God Makes Man - Gen. 2:4-25

Review

We reviewed the first 6 days of creation with some key takeaways:

God existed before the creation of the heavens and earth - He has no beginning nor end

God existed in tri-unity - He was complete in every way, lacking nothing

This tri-unity of God is present at the creation - God the Father, God the Son (the Word), and God the Spirit

Creation has a purpose - that purpose was not to complete God but is an extreme act of the grace of God

Ex-nihilo - “out of nothing” was everything made. A creative progression can be found here: from “formlessness” and “emptiness” to form and fullness.

His crowning creation, Man, is created on the 6th day

As we begin our study this evening, we will pick up in Chapter 2 the creation of Man - both male and female. Chapter 2 is an expansion of what Moses outlined for us in Chapter 1. It further depicts God’s intentional and purposeful creation work.

Our reading begins with the phrase, “these are the records,” and it is similar to how other sections of Genesis are started.

Genesis 5:1 “1 This is the document containing the family records of Adam. On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God;”

Genesis 10:1 “1 These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.”

Genesis 11:27 “27 These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot.”

Much like these examples introduced family records, here in verse 4 of chapter 2, Moses ties all of these family records back to the actual creation of the first couple - Adam and Eve.

We discussed last week about what does being made in the image of God mean. I think Chapter 2 gives us many clues to that question as we look at the various passages. I think there are at least 6 key clues we can pull out of our study.

Image of God - Man (and Woman)

A Natural Being

Genesis 2:4–7 CSB

4 These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 6 But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

During the creation account, this is the first time that the relational name of God is used: Yahweh. All throughout chapter 1 the plural name of God, Eloihim, was used. Why the change in name do you suppose?

Like the animals created in chapter 1, man, too, is created from the dust of the ground. From dust we were created and to dust we will return.

Coder and Howe in their book The Bible, Science and Creation have taken the trouble to calculate that “the human body is composed of about fifty-eight pounds of oxygen, two ounces of salt, fifty quarts of water, three pounds of calcium, twenty-four pounds of carbon, and some chlorine, phosphorous, fat, iron, sulphur, and glycerine.” It has been estimated that the value of all of the chemicals and minerals which comprise us humans costs less than $1,000 today. In fact one source said it was about $576.

So one clue we find here is that Man is a natural being. However, there is something mentioned here which makes us different, and I would also say, more valuable that the animals in chapter 1. What is it? God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. I have heard the name of God, Yahweh, compared to the sounds made when one breaths in and breaths out. Yahweh breathes life into man and he not only became a natural being but he also is a spiritual being.

D. Stuart Briscoe and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Genesis, vol. 1, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1987), 37.

A Spiritual Being

Genesis 2:8–14 CSB

8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:16–17 CSB

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

The Hebrew word for “being” found in is ne-pes. This is the same word used for living creature in Gen. 1:20, but it can be translated soul in other occasions. The idea behind the word is linked to the throat or the neck and accordingly has the connotation of desire, hunger, appetite as the psalmist depicts in Psalm 42:1 “1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.”

All the living creatures of the created order live only because of God, but man was created in such a way that his being would long deeply for fulfillment and satisfaction that only God can give.

The closeness of God to man pictured here (God breathing into man’s nostrils) depicts a relationship reserved with only man, and thus sets man apart from the rest of creation. In verse 16, God gives man the specific commands that he can eat freely from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In doing this, God shows us that man was capable of relating to God at the deepest level of commitment and obedience.

A Practical Being

Genesis 2:15 CSB

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

Not only is man a natural being and a spiritual being, look at what God required of man in verse 15. God placed man in the garden to what? Work it and watch over it.

There are some common misconceptions which exist within the church today.

Tithe - many misconceptions that tithing was a “law” and since we are under grace and not law, I don’t need to tithe. The tithe was instituted before the law was given.

Circumcision - some believe that circumcision was initiated under the law as well. Thus they use this as a reason for not circumcising their children today. However, circumcision was initiated by Abraham - the father of the faithful.

Work - the last misconception is that work was a result of the curse or the fall of man. Here we see what? God instituted work as part of the blessing of the garden. What about work was the result of the curse? It became hard.

So we see that God made man as a practical being. Working and providing watchful care over what we have been entrusted with are practical matters. We will later see in scripture that God tells man to work properly and rest adequately.

A Rational Being

Genesis 2:18–19 CSB

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

Looking at this passage, God has given man a pretty big task. To name all the living creatures. Perhaps this was the birth of scientific observation and categorization - a throwback to last week’s discussion - but regardless, it was a large task and one which required Adam to use the intellectual capabilities.

A Moral Being

Genesis 2:16–17 CSB

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

There were limits given to man, however. These same limits were not given to all of the creatures…only to man.

How do humans respond to limitations being placed on them? What evidence can you give (anecdotal or otherwise) that innate in man is a basic understanding of right and wrong?

There at two trees mentioned that were in the garden. Genesis 2:9 “9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” What made these trees special? They were special because God declared them special. He could have easily told man not to move that stone or to not cross a brook. The universal lesson is this: God alone determines what is right and wrong, and that the essence of doing right is doing His will and the nature of wrongdoing is contravening His requirements.

Here we see that man, therefore, is created as a moral being. Man’s moral sensibilities are God-given and the moral standards are God-ordained.

We may have unlocked some clues as to what being made in the image of God means, for man is created as a natural being, a spiritual being, a rational being, a practical being and a moral being. But God also made man to be a social being.

A Social Being

Genesis 2:20–25 CSB

20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. 24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

We saw in chapter 1 that after God had created everything and concluded with man that He declared it “very good” indeed.

However, we see in verse 18, one thing was not good. God said it was not good for man to be alone - on a side note, some insist that God looked at man He had made and said, “I can do better!” So He made woman. I have digressed but all the men in here say what? “Amen!”

God takes a rib - which can also be translated as side or hip - from man is a picture of woman coming alongside him in his alone-ness and limited-ness. One of commentaries said that it is interesting that God used something from the “side of man” and not from the head - where woman would rule over man - or from the foot - where man may tread on woman - but from the side depicting a helper.

God institutes marriage - the leaving and cleaving mentioned here - as a one of the societal laws. What does society do today to turn this relationship where “they felt no shame” into one of shame?

Have we uncovered what it means to be made in the image of God? Is there something still missing?