Deepening the Well

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Deepening the Well

• Book of Genesis
• Session Ten

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The Pivotal ChaptersLots of issues

• Are these and subsequent chapters allegory or
  historical?
• Is Ch. 2 a second (conflicting) creation account?
• Why does Gods name change?
• The creation and roles of completed humanity (man
  and woman)
• The Garden of Eden metaphor or literal?
• What is the origin of evil?
• Who is the serpent and what is he doing in the
  garden?
• Why did perfect humanity sin?
• What exactly is sin?
• What is the fall out of sin for the creation and
  humanity
• What is the plan of redemption?

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The Book of Genesis

• Chapter 2
• Portrait of an Intimate God

Chapter 3 The Sting of Disobedience and The
Hope of Redemption
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Portrait of an Intimate God
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Chapter Two Creation of ManAn Intimate Portrait
of God and His Beloved

• Intimate account focuses on God and man, the
  home God created for them, their relationship
  with Him and with each other
• Ch. 1 is sweeping, grand, presents an orderly
  hierarchy, and demonstrates the Highest Gods
  dominion and control of all creation.
• Places man in the context of the universal
  creation, methodically and orderly
• Ch. 2 language is poetic, emotional, personal.
  God is revealed as an artist might portray Him
  A potter (forming man from the ground), a
  life-giver (breathing life into mans nostrils),
  a gardener (designing and planting a paradisiacal
  temple),
• Places man in relation to God intimate,
  personal, with knowledge of the Highest One and
  ability to communicate with Him
• Not the distant Creator who avoids involvement
  in mans affairs

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The Beginning
This is the account of the heavens and the earth
when they were created, in the day that the LORD
God made earth and heaven. Genesis 24

• Ch. 1 ended with a perfect creation (prologue
  to the rest of the story)

• Ch. 2 opens with first of 10 introductions to
  key narratives
• These are the generations (this is what became
  of)
• Shows the unfolding process of mans descent and
  Gods unfolding of the plan of redemption

• LORD God YHWH Elohim
• Gods covenant name

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God Forms Man
Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth,
and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for
the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth
and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
But a mist used to rise from the earth and water
the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD
God formed man of dust from the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
and man became a living being. Genesis 25-7
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The Trees in the Garden
And the LORD God planted a garden toward the
east, in Eden and there He placed the man whom
He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD
God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to
the sight and good for food the tree of life
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 28-9

• Two trees in the Garden
• Life Man understands reality through
  relationship with God
• Knowledge Knowing through apprehending and
  grasping after truth
• Basic point God gave instructions to
  free-thinking man and allowed choice
• Choice requires there be options to choose
  between that which opposes God and that which
  honors Him (see Genesis 14 mystical
  interpretation)

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The Garden
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the
garden and from there it divided and became four
rivers. The name of the first is Pishon it
flows around the whole land of Havilah, where
there is gold. And the gold of that land is
good the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
And the name of the second river is Gihon it
flows around the whole land of Cush. And the
name of the third river is Tigris it flows east
of Assyria. And the fourth river is the
Euphrates. Genesis 210-14
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The Garden Temple
Then the LORD God took the man and put him into
the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,
"From any tree of the garden you may eat freely
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat from it you shall surely die." Genesis
215-17

• The Garden Temple given for man to enjoy and
  work in
• Productivity has always been a part of mans
  calling
• Worship of God and obedience to His word always
  for man
• We will not be floating mists in the coming
  kingdom

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The Gift of the Woman
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The Gift of the Woman
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the
man to be alone I will make him a helper
suitable for him." And out of the ground the
LORD God formed every beast of the field and
every bird of the sky, and brought them to the
man to see what he would call them and whatever
the man called a living creature, that was its
name. And the man gave names to all the cattle,
and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast
of the field, but for Adam there was not found a
helper suitable for him. Genesis 218-20
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The Gift of Woman
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
the man, and he slept then He took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place.
And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib
which He had taken from the man, and brought her
to the man. And the man 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."
Genesis 221-23

• Poetry did Adam suddenly burst into song?

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The Gift of Woman
A Few Words of Caution

• Temptation to allow cultural or experiential
  prejudices cloud our hearing and judgment
  regarding roles of men and women
• Culture is the collective wisdom the builds
  upon or reacts to some previous beliefs, actions,
  practices
• We walk immersed in its influence and need to
  step outside the false influence to see more
  clearly
• Issues arise oppression of women in
  middle-eastern culture, abusive husbands,
  rebellious wives
• Mis-use and abuse of Godly order leads to
  rebellion against original intent

Let neither western culture nor middle-eastern
culture define for us how men and women are to
relate to one another.
Let God, through His word, instruct us!
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The Gift of Woman
The suitable helper ezer neged

• Contemporary culture helper can have a
  negative connotation
• Hebrew term does not suggest a subordinate role
  or inferiority
• Expresses the idea of an "indispensable
  companion.
• Implies equal and adequate
• While distinct sexually (and other ways), we
  bear the image of God collectively (see Genesis
  127)

• Helper is not a derogatory designation
• God is frequently described as the "helper,"
  (Psalm 1211-2 1248 1159-11) the one who does
  for us what we cannot do for ourselves, the One
  who meets Our needs.

Man and the woman, the husband and the wife, have
been designed by God to stand together and help
each other fight the battles of life. And God is
present as the divine ezer to fight with them.
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The Gift of Woman
Taken from his rib (some thoughts)
That the woman was made of a rib out of the side
of Adam not made out of his head to rule over
him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by
him, but out of his side to be equal with him,
under his arm to be protected, and near his heart
to be beloved. - Matthew Henry Commentary on
Genesis
Just as the rib is found at the side of a man,
and is attached to him, even so, the good wife,
the rib of her husband, stands at his side to be
his helper-counterpart, and her soul is bound up
with his. - Umberto Cassuto, Commentary on
Genesis
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The Order of Things
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Gift of WomanOrder of Things

• Too many chefs, not enough sous-chefs (deputy
  chef)
• Human nature seeks to grasp for control and
  power
• Two equals can only co-exist in harmony when one
  has final authority and decision-making power
  (also bears the responsibility to God)

For it was Adam who was first created, and then
Eve. 1 Timothy 213 (NAS)
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Gift of WomanOrder of Things
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the
Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife,
as Christ also is the head of the church, He
Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the
church is subject to Christ, so also the wives
ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also
loved the church and gave Himself up for her
that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her
by the washing of water with the word, that He
might present to Himself the church in all her
glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such
thing but that she should be holy and blameless.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his own wife
loves himself for no one ever hated his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as
Christ also does the church, because we are
members of His body. For this cause a man shall
leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
Ephesians 522-31
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Institution of Marriage
For this cause a man shall leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and
they shall become one flesh. And the man and
his wife were both naked and were not
ashamed. Genesis 224-25

• God brought her to the man holy nature of
  marriage
• A Father giving away the bride
• A gift of blessing to complete His son
• Monogamy and man-woman unions established
• Jesus quotes Ch 1 and 2 in endorsing proper
  marriage

And He answered and said, "Have you not read,
that He who created them from the beginning made
them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a
man shall leave his father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife and the two shall become one
flesh '? Matthew 194-5
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The Book of Genesis

• Chapter 3
• The Sting of Disobedience
• And
• The Hope of Redemption

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Deception and Betrayal
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of
the field which the LORD God had made. And he
said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You
shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "From the
fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat
but from the fruit of the tree which is in the
middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall
not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.'"
Genesis 31-3

• God told Adam not Eve
• Eve added to the command

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Deception and Betrayal
And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely
shall not die! "For God knows that in the day
you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Genesis 34-5

• Serpent uses language to confuse the issues
  (introduce doubt)
• Politics word manipulation is a regular
  practice
• Media analyzes every word spoken
• Denial of Gods command and Questioning His
  character

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The SerpentOur Adversary and Our Response
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For Next Week

• Re-Read Chapter 3