Genesis
chapter two
2 Thus the heavens and the
earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day
God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from
all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had
created and made.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they
were created, in the day that the Lord
God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet
in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the
earth, and there was no man to cultivate
the ground. 6 But a [d]mist used to
rise from the earth and water the whole [e]surface of
the ground. 7 Then the Lord
God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living [f]being. 8 The
Lord God planted a garden toward
the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 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.
10 Now a river [g]flowed out
of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [h]rivers. 11 The
name of the first is Pishon; it [i]flows around
the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of
that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The
name of the second river is Gihon; it [j]flows around
the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is [k]Tigris; it [l]flows east
of Assyria. And the fourth river is the [m]Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord
God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep
it. 16 The Lord
God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not [n]eat, for in
the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
18 Then the Lord
God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [o]suitable for
him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the [p]sky, and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the
man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man
gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the [q]sky, and to
every beast of the field, but for [r]Adam there
was not found a helper [s]suitable for
him. 21 So the Lord
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God [t]fashioned
into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the
man. 23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
[u]She shall be called [v]Woman,
Because [w]she was taken out of [x]Man.”
And flesh of my flesh;
[u]She shall be called [v]Woman,
Because [w]she was taken out of [x]Man.”
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother,
and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And
the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Gold, onyx and bdellium
Why are these three things in
this story? God is going to put the first man in a Garden to keep it, and for what
does he need gold, onyx and bdellium?
We look back and think primitive,
camping, eked out sweat-of-the brow living once they are fallen and cast out of
the Garden. What would they do with
gold, onyx and bdellium?
For beauty? For pretty? Did Eve
need babbles? Being way too practical, she needs help, a babysitter. What good
is gold to a mom?
Three things. Three elements.
When you google gold, you can watch docudramas of how our planet did not come
with nor form gold on its own. Gold was
sprinkled on the earth from space. For
eons. Veins of it tend to collect in
riverbeds. Scattered over the planet.
And when you google onyx—is it a coincidence that it comes in flesh
colors? Black, and brown, caramel, tan
and white? A stone born in lava. Volcanoes. Used in Egypt as bowls, jewelry, a
hard-quartz family stone. And google bdellium—a resin, from a scrubby, thorny
bush found in India, Saudia Arabia, Turkey? An aromatic resin used in incense,
smoke, prayer.
Three things: gold, onyx,
bdellium
God the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.
G for gold, O for onyx, bd—Gob or
God
What is God foreshadowing? King,
rock, resin from a thorny bush. That
someday our king would come to this rock and take our place and be impaled with
a thorn of crowns in our place? It is finished.
The one continent of Genesis
would split and the plates push apart, and while we can still spot the Tigris
and Euphrates, the places of onyx and bdellium ride on and under the crust that
becomes India, Turkey, Saudia Arabia and the other two rivers?
What is God telling us in chapter
2? Before the fall, before the first marriage, before the first test, a
beautiful place was prepared and set in motion.
Restored as the stage for this play and all eyes are on this place. God used to come there each evening and walk
with Adam and Eve. We are not told how
long. We are not told if it was for weeks, months, years. What did they talk about? What did God teach
them? God was WITH them. In the cool of the evening, the Bible
says. A perfect world, perfect garden,
perfect creation with all they needed: air, perfect temperature, weather, time—day
and night, work and rest, food and trees for beauty.
Gold and onyx and bdellium. Let us pause there and wonder. Let us not
rush. The fall is coming. Before the fall, marriage---for this reason, we leave
and cleave. Before parents, before
mothers in law, and fathers in law, before meddling aunts, uncles, God declares
marriage sacred. Special. An institution. Man created in the image of God.
