2. The account of the heaven and the earth, 2:4-4:26
Special emphases: Man, Creation of Woman, Garden, Fall, Punishment and Promise
Goals
> To take a closer look at the creation of man (God as Creator)
> To hear why the relationship between God and man is in its present condition (seriousness of sin)
> To see the vertical and horizontal components of man's rebellion against God (judgment on sin)
> To see God's sustaining grace
Introduction
Near Eastern literature abounds with repetition, especially in epic material. Genesis 1 may be a more elevated style, structured poetry, while Genesis 2 is more of an ordinary narrative style. There are no parallels in extra-biblical literature to Genesis 2. Neither Genesis 1 nor Genesis 2 can stand alone.The toledoth ("account," narrative") introduces scandal of particularity, continuing to narrow down the funnel to Jesus. Here it would signify narrowing down from all creation to man.See a close connection between the Garden and the sanctuaries for God's presence.Comments on Themes
Man
* Though from within creation, man is set over creation. Genesis 1:28 affirms man's uniqueness, in God's image, man alone receives breath of life directly from God. He is authorized to name animals: no animal is his equal let alone his superior.
* Man is appointed to till the garden, a word that is later used for worship in priestly contexts. His faithful tilling is part of his worship. This is to be compared with 1 Timothy 2, a man is saved through his tilling, a woman through child-bearing.
* Genesis 2:18-25 establishes an order: God, man, woman, animals.
Creation of Woman
Helper suitable: This is not that the helper is stronger but that helped cannot do it by one's self (Joshua 1;14; 10:4,6; 1 Chronicles 12:17,19,21,22). Complementarity not identity is meant here; not just assistance in work or procreation but mutual support that companionship provides. True human life is together, and life in isolation is a perversion of human nature as created.
Garden
* Eden: Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 31:9,16,18; 36:35, etc.) Paradise (Persian loan word "royal park") was an early translation.
* The description of the garden uses priestly words: stream (Ps 46:5; Ezekiel 47:1-12), onyx stone (Ex 25:7; 1 Chronicles 29:2), and gold for tabernacle furniture. The man's work in garden uses a priestly term till: tabernacle duties of Levites (Numbers 3, 4), to keep profane sense of guard but religious sense of commands and duties (Leviticus 18:5). Work is intrinsic to human life.
* tree of knowledge of good and evil: merismus (both ends of spectrum) means to include the range of moral knowledge or experience. That man is told not to eat assumes moral capacity, with ability to distinguish between evil and good without experience the reason not to do evil. To eat is to assert human autonomy, and to neglect the fear of Yahweh; this probably means moral autonomy and the ability/desire to be self-legislating, which only God possesses and is. Man is presented as a usurper of the divine prerogative and snatching at divinity, a situation which the Second Adam was to reverse (Philippians 2:6). Man cannot be sure whether his choice is proper in God's sight nor can he be sure whether the means they devise to reach the goal is correct. True wisdom is faith in God and not a professed self-sufficiency (cf. Ezekiel 28). They usurp divine prerogatives: God saw that it was good / she saw that it was good. Lord God takes man and rib / she takes fruit. God made what man required / man tries to make what he needs.
The Fall
* reversal of orders: This is direct contrast to the order of Genesis 2: animals, woman, man, God. As well as man to woman instead of woman to man, woman to creature instead of creature to woman. But God addresses them in proper order: man, woman, snake, then punishes in order, snake, woman, man. Man blames woman, who was meant as companion, one flesh and bone, but now separate.
* There is no ability to return by itself to God. The cherubim guard what is holy (Genesis 3, Isaiah 6, on the ark of the covenant).
* Deuteronomic theme: disobedience to God's commands brings curse and death (Deuteronomy 30:15-19); wisdom says likewise: there is away that seems to man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:14; 16:25). Word is God-given and cannot be altered by man, lest death come, thus human autonomy is ruled out (Deuteronomy 4;2, Joshua 4:7).
* The effects of the fall are traced out in the subsequent narratives, ending with Babel in 11:1-9. it transcends the structure of toledoth, a good case for unity of theme and structure.
Punishment and Promise
* All roles are disrupted. God's response strikes the very nature of each role in creation. This reversal suggests that sin is an attack upon the harmony of creation and not merely a moral lapse.
* To love and to cherish becomes to desire and to dominate. Either she will want husband but he will dominate, or she will want to dominate but he will instead (parallel in 4:7).
* God clothes them, postpones physical death, and gives promise of victory over this serpent. Genesis 3:15 alluded to in Romans 16:20; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 12. May be Son of Man as a title for Jesus and woman for Mary in John 2:4; 19:26 reflect this passage as well.
Cain and Abel
Paradigm of sin, sin now more firmly entrenched and man more alienated. primary interest not in Cain's genealogy but in what kind of life they led.Theological Themes
* Description of behavior into which man is likely to lapse
* Warnings to all who are tempted to disregard God's Word: Adam merely ate the fruit, Can murdered his brother; Cain rejects divine entreaty and then grumbles about his sentence
* Life is to be found only in the presence of God
* Blood pollutes the land (6:11-12; 18:20; 1 Kings 21; Exodus 20:13; Numbers 35:9-34; Psalm 37; Isaiah 5:7; Luke 18:7-8; Revelation 9:9-10).
New Testament Connections
* Abel is first martyr for righteousness' sake (Matthew 23:35, cf. 5:10-12)
* Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable (Hebrews 12:24).
* Cain is to be avoided (Jude 11)
* 1 John 3:1-15 unites both themes
Comments on Text (Highlights)
Cain: I have gained a man: probably a reference back to Eve bringing forth life, and from a man she was taken.
Sacrifices: firstling & first-fruits: connection of first-born with firstlings, Exodus 22:28-29; 34:19-20. fat: choicest part of animal (Leviticus 3:16; Deuteronomy 32:38; Psalm 147:14).
In verses 9-14 key words of chapter 3 (know, guard, cursed, land, drive) appear here.
keep: denial of horizontal fellowship. more hardened that the first human pair.
You are cursed: only land was cursed previously; this is serious development, an intensification. curse is not damnation but 1) driven away from the cultivation of the land, and 2) wandering from before the LORD. "Cain had tilled the land; he had offered the fruit of the land, and given the land his brother's blood for drink. But from the land the blood cries against him, for which the land refuses him its fruit, so he is banned from the land."
