Gen 2

Hay everyone, welcome back to another video on gensisis. This video we have finally left gensisis chapter one and continuing the journey into chapters chapter two of genesis, but before we dive in, let’s take a moment to set the tone.

Genesis chapter 1 is one of the most misunderstood texts in all of Scripture. But as we saw in the last videos, once we stop forcing it into modern categories—like science textbooks or timelines—and start listening to it on its own terms, in its own culture, something powerful begins to emerge. We’re not looking at a blueprint for atoms and galaxies—we’re witnessing God taking a wild, chaotic cosmos and turning it into sacred space. A temple. A home.

Now, with Genesis 1 behind us, again we are now stepping into the next part of the story: Genesis chapter 2.

And let me say right now, if you haven’t seen the videos on chapter 1, hit pause and go watch them first. Doing so will give you a foundation to better understand things I may say. Now Chapter 2 doesn’t hit the rewind button or contradict what came before, it picks up the thread and zooms in on something far more intimate: the sacred center of creation, where heaven and earth meet, and where humanity is called to a priestly purpose as well, we start learning about many things.

So now we come to the opening lines of Genesis chapter 2:

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2:1–3, NKJV)

Now, let’s clear up one of the biggest misunderstandings people tend to bring to this passage: the idea that God “rested” because He was tired. I've heard unbelievers ask this question. Some out of genuine curiosity and lack of understanding and others looking for a gotcha.

However it's not saying that he's tired in the way we may think,we have to kind of get out of the modern view of things, I need to look at it from the perspective of the people lived it and spoke a different language well words don't always mean the same thing as they do today as well and when we do, we find that’s thr Hebrew is not saying he tired. And more importantly, that’s not what the ancient world would have understood by it.

The Hebrew word for “rested” here is shabat—and it doesn’t mean nap, or snooze, or crash on a heavenly couch. It means to cease. To stop working. To declare the work finished, not the act of actually even creation is finished here if you look around creation is still happening around us, new islands are being formed massive amounts of space dust is falling to the Earth, entire land masses are shifting and changing shape and evolution is still happening.

No, what we see with this same word being used in other places such as in Joshua 5:12, were it talks of the manna ceased, not because it was exhausted, but because its purpose was fulfilled. In Job 32:1, Job’s friends ceased answering him, not because their mouths gave out, but because they ran out of things to say.

In other words, shabat isn’t about tiredness, it’s about transition.

And in the ancient Near East, the transition that marked the completion of a creation account, whether in temple texts, myths, or even Israelite liturgy—wasn’t when the last nail was hammered in, but when a deity took up residence in the ordered space. That was when it was complete.

And in Genesis 2:1–3 it follows that same pattern. After six days of bringing function and order to the chaotic cosmos—separating light from darkness, assigning roles to day and night, sea and sky, sun and moon—God ceases from His work and takes up residence in what is now His cosmic temple.

Psalm 132 says it best: “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” (v.14). Rest here isn’t absence—it’s presence. It’s enthronement. So you should view it as God stepping away from creation, or from the world. No, instead he’s stepping into it.

That means the seventh day isn’t just the end of the week—it’s the high point. It’s the climax. The entire structure of Genesis 1 builds toward this moment when the Creator of all takes His seat at the center of His cosmic temple.

And this is why Israel’s Sabbath was more than just a break from work—it was an invitation to join in God’s rhythm, to dwell with Him, to remember who He is and what creation was always meant to be: not just a world, but a sanctuary. Not just ordered space, but sacred space. A place where heaven and earth meet.

That’s what Jesus was getting at when He was challenged for healing on the Sabbath. In Mark 2:27, He says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” In other words, the Sabbath isn’t a burden—it’s a gift. It was never about legalistic restrictions. It was about alignment with God's presence, participating in the rest He initiated when He took up residence in His temple.

Jesus didn’t reject the Sabbath—He fulfilled its meaning. He pointed us back to the original intent: rest that isn’t about idleness, but about communion. Reign. Restoration. And that idea was already written into the heart of Genesis 2. God wasn’t stepping away from creation. He was stepping into it.

now lets look at Genesis 2:4–6, which marks a clear shift in focus—and also throws a curveball to anyone trying to read Genesis like a modern chronological play-by-play.

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” (Genesis 2:4–6, NKJV)

Now, right away, some people get tripped up here. They see these verses and go, “Wait a second—wasn’t vegetation already created back in Genesis 1, on Day 3?” And the answer is yes, but you’re not reading a contradiction, as mentioned in my previous video, you’re reading a sequel. A zoomed-in lens. So your not getting a situation where Genesis 2 is retelling the same events in a new order. Not, It’s starting a new chapter in the story.

Verse 4 actually signals that with the phrase: “This is the history of the heavens and the earth…” That’s a toledot formula—used throughout Genesis as a literary marker to introduce what comes next. So your not seeing some kind of a recap, no what your seeing is a transition. The same phrase is used for genealogies: “These are the generations of Noah,” or “of Abraham,” and so on. In this case, it’s the generations after the formation of the heavens and the earth—meaning what your seeing here in this next section builds on what came before.

So what is it saying?

It’s telling us that before humans were present to work the ground—before cultivation began—there were no crops. No planted fields. And that makes perfect sense in the functional view of Genesis we’ve been exploring. This isn’t a statement about all vegetation everywhere, but a specific kind: cultivated plants. The Hebrew even qualifies it—“plants of the field” and “herbs of the field.” the bible is being very specific and trying to tell us something here, and that looks to be that this is about agriculture, not wild vegetation.

What’s the point? The world at this stage is still incomplete, not in the sense that there’s missing matter, but that human activity, human function, hasn’t yet begun. The cosmos is ordered, but its sacred center hasn’t been established. No one’s tilling the ground. No one’s partnered with God to steward and develop His temple space.

And that’s what Genesis 2 is setting up. It’s preparing us for what happens next—when God forms a sacred garden, selects a thoughs to work it, and begins a new phase of order and relationship. So again, we are not looking at a situation where there is a contradiction in Genesis 2 with chapter 1—instead it’s a narrative shift, not a reset or retelling of the same story

So in verses 4–6, we’re looking at a world that’s been ordered but not yet cultivated—a sacred space waiting to be tended. Eden hasn’t been planted yet. Humanity hasn’t been installed yet. But the groundwork is being laid for God to do something deeply relational, deeply purposeful. And that’s what we’ll see in the verses that follow.

so I am going to stop the video here, I'm trying to keep these videos pretty short and I think this is a good place as I need to in this video anyways you're welcome to continue watching my videos if you want just make sure you subscribe and hit that notification icon and if you like it show me what the like go to be fair I don't actually look at the likes but it's always good to know that people are supporting me because you know how the YouTube algorithm works and it helps me when you do that. Again thank you for watching.