Slices
Prepare
Think about your relationships, not just with people but the whole world around you. Which are the most life-giving relationships?
Bible passage
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’
18 The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
‘This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called “woman”,
for she was taken out of man.’
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Explore
The beginning of Genesis is all about relationships. This is shown in the Hebrew words used. ‘Adam’ means ‘human’. God relates to humankind (Adam) in chapter 1. Adam relates to the ground (the adamah) in chapter 2 (eg v 7). Today we also read how Adam being a man (an ish) is introduced to a new partner: the woman (an ishshah – the word-link works in English and Hebrew).
The point is that when God creates everything, he puts it into working relationships: God/humanity; human/environment; man/woman. We get two chapters to celebrate being made for relationships, before pondering later troubles.
The woman is his helper (v 18). When I help my sister put up a shelf, she is the expert, and I pass her the tools. When I help my son do his maths homework, I am the expert, trying to show him that 7 x 7 = 49. To ‘help’ can mean to assist from a position of greater or lesser capacity, or even just to be alongside. It is the same in Hebrew. Genesis 2 is not about the relative strengths of men and women. The woman’s help is a good thing, simply because what was not good was being alone.
Respond
Who could you help today, in any sense of the word ‘help’? Think if there is someone who needs encouragement in the midst of being alone, and seek them out.
Deeper Bible study
‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.’1
Chapter 1 was a summary of the creation of the world, whereas chapter 2 focuses on some elements that are going to become central to the story: the garden of Eden with its trees and God’s command to the man that he might eat of any tree other than the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In this chapter, the making of human beings is again recounted. Before we hear of their creation, the earth seemingly needs humans to cultivate the ground and bring forth the shrubs and plants that had not yet sprouted (v 5). Indeed, after Adam is created, he is put in the garden to do precisely that (v 15). Thus the man’s first and primary role was to be a steward over God’s creation and to continue God’s role of bringing life into the world. The garden was for Adam, and Adam was for the garden, in a harmonious and reciprocal relationship. Although we live in a post-Genesis-3 world, we are still stewards of God’s creation and should, as much as possible, promote life in creation.
These verses flow with abundant life – the growing vegetation, the tree of life, the mist and the river which watered the ground, the man who cultivated the land and then the creation of woman. The precious and semi-precious minerals that are listed demonstrate the richness of the earth. At the end of the chapter there is the implicit promise of new life as the result of the man and his wife joining together and becoming one flesh. In the middle of the chapter, in the middle of the garden of Eden, we have the mention of death, but only as a warning. If this life is to continue, then one tree needs to be left alone.
Father, there are things in my life which need to be left alone. Please help me not to eat forbidden fruit, but to concentrate on cultivating life around me.
1 Eph 2:10, NASB
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 14,15; Psalms 3,4
Pray for Scripture Union
Local mission partner The Youth Net is offering Interfaith RE conferences at primary schools in Stafford and Burton-on-Trent. Pray that these will help pupils engage positively and encourage them to think about their own beliefs and values.
