Moving on with our Chronological Bible Study, today’s study as you see from the title is on Genesis 2: The Garden of Eden. Scholars say that this took place approximately before 4000 B.C.
This bible study on Genesis 2: The Garden of Eden is based on the NKJV (New King James Version). You could use the same too or any authentic Bible where the original is still intact and not removed. I invite you to partner with the Holy Spirit to go through this Bible study as you read your bible as He is the one who gives revelation to all. To partner with the Holy Spirit, simple invite Him to give you revelation as you read.
Let us begin.
End Of Creation Week
When the heavens and earth were created, God rested on the seventh day and He blessed and sanctified it. Genesis Chapter 1 talks about the history of the heavens and earth when they were created. The Lord made the heavens and the earth even before the plants were created. There was no human to till the ground and there was no rain. God sent a mist that went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground (meaning the whole earth where there was land).
The Formation Of Man
Verse 7 Of Genesis 2 tells that The Lord God made man from the dust of the ground. Isn’t this very humbling to know? When The Lord God created man from the dust of the ground the man just had a body but he was not breathing. The Lord God breathed into the man’s nostrils the breath of life and “then” man became a living being.
Each of us who have the breath of life in us must know that this very breath, this very second that we take is from God.
Life In God’s Garden
Verses 8 and 9 of Genesis 2 mentions that The Lord God created a garden in the east of Eden (hence the name – the Garden of Eden) and He put the man that He had formed in the garden. In that garden, the Lord made every tree that is good for sight and food. In the middle of the garden of Eden was the tree of life and there was also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Verse 10-14 describes a river that went of Eden to water the garden and from the garden, it parted into 4 river heads. The first river head was called Pishon and it went through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. It also mentions that the gold of Havilah was good. Also the Bdellium and onyx stone are there in Havilah. The second river head is called Gihon which went around the whole land of Cush. The third river head is Hiddekel that went towards the east of Assyria and the fourth one is called the Euphrates.
God’s Command To Adam
Verses 15-17 tells that God took the man that He created and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. It also means that the man had authority over all the garden. It was the man’s duty to keep the garden. To keep also means to maintain. It also means safeguard. In Verse 16, God clearly instructed the man on what trees he could eat from and which one to avoid. God said that man could eat fruit from all the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He also warned that the day that Adam ate of the forbidden tree, he would surely die.
God couldn’t have been any clearer than this. His command was plain and simple to Adam.
Adam’s Helper
Verse 18 tells us that the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” God is a loving God. He didn’t put us to be alone on earth. According to God, it is not good that man should be alone. He anticipates what we need even before we ask Him.
The helper that God wanted to fashion was similar to man. The word comparable here also means similar.
Adam Names All Creatures
Verse 19 talks of how the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, from the ground. Now He brought every beast and bird of the air to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. Isn’t this amazing? The Lord God who calls every star by name could have very well called each living creature that “He” created whatever He wanted it to be.
However, He loved man so much and He brought them to the man to see what he would call them. It also speaks of authority. Since God gave man the authority over all the creatures on the earth and over the garden of Eden to tend and keep it, He also gave man the authority to name them.
Verse 20 describes how 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.
God Creates Adam’s Helper
Verse 21 tells how the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and The Lord God took one of Adam’s ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Verse 22 tells that the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Adam Calls His Helper, Woman
Verse 23 says that 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.”
Adam was perhaps the only man not born from a woman. No woman bore Adam in her womb, for Adam was made from the dust of the earth. The woman, on the other hand, was taken out of Adam’s bone. This also raises another question. Why didn’t God just create the woman from the ground, just as he had created Adam and all the living creatures? The next verse answers this question.
Man And Woman As One Flesh
Verse 24 plainly states that therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Now, this also answers the question of why the woman was created from the man’s bone and not from the ground. It is because man and woman were always meant to be one flesh as per God’s design. They are similar, not the same, and were meant to be united as one flesh.
Before The Knowledge Of Good And Evil
Verse 25 tells us that both the man and the woman were naked. They did not have any clothes on and they were not ashamed. This is because they still “did not know” that they were naked. God fashioned them that way so that they could live without the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t have to know what was good and bad. They just had to trust in God and obey Him. Unfortunately, we know that is not how things went.
In Conclusion
I hope all you wonderful readers enjoyed this Bible study. I loved writing it so that I could refer to it later and it is a great way also for me to immerse myself in God’s word.
This whole chapter shows us about God- The Provider! He created Adam and then he created all that he needed to live and eat – rivers to nourish life, trees bearing different fruits, cattle, birds of the air, beasts of the field. To make Adam’s life whole He also created for him a helper whom Adam called woman. God never makes mistakes. He already pre-planned (because He looks into the future) everything and gave him a paradise with all that he could ever need in the present and future. Stay tuned for Genesis 3 which will be up shortly.
Until Next Time!