The Creation of Adam; Genesis 2:4-17

The second story of Creation is the creation of Man. There was a whole universe created within Man. Some have even called it the second creation of creation. It is found in the Genesis 2:4-17.

There was a unique situation on the earth at the dawn of creation. It had not yet rained upon the earth. The earth was watered by springs and a mist that came up from the ground. This meant that there were no storms.

Then God formed man from the earth and breathed into Adam His own breath, His Spirit, and Adam began to live and became a living life. The first thing that Adam saw when he opened his eyes was the face of God who had just breathed His Life into him. Adam and God had a personal relationship with each other; a face-to-face relationship. Adam’s life was Life with God.

God had planted a garden on the earth and called it Eden, which means delightful. The most beautiful and delightful place on earth was the place that God prepared for Adam to live. In the garden God planted the most beautiful trees and plants from all of His creation for Adam to look at and enjoy. The fruit trees in the garden were the sweetest and most nutritious of all the plants and fruit trees on earth. It was all for Adam to enjoy. In the middle of the garden there were two special trees; the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God gave Adam something to do for Him that was related to the command He gave him in the first story. God told Adam to work the garden and to keep it. These two words, “work” and “keep” are important. The first one is also translated as “serve” and “worship” in other places. It is used mostly to describe the work of the Levites in the Tabernacle and the Temple.

In other words, the work that Adam was to do would be an act of worship to God. He would be serving God as he worked in the garden, which would glorify God. It would also be an act of worship. As he worked in the garden, he would be worshipping and adoring God, the Creator of the garden. The Garden of Eden was the worship center of the earth.

God also told Adam to keep the garden. This word means to recognize the great value of something. Adam was told to guard the garden because it was his home. He was to take special care of it because it had such value. It was a place to worship God. It was a place to meet with God and glorify Him.

All of the earth would be blessed by the garden. All of the main rivers of the earth flowed out from a huge spring in the garden (the opposite of today’s earth; small streams and rivers flow into larger ones). Adam’s work would bless the whole earth. The command given to Adam in chapter one to subdue the earth and have dominion over creation would begin in the garden. As Adam was obedient to God in his home, the rest of creation would be blessed. Adam would learn in the garden how to work and keep all of creation. As he would be faithful with little, he would be given more. The Garden would grow until it encompassed the whole earth. The earth would then become the worship center for the whole of creation!

God gave Adam one more command: “Eat from every tree of the garden, but do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Here was the greatest blessing of all. Remember from the creation story from chapter one; the blessings of God are found in the commandments of God. This command from God carried the great blessing of where to go for the knowledge of good and evil; not from a tree, but from God. Solomon would end up praying for this in 1 Kings 3:9, but Adam was given the first opportunity of it with this command.

With this command, God gave Adam the blessing of how he would govern the garden, the earth, and the whole of creation; under the authority of God’s Word.

Lessons from the story of the creation of Adam:

·         God provides what we need before we need it. He planted the garden for Adam, then put him in it. God gave the command Adam would need in chapter three to counter the lie that would come from Satan. God is always working upstream in our lives to provide for us before we have needs.

·         The calling of God for each person in His Kingdom glorifies God and is to be valued above all else in life. Our work is an act of worship and brings glory to God.

·         God’s Word is the source for obedience to God’s commands. The command to be fruitful, multiple, subdue and have dominion over the earth would be accomplished by trusting God’s command for the knowledge of good and evil.