Genesis 2:15-17
We
noted, in 1:1-3, the importance of getting our priorities right - God,
God’s Word, God’s Spirit. Here, we emphasize the importance of these
priorities. We are under God. We must remember that He is God (15). We
are to obey God’s Word (16-17). Here, we learn that the act of obedience
is an act of freedom. In Christ, we are set free to obey God. God says,
‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden’. He does not then
say, ‘You are free to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil’. He says, ‘You must not’. The act of disobedience is not an act of
freedom. By choosing the way of sin, we show that we are in bondage. We
are not free. We are the captives of sin, and we need to be set free -
by Christ (John 8:32,36). We come to know God, choosing good rather than
evil, as we follow the way of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Hebrews
5:14).
Genesis 2:18-25
We
come here to the creation of woman. Her creation is bound up with the
creation of man. She is created from man’s ‘rib’ (21-22). The ‘rib’ is
taken from his side, emphasizing that man and woman are to be together,
side-by-side, not one in front of the other. The ‘rib’, rather than the
head or the feet, emphasizes this togetherness rather than any
superiority-inferiority relationship. The ‘rib’ is close to the heart.
Woman is close to the heart of man. Both are close to the heart of God.
The contrast between humanity and the animals is again clear. Among the
animals, there was ‘no suitable helper’ for the man (20). The animals
had been ‘formed out of the ground’ (19). Humanity has come from ‘the
breath of life’ (7). Like the animals, we come from ‘the dust of the
ground’, but there is more: the Breath of God, created in His image to
glorify Him!
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