Context:
Like Genesis 1; Genesis 2 continues to tell the story of creation with a zoomed in view on the relationship between God and humanity. Like we saw in Revelation, this is a zoomed in retelling of the story.
Again, we need to consider genre. This is NOT a historiographical account of creation. Between the accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 there are differences (for example ordering humans are made before animals in Gen 2). There is limited interested in the days of Genesis 1 in the Genesis 2 account. Rather, we see what is best described as ‘anti-myth’ genre continuing into Genesis 2. That is, God in Genesis 1 is telling people about himself – and God, in Genesis 2, is telling people about who they are, especially in relationship to him.
This is also not to sway too far in the opposite direction – liberal scholarship would have us look at this and dismiss the notion of any factual truth of Genesis 2 all-together. We aren’t suggesting this has any validity at all. It is simply to say – Genesis 2 is not designed to be read as a historical account of the creation of the earth (as we might consider modern historical accounts) – and so we need to let the passage speak for itself about the topic that it wants to speak on – and be careful not to attempt to force it to speak either in the way we want it to, OR as an answer to the questions we might pose about creation as modern readers.
Observations:
Verse 4 signals the shift between the first account of creation, focussed on the sovereignty of the one God who rules over all – to zoom in on the relationship between God and humanity.
Verse 5-6 set the scene: God has made a world, but he had not yet placed life on this earth.
Verse 7 zooms in to look at the pinnacle of God’s creation. He made humanity. Note the distinction of forming humanity out of clay and then breathing life into him. The word for breath is also Spirit – God made humanity breathing his Spirit into him. This foreshadows of course, what re-birth looks like… as God indwells us by his Holy Spirit.
God in the formation of humanity shows a level of care and intimacy and relationship which hints strongly at our purpose – to be in relationship with God.
Verse 8 and 9 begin to fill out the shape fo that relationship – that humans are known by God. God here starts providing for humanity’s needs: shelter, a garden, good food including the tree of life. Trees which were not only functional, but pleasing to the human.
In verse 10-14 We see God providing water in the shape of rivers – rivers that would sustain life not just in the garden, but with provision towards a time where God knew that they would no longer be in his place.
In verse 15-20: The relationship between God and humanity is again returned to – this time focussing on our response towards God. God gives humans a role – to work and care for the garden. In verse 19-20 Humanity is involved in God’s creative process by naming the animals, part of his role of ruling over the creation placed under his care by God. But 16-17 deserve careful attention. God speaks to his human, leaving 1 rule. God is in authority, and part of the right relationship with God is about rightly submitting to his authority and obeying his commands and his instructions for ‘ruling over animals and caring for his creation’ all of which fall apart in chapter 3.
Verse 18,20b-25: Then focus on God’s provision of human companionship. God again knows his human and cares for him, by making another human to share in companionship with him. The emphasis here is important – too often we jump to marriage analogies here about romance and intimacy because verse 23 gets poetic and verse 24 talks about the uniting as one in marriage. But we need to see first and foremost that this is about companionship. Verse 18highlights that it is because the man is alone. Verse 20b it is because no suitable helper was found. The distinction of man as Spirit breathed creation (as opposed to the rest of creation who was simply ‘formed’) means that God forms the woman out of that spirit breathed human – and so she also shares in all of the dignity which is afforded Adam as God’s special creation, made to know God and be known by him – made to alongside Adam ‘help’ in ruling God’s creation together.
There is also this lovely cyclic togetherness that happens as vs 22 the woman is brought out of the man and in verse 24 the man goes to his wife to be united as one flesh.
Suggested Application Questions:
What does this passage teach us about what relationships between God and humanity are supposed to look like?
What makes a human valuable to God in this passage? Where do we sometimes make mistakes in how we viewwhat makes us valuable?
What does this teach us about our relationship with God’s world and our role with it?
What does it look like to rule, order and care for God’s world? Where might we make mistakes in how we might treat this relationship?
What does this teach us about relationships with other humans? What kind of role should companionship play as we consider how we live as a community under God?