4
These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
v.4
Here starts a summary of the first chapter.
(in the day...) The difference between chapter one and chapter two is also the timings. As the first chapter talks about each day for a separate section, and here this qualifies the day as a general time period of creation. This could be used to argue against the literal 6-day creation theory, and say that day refers to a point in time where things happened, not just one 24 hour cycle. Especially as the first 'day' was the creation of light and dark, but the 24 hour day could not referred to until after that point, by man.
v.5
It did not rain before Noah (Genesis 7), which could explain why we enjoy the sun so much. The make up of the grammar in the verses to follow, makes it appear that there was not vegetation until man had been formed. The dry and barren land, with no bush, or small plant, required a tilling of the ground. In other translations the growing of the plants happens in this verse. That by God's great power these plants grow, and by God's great power the rain comes. This is also the first verse we come into contact with the word LORD, Jehovah, Yahweh.
v.6
God, being supernatural in nature, waters the ground through other means, than the obvious way we are used to. An interpretation of this verse could be that God decided to water the ground through the weakest means possible. A simple mist. As Matthew Henry puts it "Divine grace descends like a mist, or silent dew, and waters the church without noise," (referring to Deut. 32:2)
v.7
Man is formed from two parts. The ground of the earth, or dust, and the breath of life. These two things make man a living creature. Other animals are made from the ground, and to the ground the will return, but man, in his divine anointing by God, has His very breath breathed into man. Man is made of heaven and earth, so, as man belongs with the heavenly father, so we have a soul, but as we are rulers, under God, of the earth, we have a body. Jesus shows that God is not separate from His people by coming into the world in the form of man. Our soul, not made of the earth, but originating from heaven, should not be subjected to earthly things. Our life comes from our soul, so we must be sure that the account we have of them is not one that is against the father of souls, our heavenly father, Yahweh.
Bigger Picture: - There is less detail on the main creation process, animals, plants, sea and land etc. and more on the creation of man. This is an important contrast as to note that there is a certain equal precedence to the overall creation, but man is in the image of God and is more important than the rest of creation, as he is charged with ruling the earth (2v19). It's important to know the contrast between things seen and things unseen, and as we come closer to the return of Jesus Christ, we must be ready for what we will see. Creation will return to it's original glory, but we must live in that future glory today. Our souls belong with Him, and, if a believer in the sacrifice of Jesus, we will return home, where we shall enjoy eternity.
Monday, 23 April 2007
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