Last time, we watched God create the universe and its inhabitants (see Part 2).
Now, we will look at a second description of His creation of Adam and Eve:
- Is there an alternative Creation?
So many people try to ‘nitpick’ the Bible, either trying to negate it, or by trying to twist Scripture into a meaning of their own making. Such shenanigans are flagrant concerning the following Scripture:
This is the history of [the origin of] the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [that is of the days of creation] that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens – Gn. 2:4 AMP
First, let us examine the truth of the new information that we can glean here. One: notice it says the ‘day’ that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Here is another use of the Hebrew ‘yom’ for the ‘day,’ where the word’s use does not reflect a 24 -hour period but instead represents the 6 days of God’s creation.
Second, we see for the first time, a conjunction of the words ‘LORD God,’ consisting of the Hebrew Elohim (the all-powerful cosmological Creator of the Universe and its inhabitants), coupled with the Hebrew YHVH, translated as best as we humanly can, as Yahweh or Jehovah, (the personal, all-loving God, who looks after the welfare of His most beloved creation – humankind).
This is also where people have concocted weird variations to push a narrative of an ‘alternative creation.’ We will spend a little time debunking these wild ideas.
First, chapter 2 of Genesis is not an alternative creation that is in opposition to chapter 1 in any way. Chapter 1 is the about the great cosmological creation of the universe, the formation of the elements within it, and the sequential preparation of Earth, creating the ideal environment for the formed inhabitants therein.
Chapter 2 is instead a sharply focused treatise about all things essential to the creation of what it means to be human – and the idyllic conditions in which they first existed. Let’s continue:
…neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the LORD God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up out of the ground and watered all the land. Gn. 2:5, 6. NLT
Thus, God granted water that was necessary to nurture nature, before the coming of rain. Nowhere does this suggest that humanity was created prior to the creation of the plants. The part about ‘no people to cultivate the soil,’ presents the picture that humankind had not yet been created, nor had Adam and Eve fallen, because having to cultivate the soil was a penalty that God levied upon Adam for his transgression against Him.[1]
Next, we see Jehovah complimenting His creation of humankind (already pronounced in Gn. 1:26, 27.), described with far more depth:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gn. 2:7 KJV
What about this ‘soul’ thing? It is so remarkably wondrous and divinely made, that I will call again upon the spiritual acuity of Thomas Aquinas, from his book, Summae Theologica, to help me out.
He begins describing the created characteristics of the human soul, (this God-given image of Himself) – stating that intellectual beings (humankind) are closer to being like God than any of His other creations.
This is further demonstrated by the fact that we have ‘free will,’ as opposed to the ‘innate impulses’ that drive all other animal species. Aquinas further postulates that humans alone possess understandings about universal themes and relationships, which they first begin to understand through their five senses.
The intellect then engages in logistics and conclusions, in a process that occurs outside of the body. Therefore, it exists on a higher plane than our flesh. This Intellect, (soul), is unique to everyone, as each exists in their own exclusive environment – i.e., in a distinct body.
Aquinas explains that the soul is not endowed with the body, yet it may maintain a union with it, as long as the body lives. Moreover, the human soul reaches for loftier planes, independent of its associated flesh, above and beyond whatever expressions it may initiate through the body.
Those capabilities of the soul which are expressed in the flesh, are subject to corruption because of the degradation of the body as it ages; but the intellectual portion remains intact.
Since the soul is incorporeal, it cannot be passed generationally through biological conception. It must be created; and only God creates. It is the highest part of us, made in the image of God:
So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual) …” 1 Cor. 15:45 AMP
And yes, God Himself has a soul:
I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. Lv. 26:11 AMP
We are called by Jehovah to look to seek Him with our souls:
…you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. Dt. 4:29 CSB
In the same way, we should love Him.[2]
Finally, according to Christ Himself, it is imperative that we preserve this portion of our God-connection: (the other portion being our spirit, which we shall discuss later).
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Mt. 16:26 NLT
Okay. What does this discussion of the soul stimulate in a bigger question? How about ‘Why were we created this way?’ Yes? One last time, let us examine Aquinas’ deductions.
‘…everything that is made by God necessarily exists for an end.’
What he is saying is that everything will ultimately be perfected at times’ end – regardless of which ‘end’ you have steered yourself into, (i.e., brought to a consummate state for heaven or hell):
For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]. 1 Cor. 13:12. AMP
This revelation is further strengthened by the Scriptures that promise a new immortal body[3] and new heavens and a new earth.[4]
And for our last dip into Aquinas to put a period on his final conclusions, he says: ‘This then, is the reason all things were made: that they might be assimilated to the divine goodness. To be assimilated by God, we must be perfected by Him through the power of His glory – His divine light…
Much food for thought.
Let us return to our examination of the second chapter of Genesis:
Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and he placed the man he had made. The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground – trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gn. 2:8, 9. NLT
A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah…The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates. Gn. 2:10 – 14. NLT
According to the Moody Bible Commentary, ‘Eden’ means delight. It is where the garden was planted. It is the first time that ‘directions’ (e.g., east vs. west) is introduced in the Bible. Notice too that there are two trees separated from the fruit trees: the tree of life, (the source of Adam’s and Eve’s immortality), and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, (God’s complete compendium of morality – meant for Him only).
In addition, it says that the ancient whereabouts of the Pishon and Gihon rivers are unknown. Yet what we do know, is that the land of Cush was in Africa, south of Egypt. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are very well known, located in Mesopotamia – placing the garden of Eden between Mesopotamia and Egypt, and suggested by some scholars to be the future site of Israel. See also the book of Revelation, which presents an analogous description of ‘New Jerusalem – which also contains the Tree of Life.’[5]
It is this garden where we learn of Adam’s placement there, and the purpose of it, and bear witness to an exceptionally important admonition:
The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden – except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Gn. 2:15 – 17. NLT
We see that if Adam eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he will be stripped of his immortality. The Hebrew states that ‘on the day you eat from it, you will die.’ Again, using the Hebrew yom, not as a 24-hour period, but as a period within which his mortality would end.
Jehovah then continues along in this greater creation supplement to the first chapter of Genesis, as He addresses Adam’s present state:
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But there was no helper just right for him. Gn. 2:18 – 20. NLT
There is a lot that we can learn here. God is not creating animals anew; this is putting the 5th and 6th days of creation in the backdrop. Some scoffers claim that Adam could not name all the animals in one day. This passage does not concern naming all the animals. It is purely to instill upon Adam his need for a mate of like kind.man and
It is God pointing out that loneliness is detrimental to humans. This is the first time in the Bible that He has said that something was ‘not good.’ In the Hebrew, it says that God will make him ‘a helper who is ‘his equal.’ Consider too that despite Jehovah’s relationship with Adam, it is obvious that we still require people around us in relationship as well.
So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’ Gn. 2:21 – 23. NLT
So, Eve is made equally from the same stuff as Adam.[6] And Jehovah brought her to him, similarly as a Father brings his daughter to the bride groom – as is borne out in the close of chapter 2:
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame. Gn. 2:24, 25. NLT
We see that a man must divest himself from the dependency upon his parents to prepare himself for the responsibilities of marriage – the highest form of a godly man / woman relationship, more so, in a monogamous one.
They are ‘joined together’ in a life-long commitment to each other’s well-being. They ‘are united into one,’ both in sexual union and in a mutually beneficial unification in purpose.
Lastly, both Adam and Eve were married in innocence, unaware of their nakedness, and thus, not ashamed by it.
All this chapter is devoted to what God had in mind for His children…
[1] Gn. 3:23
[2] Dt. 6:5
[3] 1 Cor. 15:35 – 55.
[4] Rv. 21:1-6 & 10 – 22; Rv. 22: 1- 5.
[5] Rv. 21:1, 2.
[6] Gn. 2:7 & 3:19.