Adam
for michael:
1. I believe Adam bears the responsibility here. Eve had not been created when this instruction was given to Adam so it was his responsibility to convey to Eve God's instruction clearly. It could be said that he did and Eve was either a poor student or that she exaggerated in her response to the serpent, but I believe that Adam was present and should have stepped in if this was the case.
2. I believe Adam was present when she ate, it is possible that he was not their for the conversation and arrived just before she ate, but I don't think that is very likely.
3. I see this two ways, prophetically it points to Jesus - the seed of woman overcoming the seed of the serpent (Satan). I also see a practical side to this. The result of Adam and Eve's sin will ultimately lead to the flood, and after the flood God tells Noah that he will eat the animals and they will fear him. Obviously this was not the case in Adam and Eve's day as they were vegetarians and apparently on speaking terms with the animals (at very least they had no fear of each other).
4. I believe this applies to animal skins and points forward to the blood of the sacrifice later to be necessary to cover sin. I see little evidence in scripture that Adam and Eve had celestial bodies only prior to this, especially since Adam was made from dust, Eve was made from Adam, and they came together to be one flesh. I believe Adam was made fleshly and his soul entered him as God breathed life into him. Just my opinion though - I have heard that other pastors teach the celestial body idea.
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