V 2. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. [Hebrews 4:9-10]

In scripture the number seven indicates complete or perfection. Straight up and down midnight, the work was finished. In the New Testament Jesus also knew when His work was finished, and stated so on the cross.

V 3. And God blessed (spoke good of) the seventh day, set it apart as His own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done. [Exodus 20:11]

Notice: To speak good of is to bless, something that all of us can do every day.

Day seven: God rested because His work was finished not because He was weary. At the time of the "Fall", God's rest was broken. His perfect work was marred by sin. Then it was necessary to resume His work. Not to continue the creation of material things, but to redeem man.

This day of rest was hallowed as a memorial to the finished creation. Later, it's observance was given as a commandment. Exodus 20:11 The formula still stands, six days of work, one day of rest. He knows our frame and says, "come aside and rest." Psalm 103:14, Matthew 6:31

The Hebrew word for rest is shabbat. Jesus is our shabbat. Assured of a place in heaven, we can rest in Him. We don’t work our way into heaven. Our rest is in trusting in the finished work of Jesus. In Hebrews 10:12 we are told that having offered a sacrifice for our sin that will avail for all time, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. Sitting down denotes work is done, rest is at hand.

There were no chairs in the Tabernacle, it was not a finished work. I have been told that the

synagogues of the time always had an empty chair that was reserved for the coming Messiah. Many Bible scholars believe that after Jesus read aloud the words of Isaiah, He went to the empty chair and sat down. Luke 4:16-21.

Now let us consider which day is a day of rest:

Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Rom 14:5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

Psa 27:4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

Chapter two appears to be a more detailed account of chapter one.

This is the first use of the combination Lord God. Elohim in the first chapter is the God of creation with reference to His power and might. Now we meet Jehovah, the self-existent one, the God of revelation and redemption. It is significant that the first appearance of the redemptive name Jehovah follows the creation of man. This indicates a special relationship between God and Man. All scripture emphasizes this.

The following two verses also bring up dissension between scholars, many say this is not possible so Moses must have gotten it wrong. My feeling is that God is able to do anything He wants to.

V 7. Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life; and man became a living being.

Again, Adam's body was made (asah, meaning, pre existing or released from restraint) from the dust, but the real Adam.....Spirit and Soul, God created in His own image without the use of pre-existent material. When I read this, I wondered if this could be the first example of CPR (cardio, pulmonary, resuscitation). Because we really only come to real life when God breathes the Spirit of life into us at the new birth.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

From the first man we inherited the propensity to sin. From the second we receive justification, regeneration, and sanctification.

The same essential chemical elements are found in man and animal life that are in the soil. This scientific fact was not known to man until recent times, but God was displaying it here, when He made us from the earth..

The three parts of man. (1Thessalonians 5:23)

1. Formation of the physical body from the dust. (Asah)

2. Giving of the Spirit, breathed into the body. (Bara)

3. The soul comes into being, man became a living soul. (Bara meaning, not created from existing things.)

From dust we came and to dust we return, we are not to fear one who can destroy the body, give thought to and avoid the one who can destroy the spirit. 

The physical body, is the seat of the five senses. Through which man can know the world around him.

We should trust our senses, but only so far, for they will not get us into the kingdom of heaven. When Thomas said that unless he could see and touch the marks in the hands of Jesus, he would not believe; Jesus told him to be not faithless, but believing. John 20:25 In a more current time we have people who have followed the advice of the philosopher Emmanuel Kant and declared, I must see it before I believe it. The pattern of the Bible is believe and then see. John 11:40.

The Spirit of man, is that part by which he can know God and can have fellowship with Him.

The soul is the seat of man's emotions, desires and intellect, the elements through which he can know and understand himself and others.

In chapter 1:27 we read the fact of man's creation. In the second chapter verse 7 we read the manner of his creation.

I can't give chapter and verse, but in my heart I am convinced that a place called delight did not have ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, spiders, thorns or weeds.

Ever notice that many people find gardening to be soothing and satisfying even though it is physically challenging ? To grow is to create, part of our nature that is made in the image of God desires to create..

It seems to me that everything God created has the ability to grow, read Ephesians 4:15-16, and 3 John 3:2

The tree of life was in the center of the garden. In plain sight. (yet man did not partake of it) The tree of (eternal) life was to confirm man in the possession of physical life, and to render physical death an impossibility. Man was expelled from the garden after his sin, "...lest he...also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." 3:22-23

1. The tree of life mentioned here., which was planted by God and pleasant to look upon, no longer available to mankind.

2. The tree planted on calvary’s hill by man had no beauty nothing to please the outward eye. Satan works hard to prevent man from looking at the life that is hanging on it.

3. And the tree of life mentioned in Revelation 2:7 which bears fruit in the paradise of God.

God is a good God: death, destruction and evil do not flow from Him (James 1:17). It was the devil who had the power of death. Jesus came to conquer him who had the power of death. 1John 3:8 declares that Jesus came to make of no effect the works of the devil.

Heb 2:14  Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

Heb 2:15 ...and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The symbolism of these life giving waters seems aimed at describing the work of the Holy Spirit He edifies or builds up,(Pishon). He gushes forth knowledge and revelation, (Gishon) he holds back darkness and evil, (Euphrates) and He gives power to serve, ( Tigris)the Holy Spirit still at work all over the world holding back the flood of darkness and evil; until the day Jesus returns to catch away the church.

The river Tigris and the Euphrates now empty into the Persian Gulf which flows into the Arabian Sea which mixes with the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean flows into or joins the Pacific and the Pacific joins with the Atlantic Ocean in both the northern and the southern hemisphere.

The lands mentioned in these scriptures had gold, pearls, and precious stones but Eden had that which was better, the tree of life and companionship with God.

The exact location of Eden is not known. Speaking generally it must have been in the Mesopotamian Valley near the head waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

THE DISPENSATION OF INNOCENCE BEGINS A dispensation is a probationary period of time in which free moral agents are measured against a standard of conduct. In this case, it was obedience to God's word.

V 15. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. 

God said, to Adam, this is your home, tend, guard and keep it. Paradise was not exempted from being a place of work. Those things that are entrusted to our care, we are to take care of. I once counseled with a couple who ask me to pray that God would give them a better house. When I visited their home I found peeling paint, heaps of refuse and junk laying around. Easily correctable things, but apparently not high on their list of things to do. So many of us spend all of our time asking for new possessions, while failing to care for, or use creatively that which we have. When people tell me, "I just want God to give me more." I always want to know what they have done with what they already have. We must use to the full that which we already have. When we attain the full potential of where we are, then God will promote us.

There was a time in our lives when we had an empty living room, and we wanted furniture in it, but had no funds to buy some. While reading the Bible one day, I stumbled across Philemon 22 where the Apostle Paul wrote,  ":.. prepare a guest room, in expectation of extending your hospitality to me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted the gracious privilege of coming to you." When I read that verse, I began to see some furniture coming to visit me and decided to paint the walls in preparation for the visit. A few weeks later we had the opportunity to take some furniture from my grandmothers house which had been inhabited only by field mice for several years. That furniture didn’t look like much when we got it, but we cleaned and polished and put it into a freshly painted room. Eventually we had the funds to re upholster it. Now many years later, I am told that IF we could find pieces like them, their value would be so great, we would not be able to afford them. What a blessing from God!!. We couldn’t afford them then and we can’t afford them now, but we’ve got them.

Except of the tree, This was not a casual suggestion, that was to be taken as optional. It was a command. The commands or rules of God are not meant to keep us from having fun, they are meant to protect us. They are not grievous 
1 John 5:3

You shall surely die. The same is still true today. When we understand the difference between good and evil (partake of the fruit of the tree) and choose evil, we die spiritually.

In the 1960's, a psychiatrist wrote a book called Reality Therapy, this book was not to popular with other therapists because it stated very simply that there is a effect for every cause. It said, that if you did the deed, you would reap the results. If we choose to stand in front of a speeding freight train, we shall surely die.

Many folks try to avoid making a choice about salvation, but the truth is that if we do not choose Jesus, we have by default chosen Satan. Hebrews 2:3 tells us we shall not escape if we neglect so great a salvation. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that there is a way that seems right to man, but the ends there of are death. We must cease from our own works of trying to be good and trust in the completed works of Jesus. John 3:3

Notice, He did nor say, "I’ll kill you." You shall surely die, is simply a statement of fact, the results of choice.

We come into the world alive unto God. (John 1:9 KJ) then through a series of choices the light inside of us dies.

Lets talk about babies. Many people ask me, "do babies go to heaven when they die?" The answer is yes. It is evident babies are alive unto God even before they enter the womb. (Jeremiah 1:5) John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mothers womb. (Luke 1:15) Sampson was dedicated to God as a Nazarite even before he was conceived.. (Judges 13:3) From these scriptures we know that these babies belonged to God. What was true for these babies is true for all babies. Again, it is when we understand the difference between good and evil and choose evil that we die spiritually. 

A Nazarite was one who from birth was not to partake of wine, grapes or raisins, was not to cut hair or shave beard nor to touch anything dead. Numbers 6:23 

Helper does NOT mean slave. Complete means entire or finished.

On the whole, man is a social being. It is true that there are days when even the most sainted person would irritate us. But absolute solitude would turn a paradise into a waste land or a palace into a dungeon. Many years ago this southern lady was transplanted into the city of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is usually a very nice place but at this particular time, just after Martin Luther King had been shot, there had been riots. Two or three miles south of where we were living, whole neighborhoods had been destroyed. In our neighborhood, houses were bearing signs that said, "This house is armed" suspicion and fear was evident in the faces of the people. And it was cold. To say that there were not many joyful and smiling faces around is putting it mildly. I was a very lonely southern lady in a northern climate and it would not have mattered to me if the streets were paved with gold and every house a mansion. What I longed for was the warmth and companionship of people who were not afraid and who smiled and said good morning. WE NEED EACH OTHER

God gave Adam free choice to decide and decree, read Job 22:28, if you really want a blessing read all the way from verse 21 though the end of the chapter.

Adam was created a full grown man, perfect in intellect and knowledge. Otherwise, he could not have named the beasts of the field and the fowl of the air. The name of Adam comes from the word adamah which means red earth. Adam was the first man on the newly restored earth, and a Son of God by creation. In the New Testament he is referred to as the first Adam and Jesus is referred to as the last Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45

There was not found a suitable companion for Adam among the creatures that God had made. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone and proceeded to make,  "...an help meet for him..."  Eve was fashioned from Adam's side to show their relation one to another. They were of one flesh. Man and woman were created to walk side by side, with interest and sympathy one for another. To love, honor, cherish and respect, is a two way street.

Here is the first time a general anesthetic is used. Some translations read rib instead of side and has led people in the past to declare that men have one less rib than women do. NOT TRUE. The major difference between male and female skeletons is found in the skull (jaw, forehead, and eye socket) and in the pelvis area. Both male and female skeletons have 12 pairs of ribs.

The Hebrew translation of rib comes from a root word meaning cell. Which can be defined as something contained in a cage.

Every single cell in the human body contains 48 chromosomes. All the necessary ingredients to form the exact duplication of another in kind. A likeness. Adam contained in his person all the cells that were to form the human race. When he fell the entire human race went with him.

"Eve was made out of the side of Adam; not out of his feet to be trampled on but out of his side to be equal with him. Under his arm, to be protected by him. Near his heart to be his beloved." Quoted from Matthew Henry.

Woman has, in past years, been seen as a little less coarse or more refined than men. The reason being that Eve was one step further removed from the earth. However, the farther she moves from God, the coarser she gets. It is a sad commentary of the times that more and more women are being incarcerated for violent crimes

Creature does not mean lower life form.

She shall be called woman, Ishah, a she-man, differing from man in gender, not in nature. Adam received his bride from God himself. Husbands should understand that a good wife is a gift from God. Women are not the woe of men. God created man and woman to be equal, but with different roles in life to play in order to fulfill God’s purpose. The word woman reflects her origin.

The name Eve reflects her destiny as the mother of all living. Eve, mother of living, the first bride, is a type of the church, she came out of the 1st sleeping- Adam's side.

Jesus became the last sleeping Adam...out of His side came the evangelical Eve (the church), born of blood and water. (Blood stands for remission, to take away sins). Water stands for regeneration (made new, purified, or cleansed.)

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

V 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Ephesians 5:25-33]

Marriage vows are not meaningless when made before God. When made before God, man and woman become one. In a Christian marriage there is a partnership not only in the body, but also of minds and spirits. Man and woman join together each bringing his or her different gifts. One not better than the other, each with equal honor.

They were not ashamed because they were covered with innocence, the glory of God.

God looked upon His finished creation with man in his innocence and dignity, and pronounced it "very good". Fellowship between man and His Maker was real and glorious. Man's relationship to all other creatures was that of master. At this stage only one thing was lacking....mans' allegiance to God had not been tested. Adam and Eve lived in an atmosphere of primitive holiness, in obedience to the simple commandments God had given them.

Adam and Eve were instructed as to their duties and responsibilities. These instructions are known as the Edenic Covenant and include:

1. Replenish and subdue the earth 1:28
2. Have dominion over animal life 1:28
3. Eat vegetables and fruits 1:29
4. Till and keep the garden 2:15
5. Forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Penalty of death for disobedience.

THE EDENIC COVENANT WAS A CONDITIONAL COVENANT Do these things and live happily ever after. Fail to do them and be miserable and die.

Before the fall, Adam was to replenish the earth and subdue it to human use, god made covenant with Adam and Eve which gave them dominion (dominion means the right and power to govern) and the provision of all their needs, if they fulfilled the terms. The terms were, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The agreement was clearly laid out, obey and have life, dominion and unconditional provision of all your needs. Disobey and the results will be death, subjection and struggle for your needs. In this covenant there was no middle ground between blessing and cursing, no place was allowed for repentance. They made the wrong choice.