GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Chapter Two

Contributing commentaries by Sonny Islas and James Fire

Mp3 audio teaching of GENESIS 2 by Lambert Dolphin 

Commentary on GENESIS by Ray Stedman  

Chapter Two – Sonny Islas

Genesis chapter 2 is the creation account in more detail - specifically in regard to plant life, animals, man, woman and life in the garden. The account in Chapter One is chronological, for it lists each of the six days and what God accomplished in each of them. Chapter Two isn’t chronological, but gives attention to what the LORD intended for us to focus on.

GENESIS 2:1, 2
“Thus the heavens (that is the sky, outer space and God’s dwelling place) and the earth, and all the host of them (all that they contain), 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.”

• He rested: God didn’t rest from His work in creation because he was tired or burnt out but because He was simply finished and satisfied – like a songwriter puts down his pen when the song is finished to his satisfaction. Or, like painter who after finishing his last touch ups, puts down his brush, steps back and says, “Very Good!”

Our God doesn’t get exhausted – He’s not like the construction worker who owns a sweat towel. He is a God of infinite resources, knowledge and power.

ISAIAH 40:28 
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.”

GENESIS 2:3
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

• The Seventh day: Saturday is also known as the Sabbath - A day set apart (that is, sanctified) by God for us as a special day of rest and worship.
• He rested: (stopped working) on the seventh day as an example to us and was to be a blessing for us – to work hard all week then rest one day. By the way, since the day of creation we’ve been on a literal 7-day (one week) cycle.

The Sabbath (7^th) day also points to Jesus and salvation in two ways:

1.  Jesus died on the cross on the 6^th day (Friday – and said, “it is finished”) and rested (His body in the tomb) on the Sabbath (7^th) day – a clear picture of the New Creation!
2. The Sabbath also points to resting from our works (our human efforts to save ourselves i.e. “good people” & man-made religion). But, to instead put our full trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross – this is true rest and it will last forever.
   This command to keep the Sabbath day holy is found in the 10 commandments (The 4^th):
   EXODUS 20:8-11
   8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

• The Pharisees in Jesus’ time tried to bind man as well as Jesus (God) with the Sabbath. They twisted the 4^th command to the point of religious slavery (they didn’t just not want people to work, they almost didn’t want people to move). For example, the Pharisees taught that spitting was a violation of the Sabbath – for by spitting on the ground, you could move the soil, which is considered ‘plowing’ and forbidden.

But, In MARK 2:27-28 Jesus says, “And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man (as a blessing not a burden), and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.' – “LORD”: In other words, “I’m God and just as My Father does good works on the Sabbath, so do I.”

The Pharisees didn’t want His disciples picking corn nor Jesus (God) healing on the Sabbath (See MATT 12:1-9; LUKE 6:7; 13:14; 14:1-6). Yet the LORD points out to the Pharisees, a couple different occasions as legitimate examples, instances where the Sabbath was ‘violated’, first by King David and then the temple priests (at least by their own standards) and were yet blameless.

 On the marvelous patterns of seven, both in God’s Scripture as well as God’s creation, have a look at the following website The BIBLE, GENESIS and GEOLOGY and its article, The Sevens (7) of the Bible in Time and Nature.

GENESIS 2:4
“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,”

This is the history: The only eyewitness of creation is God and He has given us (through Moses) the creation account. His account is faithful and true and needs no corroboration. The LORD was well able to convey these acts of creation to Moses by His Spirit and the testimonies of those who were alive to hear the words of Adam himself (who lived up to the time of Noah’s birth).

This is the history: of the stars, animals, mankind etc. So, we know that Evolution is a lie and Darwin is a fraud because of God’s own testimony. 

Side note: Creation points to a Creator just as a song points to a songwriter or a baby points to a mom or a building points to an architect; creation cannot be explained by science because it was a miracle, so, not observable (because again, only God and His angels were present to observe it) – JOB 38:4-7.

The LORD God: This is the first time the Name LORD (Yahweh: the Self -Existent One) is mentioned, and it’s connected with God (Elohim: Which is the plural of El, “Mighty or Almighty One” – more than one, “Almighty Ones”). “LORD God” appears 1,650 times in the King James Bible; 1,525 of those in the Old Testament, 125 times in the New Testament.

So, again we find the Triune God: One God revealed in Three Persons (The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit (1 JOHN 5:7) creating “made the earth and the heavens”) This is why it’s safe to refer the Holy Trinity as Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son and Yahweh the Holy Spirit because it says, “LORD God” -Yahweh Elohim. Also, Thomas referred to the resurrected Jesus as “My LORD and My God?” – JOHN 20:28 (Keep in mind that Thomas may well have spoken Hebrew; Aramaic for sure). 

So, Jesus was viewed as Yahweh, the Self-existing One  (Creator) and Elohim, the second member of the Holy Trinity.

The Name “LORD God” is used 11 time in chapter 2 and 8 times in chapter 3. Also, pay close attention to how the serpent (Satan) when talking with Eve didn’t use the Name LORD (Yahweh) when referring to God.

GENESIS 2:5-6
“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.”

• We’ve learned that on day three God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds."
• In other words, on day three God created the dry ground with the proper seeds for vegetation but the land didn’t actually produce vegetation until God watered the ground with a mist (some type of foggy irrigation system that would saturate adequately) and until he placed a man to work it.

So, the saying, “I’ll work for food” was true of Adam - God provided the soil, seeds and water BUT Adam had to work for his food (2 THESS 3:10; his job was to till the ground).

Work is good and a blessing from God - it’s our sin nature that makes us lazy and causes us to hate and complain about our jobs at times. By the way, Cain took after his father in this line of work. At this time, work was either landscaping or tending animals (Abel was the first Shepherd).

GENESIS 2:7
“And the Lord God formed (means: “to squeeze into shape – like a potter”) man of the dust of the ground (a good, humble reminder: we are ‘dirt-bags’ but we’re saved dirt bags!) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Man is of the dust of the earth: The elements found in the human body are also found in the earth/dirt – we were truly made from the dust. 

Adam, a living being: He was given a soul – the ability to think, feel, move and express himself. Adam was highly intellectual, with a mind fresh-breathed by God Almighty.

Here we see God the Son, Jesus in JOHN 20:22: 

“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ – and His disciples were born again (JOHN 3:3,5; 1 PET 1:23) – made children of God (JOHN 1:12) – given eternal life (ROM 6:23b).

1 CORINTHIANS 15:45 says, “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam (Jesus), a life-giving spirit.

GENESIS 2:8
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed (squeezed into shape).”

• Here we see the goodness of God as he creates a breathtaking Garden for Adam and soon Eve to enjoy! The thoughtfulness and tender care of our Creator, ably demonstrating in such details in the varieties of sensational beauty!

There He put the man: A reminder of how God places us where He wants us; for example, you and I didn’t choose where we would be born and to whom we would be born. Even when it comes to ministry, God places His people where He wants them (1 COR 12:18). Not only did God give Adam a Garden to enjoy and tend, He gave him all the necessary skills to do it well.

He didn’t have a green thumb, he had a green hand – Adam was the perfect landscaper!

GENESIS  2:9
“And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food (beauty and taste is a gift from God). The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

• In the garden was a choice for Adam and Eve to make: either they can eat from “The Tree of Life” and live forever or eat from “The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and experience evil and die – both spiritually and eventually physically.

GENESIS  2:10-14
“¹⁰ And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. ¹³ And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.”

We can’t find Eden by these rivers because these rivers were utterly distorted during the flood which altered the topography and so the course of these rivers.
Also, the lands nearby had precious metals and stones, maybe something Adam was going to need to make Eve an impressive wedding ring?

GENESIS  2:15-17
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, (God gave Adam clear instructions and a clear warning) saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (freewill to choose - this is love); 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.” 

Die – spiritually first, then eventually physically, by way of old age, illness or some calamity, such as murder as in Abel’s case.

Out of every tree: In Eden, there was tons of freedom and only one restriction. Now there are many restrictions due to sin. There were two trees in the Garden that pointed to life and death, good and evil. 

Today, there are two roads, the broad and the narrow (MATT 7:13-15). There is light and darkness (2 COR 4:6; 6:14), truth and lies (ISAIAH 59:4; JER 9:3,5), heaven and hell (LUKE 10:15; COL 1:13), faith and dead works (HEB 6:1), the cross (new tree of life) of Christ and everything else. Man has had the freedom to choose since the garden – so choose wisely!

GENESIS  2:18
“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

• God created the woman to be man’s partner in life. To be a companion. To raise a family together and to enjoy each other sexually. He made Eve just right for Adam! He was not to lord over her but to love, lead, protect and provide for her.
• Man wasn’t created to be an island, isolated and alone. People were created to need people. Loneliness is not good and that’s another reason why coming to church is vital and necessary!

GENESIS 2:19-20
“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So, Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

While Adam named the animals that God created, he noticed that there were pairs, male and female, then wondered where’s my female/partner? This is what it means to be comparable. To have an equal, another of one’s own bearing: this is what Adam lacked, and he knew it.

GENESIS  2:21-23
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made (built/designed/with special care) into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

God caused a deep sleep: Here we see a clear picture of Christ. God put Adam to sleep to get Eve from His side and God the Father put Jesus to death to get His bride the church from His side – by the piercing spear thrust into Jesus’ side, after He gave up the Ghost, caused blood (justification) and water (sanctification) to pour out.

He took one of his ribs: Notice God took just one not two or three ribs. We are called to be one-woman men (no porn, because whoever looks on a woman with lust has committed adultery in his heart with her! See MATT 5:28).

Notice God took a rib from his side – under his arm, where a woman belongs and feels safe – not from his toe to walk over her or from his back to leave her behind – but from his side as his right hand; like that of a Bride standing right next to her husband.

• He brought her to the man: Like a Father walks his daughter down the aisle to give her away to her husband. God wanted to surprise and impress Adam with a special gift he was to cherish and enjoy.
• Adam looked at Eve and said “WO-MAN!” and that’s how she got her name (just kidding). Woman means: “out of man.” So, the next time your wife gives you a hard time, just remind her “Hey, you came out of me first” . . . Then be prepared to sleep on the couch!
• ACTS 17:26 says that God “made all peoples out of one blood” – Eve was made out of one of Adams bloody ribs.
• “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” is also said of Jesus and His Bride the Church (EPH 5:31,32) And this was only possible for Jesus to say because He too became flesh and blood like His Bride (us). By the way, when Adam was put to sleep, he only got one woman, when Jesus was put to death, He got millions of souls who became as one, one bride, one church, one body.

GENESIS  2:24-25
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

• We are called to leave and cleave to our spouse. Not stay at home under the authority of parents (stay close though and highly respect them). A woman is to leave the authority of her father to her husband.
• God not only performed the first surgery but also the first marriage. When he brought Eve to Adam, He basically said now you may kiss your bride! When it says, “and they were both naked” and “not ashamed,” this implies that they made love in the garden for the first time to consummate the marriage.
• Lastly, notice there are only two genders – male and female. This is God’s design so let’s lovingly fight for it with love and truth. The transgender and homosexual movement undermines God’s goodness, authority, plan and design. It also destroys, families and nations (ROM 1:17-32).

Here ends the study of GENESIS Chapter Two! We’ll get into Chapter Three next: the tragic fall of man, the great declaration of war by God, and the solemn promise He gave of hope to man!