In this second story of creation, we zoom in for a finer look at God's creative process. Nothing was growing on the earth nor was there any rain. An irrigation system was in place: water was rising up out of the earth and flowing over its surface.
God is not saying anything is good. He is at work. He takes some "dust" and molds a man. Perhaps a mud man. God then breathes life into the man by exhaling into his nostrils. The man is put aside for the moment while God plants a garden of fruit trees. The garden has a river running through it for the convenience and necessity of watering the trees.
In the middle of the garden, God plants two trees: one is the tree of life, the other is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These are the trees of forbidden fruit.
God puts the man in the garden and tells him to take care of it. But he says, see those two trees? Don't eat their fruit or you will die. Why did God make those two trees? What was their purpose? Did someone other than man eat their fruit? If so, who? Such questions appear beside the point, the point being that man was NOT to eat from them. This is the first NO in the cosmos. When God made the two trees of forbidden fruit, right and wrong were born. Morality came into existence.
At this point, other than the trees and God, the man is the only living being. God thinks it is not good for the man to be alone (How does God know this? Because he has been alone himself?) so he creates animals and birds. No mention is made of fish or sea creatures. This is an inland project.
The first roundup begins, complete with branding. God tells the man to name all the creatures ("all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts"). And the man does. But nowhere amongst them was found "a suitable helpmate" for the man. None of them did the trick.
God had an idea. The first surgery was performed, complete with anesthesia. God put the man in a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs, and made a woman. When the man woke up, God said, look what I have for you.
The man was so happy, he sang a little song.
"This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man."
The story teller, who we may forget exists, cannot resist adding a little aside here to educate the listeners. "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body."
The story teller adds one more tidbit of information before completing this part of the story. Both the man and his wife were naked but they felt no shame. Self-consciousness had not entered the picture.
God is not saying anything is good. He is at work. He takes some "dust" and molds a man. Perhaps a mud man. God then breathes life into the man by exhaling into his nostrils. The man is put aside for the moment while God plants a garden of fruit trees. The garden has a river running through it for the convenience and necessity of watering the trees.
In the middle of the garden, God plants two trees: one is the tree of life, the other is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These are the trees of forbidden fruit.
God puts the man in the garden and tells him to take care of it. But he says, see those two trees? Don't eat their fruit or you will die. Why did God make those two trees? What was their purpose? Did someone other than man eat their fruit? If so, who? Such questions appear beside the point, the point being that man was NOT to eat from them. This is the first NO in the cosmos. When God made the two trees of forbidden fruit, right and wrong were born. Morality came into existence.
At this point, other than the trees and God, the man is the only living being. God thinks it is not good for the man to be alone (How does God know this? Because he has been alone himself?) so he creates animals and birds. No mention is made of fish or sea creatures. This is an inland project.
The first roundup begins, complete with branding. God tells the man to name all the creatures ("all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts"). And the man does. But nowhere amongst them was found "a suitable helpmate" for the man. None of them did the trick.
God had an idea. The first surgery was performed, complete with anesthesia. God put the man in a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs, and made a woman. When the man woke up, God said, look what I have for you.
The man was so happy, he sang a little song.
"This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man."
The story teller, who we may forget exists, cannot resist adding a little aside here to educate the listeners. "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body."
The story teller adds one more tidbit of information before completing this part of the story. Both the man and his wife were naked but they felt no shame. Self-consciousness had not entered the picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment