The first "not good"

God created everything as good. But today, we will learn about the first “not good” and how to fight it.

4 These are the generations

of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Until this point, God was described as the all powerful creator: Elohim.

In verse four he is introduced as YHWH. The personal name for God. This name was considered so sacred by Jews that they would not fully pronounce it.

It is healthy to be in awe of God and have reverence. But the whole concept of a personal name is to communicate the desire for relationship. In this passage, God is intimately involved in Adams life. He deserves our honor, but he longs for a relationship.

Do you only know him as a God or as your God? Do you know about God or do you know God?

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The verb “formed” sparks the image of a potter molding clay for a specific purpose and design.

You were uniquely created by God. There is no one like you. God designed you on purpose, for a purpose, and every breath is a gift from him.

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Before Adam did any deserving work, God placed him in paradise. His creation was both beautiful for his eyes and practical for his belly.

God created many plants and animals in these opening chapters, but only a few are pointed out by name. In verse 9 we are introduced to two trees: life and the the knowledge of good and evil.

Some thinkers believe that the tree of life was the source that sustained Adams physical body to live forever.

The other tree, presented the pull for Adam to experience the forbidden.

While this may seem dark, we must remember that the existence of choosing the wrong path meant that God created man with free will. This also opens the door for love.

You are a slave to sin before Jesus, but God can set you free to freely love him.

(10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.)

"The reference to gold and onyx... materials are later associated with the making of the tabernacle and temple." - esv study

God’s temple and presence was with man.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

"you shall surely die" could be applied to both physical and spiritual death.- esv study

They did not die immediately...

In dying you shall die. To sin is to step one step closer to a million little deaths. (lying, jealousy, laziness)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

The first not good was the loneliness of man. Even though Adam had God, he needed help from someone fit for him.

“The words are ezer and kenegdo. The word ezer occurs twenty-one times in the Old Testament, with only two of those occurrences relating to a woman. In all the other instances, the word is used to refer directly to God the Father. Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 5.”

19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam[g] there was not found a helper fit for him.

He showed God-likeness through his leadership, creativity, and distinction. And so, he would need a partner that is different than the animals.

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made[h] into a woman and brought her to the man.

"There is a beautiful Jewish tradition saying God made woman, not out of man’s foot to be under him, nor out of his head to be over him, but “She was taken from under his arm that he might protect her and from next to his heart that he might love her” (Barnhouse).

23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

He sings to her. He is there to bless her and serve her. Not to use her. She is not like the animals. She is bone of his bones. Ish, ishshah.

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

No blushing. No hiding. No immature laughing.

They were fully known and fully loved.

Are you experiencing the first not good? You were made to be fully known and fully loved.

Like Adam, Jesus’ side was wounded so that his bride, the church, could be formed.