Chuck Larsen

After creating Adam and placing him in the garden with the rest of his creation, he observed that it was not good for Adam to be alone. It seems that God wanted Adam to feel his “aloneness” and that’s why all the animals that came to him for a name came to him in pairs: male and female. Maybe Roop is right, “God forms animals. Perhaps they will solve the problem of human loneliness. The animals are brought to ’adam for a response. The person names the animals, thereby giving them a place in the world. Although these creatures were made of the earth like the human creature, the animals cannot fulfill humanity’s need for community (vv. 19–20).”^[1] Adam needs something more. He needs another compatible creature, fit for him, that is also created in the image of God. Genesis 2:20 tells us about this problem. It says, “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a suitable companion fit for him.”

I really like my cat, Bentley! We’ve had a lot of cats but this one is a talker. He makes all kinds of sounds. As a matter of fact, he never shuts up unless he’s sleeping. He follows Kathy around wherever she goes in the house. He wraps himself around her legs and says, “meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow….” You get the idea. Eventually Kathy will have enough and yell at him “will you please be quiet!” He doesn’t listen. Sometimes when I’m in a good mood, I’ll meow back at him, and we’ll have a conversation. I’ll ask him questions, but he can only say “meow.” He is a terrible conversationalist. You see cats can’t talk. My son JD told me about a man who advertised a talking do for sale for 10 bucks. A potential buyer went to see the dog and asked him questions. The dog was articulate and answered and would tell stories about all his travels and adventures around the world. When the buyer was told the owner only wanted 10 bucks for the dog, the buy inquired why so cheap. The owner said, “that dog is a rotten liar! He’s never been out of the backyard.”

God wanted Adam to see that he was incomplete. “He was just a half, and he needed the other half so that together they could be one. That was the thing God had in mind. God created Adam first and allowed him time to realize that he needed someone else.”^[2] He needed someone like himself. “The beasts of the field were created and were divinely presented to Adam that he might recognize them, that he might name them, that they might awaken his intellectual energies, and that their departure might awaken within him the thought of loneliness. But the brutes are not companions for man, they cannot enter into the high enjoyments of his intellectual life, nor can they join him in his devotional moods.”^[3] It wasn’t enough to simply have visits from God, even though this was very important. It wasn’t enough to have pets all around him. He needed more. “In order for true and happy companionship there must be a fair equality of intellectual power, of moral sympathy, and a real community of daily life, existing between the parties. Hence there was a deep necessity, in order to relieve the loneliness of Adam, that another human being should be created to keep him constant company.”^[4]

^[1] Roop, Eugene F. 1987. Genesis. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

^[2] McGee, J. Vernon. 1998. Marriage and Divorce. Thomas Nelson.

^[3] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

^[4] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

Jim Croce was one of my favorite singers back in the 70s. He has a song that he sings named “I’ve got a name.” It opens like this, “Like the pine trees linin’ the windin’ road I’ve got a name, I’ve got a name. Like the singin’ bird and the croakin’ toad I’ve got a name, I’ve got a name And I carry it with me like my daddy did…” Well, Jim, I hope you know where that singing bird and croaking toad, got it’s name. Adam named them. Genesis 2:19 tells us, “Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.”

Mark Twain used to tell this story about Adam and Eve. Adam comes home one night, and Eve says, ‘What did you call that big animal out there?” “Oh”, he said, “I called it an elephant”. “Why did you call it an elephant?” Adam answered, “Because it looked like an elephant.” Cornelius Van Til used to tell his students the story about Adam being asked why did you call a “lion” a “lion.” Adam responded, “because it runs through the forests.” Well, why did you call a tiger and tiger? Adam answered, “You can’t call them all lions.” Boice concludes his comments on the naming of the animals by saying, “When we have a definition for anything, when we really have studied its nature to the point where we can say that it is this and not that, we have achieved knowledge.”^[1]

Many of the commentators argue that “naming” something means to exercise dominion over them. Fruchtenbaum is right when he writes, “Adam is given authority over the animal kingdom and told to have dominion over three things: first, the fish of the sea; secondly, the birds of the heavens; and thirdly, every living thing that moves upon the earth. The first exercise of Adam’s special authority over the animal kingdom is when he names the animals in chapter 2.”^[2] But I’m thinking the naming feature is more than that. It’s to have some kind of affinity towards. When my wife grew up in a small country town of Norco, California, they purchased a calf to raise as food. And sure enough the kids in the family named it! They’ll all tell you how hard it was to send Sparky to the butcher a year or so later. I think Westermann has it right. He writes, “The exercise of dominion does not begin with the use or exploitation of the animals for human ends. The meaning is not, as most interpreters think, that the man acquires power over the animals by naming them. (This is quite a different notion; the one who knows the name of a being can by this knowledge dispose of it.) But rather that the man gives the animals their names and thereby puts them into a place in his world.”^[3] Thus, after the fall when God sacrificed the lamb to make coverings “atonement” for the sin of Adam and Eve it was a very traumatic experience. Imagine how the Father who gave his only Son, who had been given the name above every name, as the “atonement” for my sins and your sins as well as the sins of the world. No wonder the sky turned black and Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”

^[1] Boice, James Montgomery. 1998. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

^[2] Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. 1983. The Messianic Bible Study Collection. Vol. 186. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries.

^[3] Westermann, Claus. 1994. A Continental Commentary: Genesis 1–11. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Not everything in the Garden of Eden was “good.” In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” This is rather surprising because of what we’ve read in Genesis chapter one. Roop, says, “Because in Genesis 1 we listened to the repeated refrain, And God saw that it was good, the not good of this speech stands out sharply. After providing a garden and granting freedom, still one problem must be solved—loneliness.”^[1] This is not a contradiction at all. In an article in the Review and Expositor, Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford writes, “But read closely: Yhwh Elohim does not find a lack of goodness in anything that has already been created. Rather, the lack of goodness rests in the solitary state of humankind. Humankind needs humankind. We were not created to dwell in isolation, but rather in relationship.” Nancy, then quotes Terrien, “ ‘In Till the Heart Sings, Samuel Terrien writes, The ancient mentality, especially Hebraic, considered aloneness as the negation of authentic living, for true life is not individual but corporate and social.’”^[2]

Although the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is unmistakable in the Bible.  The traditional statement expresses to us the idea of only one God, but in three separate persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus speaks of the harmony that existed in all eternity with the Father. Back in Genesis 1:26-27 we see God’s first deliberation between the three. It says, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Havin been created in God’s image requires man to live in community. “The Bible never considers the possibility that people can be whole as isolated individuals; that is possible only in relationship.”^[3]

The need for human companionship is not just for sociological reasons. God made us that way. But even secular psychology acknowledges that it’s “not good” for us to be alone. Berscheid (1985) reported that when people were asked, What is necessary for your happiness? or What makes your life meaningful? most people first mention satisfying close relationships with family, friends, or romantic partners. One 16-nation survey found that separated and divorced people were half as likely as married people to declare themselves very happy. Those who lack strong social bonds experience higher rates of both mental and physical illness. In the United States, mortality rates for all causes of death are consistently higher for divorced, single, and widowed individuals. Although there are many possible explanations for this relationship other than affiliation, efforts to control for other variables have found a persistent, independent, and robust effect of social relations.^[4]

^[1] Roop, Eugene F. 1987. Genesis. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

^[2] 2006. Review and Expositor 103, no. 2: 348.

^[3] Ryken, Leland, Jim Wilhoit, Tremper Longman, Colin Duriez, Douglas Penney, and Daniel G. Reid. 2000. In Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, electronic ed., 945. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

^[4] Bolt, M. 1999. “Affiliation, Need for.” In Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling, edited by David G. Benner and Peter C. Hill, 2nd ed., 55. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

 God gave Adam and Eve every tree in the Garden to be their food. Kissling writes, “The generosity of the Lord God is shown by the abundance of desirable trees in comparison with the single prohibited tree. It is only in light of that generosity that the prohibition of one tree is given.”^[1] God continues his address to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:17 and says, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” I find it interesting that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good, like everything else God created (cf. Gen. 1:11-12, 31). More than this, it was very desirable: “And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9). It is no wonder, then, that Eve was attracted to the “forbidden fruit”: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6).^[2]

The current movement to defund the police and to go easy on crime from the perspective of the far left in our government is based on the systematic unfairness of our society. The argument is that the poor, the unenfranchised of our country are just expressing their dissatisfaction with their situation. The jails, and the ghettos and the tenements make criminals of people. If the country increases benefits to the poor and is lenient on crime it will solve the sociological injustices. “The attractiveness of the garden was in harmony with all else that God had created and concerning which He had said it was ‘very good.’ The evidence (regarding the impact of environment on criminal activity) points unmistakably to the fact that a poor environment tends to encourage all manner of evil.” But then he observes, “The situation in which the first man was placed could not by any reasoning have been a contributing cause of his failure.”^[3]

I like the way Exell puts it. He says, “Man is not to do as he likes in this world. God places him under moral restrictions, which are for his welfare, but which he has the ability to set aside. There are certain trees in the world, of whose fruit we are not to eat.”^[4] Having these “forbidden” zones in life is the only way man is free. Roop says it very well, “The freedom requires known boundaries. No freedom exists without limits. If we could only do one thing, e.g., eat from all the trees, that would not be freedom. Freedom must include genuine choice, choice that matters. If God had left the tree out of the garden, there would have been no disobedience, but also no freedom to choose. Hence the provision of freedom includes one tree from which the person may not eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”^[5]

^[1] Kissling, Paul J. 2004–. Genesis. The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.

^[2] Deffinbaugh, Robert. n.d. Exodus Commentary.

^[3] Chafer, Lewis Sperry. 1944. “Anthropology.” Bibliotheca Sacra 101: 264.

^[4] Exell, Joseph S., and Thomas H. Leale. 1892. Genesis. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary. New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

^[5] Roop, Eugene F. 1987. Genesis. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

After bringing Adam home, God rang the dinner bell. It’s interesting that the first thing discussed with Adam upon coming home, turning a physical house, into a home in which man will dwell with God, is dinner. Food is often associated with fellowship with each other but also fellowship with God. So God presented Adam with the menu. Genesis 2:16 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.’” The UBS (United Bible Society) handbook for translators is worried some translators may misunderstand this verse. “In some languages a literal translation of eat of every tree may suggest eating part of the tree. In other languages there may be no general word for fruit, and so it may be necessary to say, for example, ‘You may eat anything you gather from the trees’ or ‘You may eat whatever you pick from the trees.’”^[1]

When growing up in North Omaha, there was an older widow who used to babysit for us when my Mom wanted to go shopping. In my early elementary years that seemed to happen a lot in the summer. Butch (my best friend) and I would have the run of the neighborhood even as young as 7 or 8 years old. Mrs. Ewing, our babysitter, had a gorgeous granny smith apple tree in her back yard. She would let us pick up apples that would fall from the tree but wouldn’t let us pick any ourselves. Well, when she came to our house to babysit me, my sister and little brother, Butch and I would know where she was and go help ourselves from the fruit still hanging on the trees! There is a huge difference between fruit you pick from the tree and fruit you pick up from the ground. God tells Adam and Eve to “pick” all the fruit you want!

Can you imagine the delicacies that must have been in the Garden of Eden, Paradise? According to one article on the web, the Garden had pomegranates, almonds, olives, grapes, apples, pears, cherries, carrots, corn, apricots and honey just to name a few. I’m sure there were the less desirable fare as well like broccoli, Brussel sprouts, rutabaga (My mom taught me to love rutabaga, but my boys won’t eat it!) and cauliflower! What a balanced diet!! So as Butler says, “Before one gets critical of God and says His commandments restrict pleasure, take a good look at the positive in the statutes for Eden. They were liberal and blessed. God’s laws are not to kill joy but to provide for it and protect it. And the positive compensates for any negative statute that is given.”^[2]  With all that low hanging, beautiful and delicious food, it’s hard to understand how the one and only forbidden tree was so appealing to Eve and Adam. Boice quotes Calvin’s commentary on Genesis, “For not only was there an abundant supply of food, but with it was added sweetness for the gratification of the palate, and beauty to feast the eyes. Therefore, from such benignant indulgence, it is more than sufficiently evident, how inexplicable had been the cupidity (lust for the forbidden tree)  of man.’”^[3] Well, I hate to bring Eve and Adam down to my level but when Mrs. Ewing told me and Butch we couldn’t pick the apples you know exactly what we had to do!

^[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

^[2] Butler, John G. 2008. Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

^[3] Boice, James Montgomery. 1998. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Now that the Garden of Eden, the house that God has turned into a home where he will dwell with man, has food and is well watered, God brings man and welcomes him to his new home where they will live together. Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” When we think of paradise we often think of a perfect retirement village! Anyway, that’s the way I sometimes think of it. Everything is done for you. You have leisure and no expectations on you and no responsibility whatsoever. But that’s not what we read in this verse. Adam is to “work and keep” the garden. Ryle says, “Notice, that the garden requires to be dressed and kept; it is not a place of spontaneous perfection. Man in the garden is to work, to take trouble, to practise forethought, to exercise solicitude and sympathy for the objects of his toil. “Paradise” is not a place for indolence and self-indulgence.”^[1]

Back in Genesis 2:5, we learned that there was “no man to till the ground.” It seems as if work was not something that entered into the world because of man’s sin. It was something that God had gifted man with from the very beginning. After the fall it became harder and less productive with much frustration and some failure as the thorns and thistles grew up in place of cultivated crops. Work in and of itself is a good thing. Leisure, as I’ve discovered after retirement is not such a good thing. It’s OK for a little while, but sooner or later you need to feel like you’re contributing something. Editors of the commentary by ancient writers attributes the following to Augustine of Hippo sometime in the 4^th century: “Is it really possible that the Lord wanted the first man to till the ground? Or is it plausible that he condemned him to labor before sin? We would certainly think so unless we considered those who till the ground with so much delight that it is a great punishment for them to be called off to any other thing. Whatever joy working the soil has had, therefore, the delight was even greater when no disaster had happened, either in the earth or in the heaven.”^[2]

After each day of creation in chapter 1, God looked back at his work and said it is good. Then after creating man, he said it was “very good.” Then we read that on the seventh day God rested from all the “work” that he did. It’s not that God got tired, it’s simply that his work was done and he looked back it at and declared it good. He finished it all. I’ve used my garage as an illustration of how it feels good to finish work. In the spring time, I’ll take my leaf blower and get rid of all the leaves and cob webs that have collected in my garage over the year. I’ll even pull the house out to clean up the mud that our cars have drug into our garage in the winter along with the salt the city puts down on the streets. When I finish, it feels good! I stop and look back and think, “what a nice job I did and how nice it is to have a clean garage.” In creating us in his own image, God shared this blessing of work. It’s only because of our rebellion to God at the fall that work became “work” so to speak. But when Jesus hung on the cross he said it is “finished.” The work that the father had given him was done, once and for all and he could then commend his spirit to the Father. One day, work will no longer be “work.” God will set up his kingdom on earth which will be built by the finished work of Jesus. He will say to all those who did the “work” God called us to, believing in whom he has sent, Jesus! Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home! And work for us will again be the joy of our days! That’s one thing we’ll find in paradise.

^[1] Ryle, Herbert E. 1921. The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

^[2] Severian of Gabala and Bede the Venerable. 2010. Commentaries on Genesis 1–3: Homilies on Creation and Fall and Commentary on Genesis: Book I. Edited by Michael Glerup, Thomas C. Oden, and Gerald L. Bray. Translated by Robert C. Hill and Carmen S. Hardin. Ancient Christian Texts. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.