Genesis 2: I Join My Life With Yours

Journey through the Book of Genesis with me.  The plan is simple. Read ONE chapter a day. Blog or journal 5* things you learned that you previously didn't know and ask 5* questions about the chapter that you'll ponder all week. Let's go!

** You'll probably learn way more than 5 things and have more than 5 questions about each chapter. That's totally fine. The more the merrier! 

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Genesis 2:1-25

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Question 1: The “Tree of life” and the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil” each had names assigned to them before they were in the “midst of the Garden of Eden” (v.9). So, were these unique trees already in existence somewhere else in creation before suddenly appearing in the Garden of Eden? (The tree of life appears again in Revelation 22 in heaven. So was it always in heaven, and added to the Garden in Eden as a special feature?)

Question 2: If Adam was prohibited from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, does that mean he could freely eat from the tree of life? What were the physical results of been able to eat from the tree of life? Revelation 22:2 suggests there may be multiple trees of life? (Their purpose being for the healing of the nations? What does that even mean?) Note: Tree of life bears 12 kinds of fruit/new one each month. Normal trees bear one fruit their lifetime. This tree is something special!

Question 3: Would Adam have had any concept of death when God says to him in verse 17, "you shall surely die"? What would he have understood death to mean if he’s never seen or experienced death?

Question 4: How long was Adam alone before God observed it was “not good for man to be alone”? When Adam explains in verse 23, “this at last of my bones.” Does that indicate that he had been in waiting for a long time?

Question 5: Why did God choose to create woman from Adam's rib? Why not create someone new from scratch as He did with Adam?  Solution: “oneness” between man and woman.

WHAT I LEARNED

Insight 1: The “breath of life” is not just physical life into Adam’s body, but also emotional and spiritual life so that Adam now has a soul, a will, and a personality.

Insight 2: In light of the beauty and grandeur of Eden, this Garden may have been, literally a small piece of heaven on earth; (the sweet spot of real estate where heaven intersected with earth).

Insight 3: Adam was commanded by God to be a gardener and a guardian of this royal heavenly park like a garden, hence verse 15 where it says and "...he put him in the garden to work it and keep it”. Being a gardener, I understand, but why would Adam need to guard it? Possibly because God knew there were other parties already present on site (Lucifer?), parties who would want to take advantage of the situation? Lucifer’s one ambition is to BE God. Since he failed in his rebellion in heaven, is he now aiming to be god of the earth by stripping Adam of the title deed of earth through the temptation coming up in the next chapter? Or was this God’s way of letting Adam understand that he was responsible for caring for whoever else, including eve, would end up living with him there? Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of what's to come?

Insight 4: in creating Eve from Adam's rib, God distinguished her as being unique in all of creation. Man was formed from the ground (v.7). Beasts and animals were also formed from the ground (v.19). Eve, however, though also very possibly formed in the same pattern as Adam was, is unique in that her process began with a special element, "rib" indicating the “oneness” she would share all her with Adam all her life.

Insight 5: The “oneness” husbands and wives are to share is one that is so intimate that in marriage it overrides even one's duty to his or her parents, hence “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

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