Genesis
Lesson 9Genesis 2:8-17
In this lesson, we will be examining what God did with man, after he had created him. Our text for this study will be Genesis 2:8-17. We will be exploring such questions as: What was God’s plan for man? What was God thinking when he created him? What were to be man’s responsibilities in this great creation called earth, which God had made? We will examine these and other questions as we continue our study of Genesis and God’s creation of the earth and all that it contains.
In our previous lesson, we drilled down in Genesis 2:7, and we saw that God created, or formed, man using the elements of the earth. God did not create man by simply speaking man into existence; He intentionally used elements from what he had already created to form man, and then he breathed into man the breath of life.
God created man from the elements of the earth, and unlike all of the other animals and plants which he created in multitudes; he created only a single man. This creature was totally awesome in its uniqueness compared to everything else that God had created. And this one single being, was now living and breathing on this giant planet called earth, contained within a universe so vast that we can hardly describe it even today; an earth populated with animals, birds, and ocean life — all of which were created so that God could then create a single human being called man. Incredible.
So, let’s now discover what God does next with this most unique creation, man.
Read Genesis 2:8-17, and consider the following:
- Once God creates man and blows the breath of life into him, what is the very next thing that he does with this new creation?
- What is unique about the Garden of Eden? List each of things that our reference scripture passages tell us about this garden?
- How was the Garden of Eden watered?
- Why are we unable today to locate the four rivers mentioned in Genesis 2:10-14, and why is possible that not even the Tigris River mentioned in the verse 14 is actually the Tigris as we know it today?
- What was the purpose of the two trees planted in the center of the Garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? (Genesis 3:22)
- What was God’s purpose in placing both of those trees in the center of the garden?
- When do we see the tree of life again? Where is it, and what is its purpose at that time? (see Revelation 22:2)
- Why did God take this unique creature, man, and put him in this garden? Of all the places on the face of the whole earth, God chose this garden that he had made to place man in. Why? (see Gen. 2:15)
- What are some of the other things that we can learn from Genesis 2:15 about man and about God’s creation, especially the garden?
- When did God give man, i.e., Adam, the commandment to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil? Was it before or after he created Eve?
It is quite evident from this study that God’s culminating plan for His creation was man. In fact, in our next lesson, we will see that woman was also a key part of His plan. It is abundantly clear that God intended for all of his creation — the earth, the plants and trees, and all the birds and animals — to have a specific purpose; and He intended that they were to be cared for, and ruled, by man. He made us for work and to work; and, as we will learn in the next lesson, he made us to help and to have help as well. God did not create work as punishment for man and woman, but to give them a sense of purpose and fulfillment.
Today, our work may not seem very fulfilling at times, and may actually feel to some like punishment; but that was not God’s original plan. Yet, even in today’s fallen world, just knowing that God loves us, and is with us in our work and families, can give us purpose and fulfillment. The Bible tells us to do all that we do to the glory of God. Let’s seek to honor Him this week in our work and with our families, as we continue to study His Holy Word.
In Christ,
Wes
[2010]