Genesis 2:4-5 The Beginnings???? of Man

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
There are two schools of thought concerning this verse. One says that this is concluding the creation story. Period. End of thought. Carriage change.

The second is the one that makes the most sense. Verses 1-3 is the conclusion of the generalized creation story. This verse is introducing a specific occurrence that played out from sometime in chapter one and carries onward beyond the seven days of creation.

Please notice also the Hebrew word, to-led-aw, which is translated as generations. It also can mean histories or births. I honestly prefer histories or births. By the way, it is plural. If your bible has a singular noun, correct it, it is wrong. More interesting is what it implies, two possibly separate histories or births. Also, the word implies births or histories of human families. As we discuss the rest of the chapter, it will become more evident of the implications of this word.

“… in the day” simply means it has its origin within the first six days of creation.

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Wow!!!! Please notice the time. G-d gives us a time window that these births or histories began. They have their beginnings during the time BEFORE the plants and herbs began to grow. That means these histories have their beginning on or before day three, possiblly on day two. I honestly think it was day three. This is very important to remember as we go along. This is before man.

Until next time, enjoy the implications of this and how it compares to what you have been taught.

Genesis 2:1-3 The Seventh Day

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

It is interesting to note that the heavens and the earth were completed. There was nothing else to be or can be created. That is what the laws of Physics tells us. The law of conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant. A consequence of this law is that energy cannot be created nor destroyed and we are all a form of energy. Once again, the bible teaches us a concept that took man till recently to recognized or accept.

The Hebrew word, “tsaw-baw” translated here as host means an army of soldiers or servants. As beloved as we are, we should never forget that we were created as servants or soldiers in G-ds army. Furthermore, whether you were born at the time of Adam or in recent years, the real you were created during or possibly before the first six days of creation. The fact is that you have been alive and have been known by G-d from before the beginning of time.

God, who hath saved us, and , not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the time began…

II Timothy 1:9

You are now being called to active duty in the army of G-d. Stand up and be counted.

The seventh day, the Shabbat, the Sabbath, the day of rest. This is historically the last day of the week. On the Jewish calendar, it is from dusk on Friday to sunset on Saturday. This is derived from the chapter we just studied. Since G-ds Word says, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”, the Jews understand that G-d intended the day to begin at dusk and end the following sunset. It has been standardized as approximately 6PM to 6PM. This day is to honor G-d and the work he had done in creating his people and their environment.

Are we supposed to honor G-d in keeping his day holy? Yes. Do we as Christians honor G-d by honoring his day? Most of the time, no. Most will defend themselves by quoting the book of Hebrews.

“Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath.”

“Do not hold any day above another.”

“Today is the Sabbath.”

On the cross, Y’shua fulfilled the Sabbath thereby eliminating the ramifications arising from disobeying the law. However, Y’shua did not eliminate the law and your obligation to follow it. In other words, is the body of Christ going to be judged according to the law? No. Should the body of Christ have a desire to follow the law? Yes!!!!! What it comes down to this:

If you are a b’nai Elohim, a child of G-d, then you should have a desire to follow G-ds law. Honor the Sabbath, keep it holy. Honor the fulfillment of the Sabbath, observe today as the Sabbath. If you do not, then you might want to re-evaluate your position within the body of Christ.

Genesis 1:27-31 The Sixth Day Part Three

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Now comes the controversy. It says here that G-d created man, man and female and he told them to multiply and replenish the earth. This was on the sixth day of creation. My question to you: Is this Adam and Eve or Mankind in general? Some believe this is Adam and Eve. They rationalize thier position by declaring that chapter one is a generalized verson of creation and chapter two is a more specific version. Let's follow this line of thinking to it's end and determine it's ramifications.

First G-d tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Did they obey? No they didn't. It wasn't until after the fall and their banishment from the garden did they begin to have children. Therefore, their disobedience would have been thier first sin, not giving in to Satan in the garden as the bible teaches. This is strike one against this verse being just Adam and Eve.

Then, of course is the "generations" comment in Genesis 2:4, which appears to support this position.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

This appears to be saying that which follows, the Adam and Eve account, is happening on the third day, just before the herbs and the plants of the field sprung forth out of the ground. This would mean that G-d created Adam on or before the third day.

It is a fact that the Adam and Eve account in chapter two includes the fall and their banishment from the garden. If chapter two fits neatly into the sixth day, then verse 31 should be a problem for you.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

I doubt it very much if G-d would have created Adam and Eve, watched Satan successfully tempt them and watched them fall from his grace and call it very good. I'm sorry that's not going to happen. That's strike two and three and you're out of here.

So what's the alternative? Well... Let's try this on for size. G-d created mankind, man and female, and told them to be fruitful and replenish the earth. Either on that day or back on the third day, G-d planted the garden of Eden, created Adam and Eve and put them in it. The fall did not occur until after the sixth day, possibly on the seventh day when G-d was resting or later. Sounds confusing, eh? I'll elaborate further on this in chapter two, but first we need to also address the the Hebrew word, "maw-lay", translated here as replenish.

Replenish? Replenish means to fill up AGAIN. If you believe that Adam and Eve were the first ones, then you have to have a problem with this. Why would G-d tell mankind or even just Adam and Eve to fill the earth AGAIN if there weren't anyone on the earth before them? Did G-d misspeak? We all know the answer to that one. This begs the question, "Who was on the earth prior to Adam and Eve or mankind? Is it possible that there was a pre-adamic civilization as we have discussed before?

If I can keep you a little longer, I would like to address the rest of day six. I promise it won't take long.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Here G-d gave mankind the fruit of the land to eat, not the meat of animals. Yes, initially, G-d set up mankind to be vegetarians. However, this was changed in Genesis chapter 8. At that time, mankind was allowed to eat either meat of the vine or meat of the animal with kosher restrictions. This was modified in the book of Acts to what is is today. Mankind is allowed to eat anything that is beneficial to him. Go out and have a good steak.

Genesis 1:26 Sixth Day Part Two

... and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

After creating man, G-d gave dominion over all the earth to man. Dominion is the Hebrew word, "raw-daw" which means to rule over, subjugate, reign. This is a great example of G-ds daily intervention into our lives. Think about it. If it was just man and the animals, the lion or bear would be the rulers over all. However, somehow, the wild animals are afraid of us. That makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, what have they to be afraid of? There has to be something that keeps them away for the most part and that is G-ds commandment to stay away and be subject unto man.

Except for the minor instances where a wild animal attacks a human, they stay away and in fact, they are afraid of us. G-d has given us authority over all creation, but with authority comes responsibility and we have not done very well in that category. I'm not advocating being an extreme environmentalist but remember Y'shua's golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That tells us where we should land in our responsibility when dealing with nature. My thoughts are that we should land somewhere between not shooting animals for sport and a good steak on the table.