God’s Good Provision (Genesis 2:4-25)

God’s Good Provision

Genesis 2:4-25

Sunday, September 20, 2026 — Land O’ Lakes Bible Church

Introduction

When you consider who God is, what are the top things that come to your mind? Considering where we are in our study of the book of Genesis, after last week, I hope you could say for one he is the creator of everyone and everything. But maybe you consider the holiness of God. Or maybe the love of God from that most familiar verse of John 3:16. Or if you are often in the book of Proverbs, maybe you consider the fear of God. Maybe you even consider often the wrath of God and fear of falling under it. But beloved and friends, how often do you find yourself dwelling on the goodness of God?

For even last week in Genesis 1:1-2:3, we saw part of this revelation of the goodness of God. For in all that he created of the heavens and the earth, in that of his giving form to that which was formless and his filling that which was void, all is declared good in creation. 

But this goodness does not end with creation itself. The goodness of God is the foundation of God’s relationship with those made in his image, with those he made male and female. And that is what I want us to consider this morning as we look at Genesis 2:4-25.

Let me then encourage you to take out a copy of the Bible, whether your own or we have some there in the seats and open with me to Genesis 2:4 (2x). If using one of the Bibles provided for you there in your seats, you can find that beginning on page #2.

By having the Bible open, you can not only follow along as we read this passage together in a moment, but in keeping it open throughout the sermon, you can refer back as we allow the Scripture to shape our thoughts of God and what it means to be in relationship with him. Even as the Scripture presses against our own previous thinking. For we are to be a people shaped by the word of God, not our own opinions.

Let me then set the stage for us all, helping us to be on the same page before we begin. As I stated last week, or rather attempted to say last week, Genesis has two main sections that are fairly obvious for all readers of Genesis. In Genesis 1-11, you have the Primeval History. That is, you have the account of how it all began. How the heavens and the earth came into being, how we got from a good creation to a people scattered across the earth with much bad and sad things do to that of sin. Unfortunately, last week in getting ahead of myself, I said this was the Patriarchal Period. But it is not. Genesis 1-11 is the Primeval History.

However, Genesis 12-50 is the Patriarchal Period, where we move from the creation of all and how it began to spread, to zooming in on that of one family line that moves from Abraham to Issac to Jacob to Joseph.

That is the main two sections that most can see without much effort. However, there is another structure built within that larger structure. A structure of 10 תֹולְדֹ֧ות. That is, 10 generations. Each time then where we see this repeated phrase: these are the generations of, we see the beginning of a new section, tying together this verse with all that follows it until the next time it is repeated.

This first תֹולְדֹ֧ותsection runs from where we begin this morning in Genesis 2:4 and continues through Genesis 4:26. Showing us how we move from the establishing of a covenant with man and the Covenant Lord to the entering of sin and its spread to all man.

We now turn to the start of this first תֹולְדֹ֧ות as we read the word of יְהוָ֥ה, from Genesis 2:4-25…

Some of you are likely doing a bit of a double take, especially if you are newer to the Bible in thinking didn’t Moses already talk about this in what we read today last week in what we read then? Didn’t he talk about creation and man?

Yes, he did. But consider it this way, Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the telling of the story at first, but then Genesis 2:4-25 is a circling back around to fill in some of the missing parts. Or you could think of it this way, Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the story, then Genesis 2:4-25 is the story with more of the juicier details regarding the relationship between God and man, and man and woman.

Here then is what I think is the Main Point of our passage is: We as mankind were created by God to enjoy and obey Him through worship as we rule His cosmos. And we are going to unfold this in two parts:

1. A Good and Gracious Covenant Established (Gen 2:4-17)

2. A Good and Fitting Helper Provided (Gen 2:18-25)

I. A Good and Gracious Covenant Established (Gen 2:4-17)

Genesis 2:4… This verse not only starts this section running through the end of Genesis 4, but it sets the focus for us.

For starters, we are being pointed back to all that has just been written and reminded that all this that God has made, in that of the heavens and the earth, that he created as he brought form to the formless and filled the void, this is what flows from that creation, particularly regarding the events of those who were made in his image.

Then, secondly, we see a transition in how God is addressed. For in Genesis 1:1, we see him addressed as God, אֱלֹהִ֑ים in the original Hebrew. But here in Genesis 2:4, in your English Bibles, you will see it written as the LORD God, with all capital letters there for LORD. This is an indication for the Divine, Covenant name of God, יְהוָ֥ה. This is why you have heard me use that name, even in our reading of the passage.

But, in moving from God to יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים, that isיְהוָ֥ה  God, our eyes are being turned from not just seeing God as the Sovereign Lord who is both creator and king to seeing him as the Covenant Making God, יְהוָה, who has delivered the people out of Egypt.

Remember, Genesis was written after the Exodus as Moses points the people backwards to what happened in creation. And so, this Covenant Name would be known by them and important to them. A covenant being a binding agreement between two parties.

However, here in Genesis 2:4 we move from just seeing God as אֱלֹהִ֑ים, as just the Sovereign Creator. For here we see Him addressed here in our English Bibles as the LORD God. But do you see how LORD is written with all capital letters? This is displaying that underneath that in the original language of the Hebrew lies the divine, covenant name of God, יְהוָ֥ה.

Therefore, in us being turned to יְהוָ֥ה God here, it is being emphasized that the very God who has created the heavens and the earth is the same covenant LORD who has delivered the people of Israel from the land of Egypt through the Exodus and has entered into covenant with them upon Mount Sinai. For remember, Moses wrote all the first five books of the Bible. Genesis here being written after these things, not in the midst.

But this is not just a significant thing for that first audience coming out of Egypt. It is significant for you and I too. That we are not just meant to see God as the creator of everyone and everything having a right to rule over us, but as the Covenant Lord who establishes a clear relationship with us as mankind from the very beginning.

Just as way of a reminder, a covenant is the binding agreement between two parties. And so, here in verses 5-17, we are introduced to this establishing of this first covenant of the Bible between יְהוָ֥ה and mankind.

Look again at Genesis 2:5-7 where we read… Here though there is redundancy from Genesis 1 of the days of creation, it is made plain to us that it is יְהוָ֥ה God who clothed the earth in all the grandness of her beauty. That he clothed it with trees and caused it to flourish. Including the forming of mankind himself there in verse 7.

For man is brought about from the dust of the ground. Literally, Adam is taken from the Admah. For the word Adam for man comes from the word ground in the Hebrew. A most humbling beginning for us as mankind. Further, our very breath comes from the breath of יְהוָ֥הhimself and in so giving us life.

A great reminder to us that we as mankind are those created by God and having our very lives hidden in God. This is further shown in what follows with verses 8-9…

יְהוָ֥ה has brought about man from the dust and breathed life into him, and now he plants this garden of Eden and plants man in the garden. A garden that יְהוָ֥ה has caused to spring up every tree which is both pleasant to sight and good for food.

The significance of this is foreshadowed in the mentioning there in verse 9 of these two specific trees mentioned of the tree of life in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For this pleasantness and this good food will be what is at the center of the temptation from the serpent in Genesis 3 as we look at it the next two weeks, more on that later.

For now, though let us continue to behold the goodness of where יְהוָ֥ה has placed man, in this garden of Eden. For not only does it have trees pleasant to both the eyes and the belly, but it also has an abundance of other goodness. Goodness of water that we see in verses 10-14. For out of the garden flows a river, a river capable of becoming four other rivers. The Rivers of the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. There are also the resources of gold and bdellium and onyx stone found in Eden. Truly, the garden of Eden is living up to its name, pleasantness and luxury.

This is the goodness of the land in which יְהוָ֥ה has placed man to tabernacle, to dwell with Him!

Man was not created to simply work and be independent from יְהוָ֥ה. Man was created to dwell and be in relationship with יְהוָ֥ה. To serve in worship and obedience of Him! This begins to become clearer as we look at verse 15…

If we are not careful, we will miss the significance here of this verse in thinking that man was merely put in the garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it. While it doesn’t mean less than that, it does mean more.

For the word that we see work is meant to pull double duty that is lost in translation. For the same word that means work, עבד, also means to serve. And the word keep also means to preserve.

It is not until the book of Numbers where we begin to see some of the significance of these words.

Numbers 3:5–10 (ESV)

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. 8 They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”

Adam is placed in Eden to serve as a priestly king, to be set apart and serve God as a priest, and to keep guard over the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God with man as he serves the LORD through worship and obedience to his commands. A command given in verses 16-17…

Man was given every tree in the garden for food, all except one! An abundance of provision was given, while only one thing was withheld, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a warning is given to man if he was to eat from this one forbidden tree. If he ate from it, then we are told that he would surely, without a shadow of a doubt, die!

A death that as Genesis unfolds would certainly include that of physical death, but more importantly death in being removed from the very one life is found in, יְהוָ֥הhimself. For disobedience would bring about the separation between יְהוָ֥ה and man.

Of course it is in the giving of this command, we come to see why death exists in the world we live. We see why we are separated from יְהוָ֥ה and have been removed from the garden, not because יְהוָ֥ה was unfaithful, but as we will continue to see throughout Genesis, especially in Genesis 3, that we as mankind were unfaithful to the covenant of יְהוָ֥ה. For instead of rejoicing in his goodness and the abundance of his good provision, we loathed the thing he forbid us to take.

Genesis 2:4-17, should then rightfully make us sorrowful for what we have lost there in Eden, where everything was good and fruitful, where man dwelt happily with יְהוָ֥ה. It should make us sorrowful that because of sin, we have lost the place where all was good and no sadness was had.

Likewise, this passage should turn our hearts to hate our sin, to hate how we have rejected God’s rule over us. For instead of declaring the worth of God in worship, our sin has brought about our rebellion against him. We have declared in our sin that we do not want God defining what is good and evil, but we want to decide that for ourselves. In our sin, we refuse God as our king and make ourselves our own king.  As those in Adam, we see that we have continued this pattern of refusing to listen and obey God. We have refused worship of him, while worshiping ourselves. Genesis 2 is meant to stir our hearts to hate such sinfulness within.

But this passage is to also overwhelm us with the goodness and mercy of יְהוָ֥ה. For despite us as man rejecting this covenant command of יְהוָ֥ה, he has judged us accordingly by removing us in our sin from his presence, but he has not left us in this state. For he has a made a way to bring us to the tree of life and live.

Despite our unfaithfulness, יְהוָ֥הhas continued to pursue us so that he could establish a new covenant with us.  A covenant not of death, but of life. Life offered through a new representative. For in Adam, we came under the curse, but thanks be to יְהוָ֥ה God, for the sending of His Beloved Son. For where Adam was disobedient, Jesus was faithful in the keeping of the law and delighting in the Father.

And in his faithfulness, he came and laid down his life in order to take the curse of disobedience upon himself and die on the cross. But because he was faithful, the curse of death had no claim on him and he rose from the dead on the third day, bringing life to all who would come to him by faith!

GOSPEL PLEA, GOSPEL ENCOURAGEMENT, AND THE LAW OF CHRIST!

That’s point #1.

II. A Good and Fitting Helper Provided (Gen 2:18-25)

Throughout Genesisso far, we have read repeatedly that all was good, then we come to Genesis 2:18 where we read…

All has been good in creation so far, but now it is made clear that there was man who had been placed in the garden, in covenant with יְהוָה, but he did not have a helper fit for him.

A helper fit for Adam to help him in his work. For there in verses 19-20 we see that the work of man was being exercised overיְהוָה’s creation. For there each animal is brought before Adam to be named by him. But we are reminded, of all of these, none are a fit helper for man.

However, this lack does not remain, יְהוָה resolves this issue. Verses 21-22…

יְהוָה makes a helper fit for Adam from one of his own ribs, from his very flesh. And when Adam saw this helper fit for him and made from his ribs, he responds, verse 23 …

יְהוָה has taken, that which he said was not good in man being alone, and gives him a helper fit from him from his very bones and flesh. And therefore, in this helper fit for man, would come the closest human relationship in humanity, that of a husband and a wife. Verse 24 …

Though Adam did not have father or mother, as he was formed from the dust of the ground from יְהוָה, we are given this instruction to emphasize that this is still to be the norm when a man takes a wife. That the relationship between man and wife are to be the closest of relationships among mankind.

For even here with an ancient culture where newlyweds would actually live in the same place as the husband’s father and mother, it is emphasized that this new relationship with husband and wife is to take precedence between the relationship a son has with father and mother.

Therefore, as husbands this means that if we are put in a rock and a hard place choosing between our mother or our wife, the wifey is to win out! She is the one we have become one flesh with! Consider that some unsolicited counseling for all marriages.

But why this emphasis here in Genesis 2 on this giving of a helper fit for Adam? Verse 25…

We are being taught that in this very good beginning, marital strife did not exist. That husband and wife were joined together as one flesh without shame as no conflict amongst themselves existed. For there was marital harmony without sinful tendencies amongst one another.

A humbling reminder of what we have at present in marriage is not how it was supposed to be. Husband, wife, that marital strife that presently exists is because two sinners have said I do. Those feelings of shame and withdrawing from one another, that is because the sin of strife has even compromised the one flesh union of marriage. Even that struggle to be completely vulnerable with one another and before one another is a reality of what has taken place after the fall of Genesis 3.

So again, as we see this here of Genesis 2, we are to feel the sorrow of what we have lost in the fall.  

But we are here to also learn how man and woman were given to one another to complement and help one another.

For consider the purpose given to man as he was placed in the garden of Eden. He was placed there to work and serve יְהוָה and to keep the garden free from all that would turn away from יְהוָה.

This instruction to work and keep includes that of passing this onto the woman made from him and guarding her from turning away from the covenant command of יְהוָה. Something that we see in Genesis 3, that he failed to do.

Further, these two were meant to serve יְהוָה together. Listen to how well Allen Ross puts this. He says,

“They help one another serve the Lord and keep his command so that they might continue their life as his representatives in the world.”[1]

Therefore, the husband and the wife were meant to serve יְהוָה together by subduing the earth and multiplying and filling the earth with other worshipers of יְהוָה.

Marriage is a gift given to us by God, not only for our enjoyment in one another, but to also help us serve יְהוָה.

Singles: Seek someone then who is already serving יְהוָה. For if they are not doing so now, do not presume they will later.

Couples: See your roles in aiding one another to serve יְהוָה. Working for one another’s good and maturing in Christ! Serve one another by husbands leading like Christ and wives submitting like the church.

Conclusion

Genesis 1 revealed to us the goodness of creation and its completion. Genesis 2 here today, has revealed to us the beauty and splendor of Eden to help us feel the sorrow of what we have lost and to help us long for Christ who alone restores us to a better Eden. For it is in our coming to Christ and conquering with him, that we will be granted to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.[2]

Let’s pray…

[1] Allen P. Ross. Creation and Blessing. (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 1998) 118.

[2] See Revelation 2:7.