The Book of Genesis

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The Book of Genesis Lesson 5

Chapter 1:24 - 31

Creation of the Animals of the Earth Genesis 1:24 Then

God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. With the dawn of day six, the LORD had created all of the animals that live on the land. He divided them into three categories: cattle, creeping things, beasts. What is the difference among the three? Cattle Readily, we think we understand the word cattle. These animals are cows, sheep, goats and all the other animals that tend to move instinctively in herds and have now been domesticated by humans. But the word “cattle” actually applies to a large group of animals. The Hebrew word that is translated here as “cattle” is behemah. With that information our minds quickly include the elephants and mammoths, but the term is much broader, including all the animals of the earth that eat grass and other vegetables such as horses, bisons, buffaloes, yaks, elands, gazelles, goats, sheep, caribous, deer, koalas, kangaroos, zebras, donkeys, rabbits, hares, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippopotamuses, llamas, camels, chinchillas, beavers, mice, guinea pigs, manatees, and more. Creeping Things When the LORD created the “creeping things,” the writer used the Hebrew word remes which applies to reptiles and insects that do not fly. (The flying insects were created on the fourth day.) The “creeping things” include those that slither, such as the snakes and worms, those that crawl, such as ants, centipedes, spiders and land based reptiles. Beas Beasts The Hebrew word for beasts is chaitho and it refers to all meat eating mammals such as cats, lynx, bobcats, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, tigers, lions, jaguars, hyenas, mongooses, dogs, wolves, dingoes, coyotes, jackals, foxes, pandas, black bears, raccoons, skunks, badgers, otters, wolverines, weasels, polecats and more. In the Scripture, the word beast refers to an animal that lives on the flesh of other animals.

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All the plants and animals of the world have been created and according to the Scripture, they will all naturally and continually reproduce after their kind instinctively! It is interesting that the Scripture indicates that they were all spoken into being by God. It seems that they were not fashioned or created from anything; they simply appeared as did the heavens, the earth, the water, the land. But that is not so; in Genesis Chapter 2, how they were created will unfold. It is now time for the LORD’s greatest earthly creation – man and woman.

Creation of a Man and Woman Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Finally, God’s last creations were the man and woman. The Hebrew language uses the word adam for the man and establishes the reason we call him Adam. In this passage, God created both “male and female” without giving specific details. When God says, “let them rule over the fish of the sea and ...,” God is giving both the male and female the authority to “subdue” and “rule” every animal that He has created. Furthermore, these two humans are to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it,” indicating that the authority to rule over the animals of the earth will be granted to all their children through all generations. God did this and we are all descendants of these first two humans. Even though we understand God’s creation of the first male and female, we must not rush past the importance of verse 26 that says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” When God says “Us” and “Our,” to whom is He speaking? The angels? The animals? It cannot be in either case! The angels and the animals are incapable of creating anything; that is the job of God! John 1:3 says, “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John is specifically speaking about the LORD; yet, the LORD has not been revealed by God at this point in the Genesis account. We know that the LORD is God! In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Moses says, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Therefore, the LORD is God and He created everything. Does the Genesis Scripture ever indicate that He is the Creator? It does in the details of creation of this first male and female in Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis 1:1, “God created.” In Genesis 1:2, “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” In Genesis 2:4, “the LORD God made earth and heaven.” Throughout the rest of 24 All lesson videos and notes archived at http://www.sagemontchurch.org/learn/dr-jim-hastings-videos

Scripture, these three names will be used in reference to God. With each name we will discover different responsibilities which will explain the three different Persons of the one God. He does not announce why He presents Himself as three Persons of one God; yet, He talks about them throughout the Bible. God the Father, God the Spirit and God the LORD Jesus are one in nature and yet three in personalities and duties. As for God the Father and God the LORD Jesus, 1st Peter 1:17-21 says, And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. With that short synopsis of how God presents Himself in the Bible, we can rightfully conclude that when the Scripture says, “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,” it is a conversation among God the Father, God the Spirit and God the LORD Jesus. Our Image What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Because Adam was created in the image of God, does that mean that Adam could likewise create? To create means to bring something into being out of nothing and no man has ever possessed the ability to perform such a task. Does it mean that Adam looked like God? Although Adam and Eve could have looked like God, we must discover the meaning of the Hebrew word for image which is tsehlem. God wanted to create something very different from all the rest of the plant and animal kingdoms. In general, only humans stand vertically; all of the other animals stand in some variation of a horizontal position. “Let Us make man in Our image” means that God made man to stand erect to establish his difference from all the other animals and plants in order to have dominion over them. Even the mighty lion must walk horizontally on four legs and look up to see the eyes of a man. Just as God stands erect over all of His creation, so too, Adam and his wife will stand erect over that which God has entrusted to them.

Our Likeness Adam and his wife were created not only in the image or stance of God; they were also created in His “likeness.” The two were fashioned by God to be like God which means that they had the ability to think, reflect and analyze abstract matters; no other animal has this ability. Adam and his wife were unlike all the rest of creation because they could enter into a conversation with God because, like Him, they were spiritual beings. Animals are not spiritual beings and are limited in their communication abilities. The whales moan and their like-kind will follow and 25 All lesson videos and notes archived at http://www.sagemontchurch.org/learn/dr-jim-hastings-videos

react, but their communication is in no way developed beyond their need to survive. Dogs bark and howl but their communication ability is limited to their survival and livelihood. Like all animals, they are able to do only what they have been instinctively given by God. Humans have a mental ability far beyond the natural instincts of all other animals. When Adam and his wife were created, they were fashioned with the ability to communicate clearly with each other and with God. Being created in the image of God indicates the distinctive difference between man and all other animals in their stance. Being created in the likeness of God describes how man was fashioned mentally different from all other animals with the ability to enter into a communication with God and others.

Provisions for the Man and Animals Genesis 1:29 Then

God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. 31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God does not complete His work on the sixth day without giving a general instruction about food sources. Adam and his wife could eat from “every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed.” That would exclude the ferns, mosses, liverworts, and horsetails. Then to be specific in His instruction, God clearly includes the fruit of trees that yield seeds. For example, the spores of a fern tree are not to be used as a source of food because they are poisonous to humans. For animals, God opens up all of plant life as food and includes all green plants, some of which are poisonous to man including daffodils, oleanders, castor beans, irises, foxgloves, elephant ears, wisteria and mistletoe.

Chapter 2 God Rested Genesis 2:1

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 And 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.

The six days of creation were completed and God had finished His task and it was very good. On the seventh day, God rested. The Hebrew word for rest is Sabbath and it became the name of the seventh day of every week. The Sabbath is Saturday on our calendar. It means to cease or desist. It means that on the seventh day, God ceased creating. All that was to be was created in 26 All lesson videos and notes archived at http://www.sagemontchurch.org/learn/dr-jim-hastings-videos

the first six days and each creation was expected to be fruitful and multiply to perpetuate its existence. The miracle of passing on life to the next generation of all plants and animals was instilled once and for all when each life was created within the first six days. God set aside the seventh day to be perpetually different from the rest. It was and is to be a holy day, God’s day! Later in the Scripture, God will require humans to rest on the Sabbath in honor and worship of Him. In Genesis 1:1 - 2:3, God gave a general overview of all His work, but beginning with chapter 2:4 He added details to His greatest day of His creative work and introduced Himself as the LORD God.

LORD God Genesis 2:4

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. The entire work is attributed to the “LORD God.” For the first time in Scripture we see the Hebrew word Yahweh or Yhwh from which we derive the word Yehovah (Jehovah). It means self-existent or eternal with the emphasis equal to “I am that I am.” It is not God the Father Who created the heavens and the earth and neither is it God the Spirit; it is the LORD God. This name will be used throughout the rest of Scripture and will be identified as Jesus at the proper time within the Bible. Because we have the complete Scripture, we can identify Jesus as the Creator.

Mist to Water the Ground Genesis 2:5 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 mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. After the formation of the land on the second day, fresh water was needed to prepare the land for the vegetation that would be created on the third day. To make the land ready, the LORD God caused a mist to rise from the earth to water the whole land. We call that mist dew. With the land ready, the plants were created.

Man Formed from Dust Genesis 2:7 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 being. This passage does not address the details of the sea, air and land creatures specifically but it does address them in explaining the creation of man. The LORD used dirt to form the figure of man. In harmony with Genesis 1:26-27, this figure is the image that will rule all of God’s creation on

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earth. Continuing, the LORD then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” This inspiration gave life to the body of dirt that He formed. Everything that has breath has life, but the life of Adam is different from all the rest; his is a life in the likeness of the LORD God, his Creator. In these details, Adam’s wife has not yet been created.

Planted Garden in Eden in the East Genesis 2:8And

the LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 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.

After the creation of Adam, the LORD selected a place to create a garden to be the home of Adam. He called it “Eden” which means pleasure or delight. The Septuagint and Young’s Literal Translation translate the first part of this passage as “God planted a paradise in Eden.” Therefore, we can conclude that Eden was a name that described the beauty of the earth on the sixth day. Somewhere in Eden, somewhere in the east, the garden was created for Adam and he was moved to that location. If we understand the passage correctly, Adam was created first and then the garden was prepared for him. All the vegetation in the garden was good food for Adam but two special trees were placed in that place, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; both grew fruit; both were available for Adam as food; both were pleasing to the eye.

Rivers to Water the Garden Genesis 2:10

Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The LORD was kind enough to record several landmarks near the garden in Eden in the east. Notice that one “river flowed out of Eden to water the garden.” The following is an excerpt from my commentary on the book Isaiah.29

Beyond the Rivers of Cush Isaiah 18:1

Alas, oh land of whirring wings which lies beyond the rivers of Cush, 2 Which sends envoys by the sea, even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people feared far and wide, a powerful and oppressive nation whose land the rivers divide.

29

Dr. Jim Hastings, Isaiah, Twenty-Two Visions from the Lord, The Wordconnection, 2015, pp 189-192.

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Map 1: The Division of the Eighteen Families after the Tower of Babel

Vision 12 refers to the nation of seagoing people, “tall and smooth,” that lies beyond the rivers of Cush. It is to be feared throughout the world. However, it is also a land divided by its rivers and marked by something resembling “whirring wings” or wings that produce a clattering sound. Most scholars place the land of Cush south of Egypt as identified in Map 22 and equate her to Ethiopia today. The map is correct; however, the inhabitants of the nations to the west and south, beyond the rivers of Cush, would not be considered “tall and smooth,” neither then nor now. The Lord is not addressing the land which Cush settled after the Tower of Babel. He is addressing the land identified near the Garden of Eden and called by that name more than two thousand years before the birth of Cush, Noah’s grandson.

Genesis 2 identifies the land of Cush as one of the four areas fed by a river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden. Four rivers are fed by the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden. The last two can be identified with ease. The Tigris and the Euphrates hold the same Hayles names today and their headwaters begin in modern-day Turkey. The headwaters of the other two rivers must begin in the same location. The third river is the Pishon which begins in Turkey and flows around the land of Havilah which means sand or sandy. The sandy land of the Aram/Syrian/Arabian desert begins in modern-day Syria with the Euphrates to Havilah the northeast of the desert and the Pishon or Leontes River to its northwest. The Leontes provides a portion of the water that feeds the Jordan River which ultimately ends at the Dead Sea today, but prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the River ran all the way to the Red Sea, bordered on the west Map 2: Four major rivers that begin in the same area by the sandy desert. The Gihon River is difficult to identify because it is associated with the land of Cush. No river that begins in Turkey travels through the Promised Land, around to Egypt and down the east side of the Nile uphill and downhill all the way to surround the land of Cush/Ethiopia. However, the Hayles River begins in Turkey near the other three and flows west around Pontus, through Galatia and pours into the Black Sea. Beyond the districts of Pontus, Galatia and the Hayles River, all the descendants of Japhath, Lud, and Meshech, “tall and smooth” including Greeks live in countries that are riddled with rivers of all sizes. …Therefore, the land of Cush in this passage must be the area just south of the Black Sea, if not under the Black Sea.

To add one point of clarification, the passage says, “And the name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria.” If the river flows east of Assyria, it is hundreds of miles east of its headwaters. The translation is not accurate. Ancient Hebrew did not use the terms east, west, north and south as we do. Rather, they used the word forward for east, backward for west, left for north and right for south. The Hebrew in this passage is indicating the direction of the flow of the river rather than its placement. The passage should say, “it flows east to Assyria” instead of “it flows east of Assyria.”

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Man Placed in Garden of Eden Genesis 2:15

Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

With the garden prepared, the LORD placed Adam in his new home and assigned him the duty of caretaker.

Instruction to Adam Genesis 2:16

And 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 eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Once in the garden, the LORD gave Adam one commandment which was never to eat from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil;” the penalty of such a sin would be death. Adam’s wife had not been created yet; she did not hear the direct command from the LORD. Nevertheless, she is about to be created on the sixth day because every other animal has a mate of opposite sex or gender and Adam needs the same. She must be a suitable helper, one who complements and completes him. She must be the opposite in physical structure so the two can become one as with all the other animals.

Naming of Animals Genesis 2:19

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the 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 And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

Adam began his work of caring for the garden and the LORD brought every creature into his presence and allowed Adam to give each one a name. It is in verse 19 that we learn that the animals were also created from the dirt of the ground. They were not spoken into being from nothing; they were formed from the dust of the earth like man and given life. As Adam did his job, the Lord was aware that he would not find a mate as was the case with all the other animals.

Creation of Adam’s Wife Genesis 2:21

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 And the LORD

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God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said, " This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Before the sixth day was complete, the LORD caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and removed from him a rib covered with its meat. With that and dirt from the earth, the LORD fashioned a woman. When Adam awoke, he knew she had come from his side and said, “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.” The Hebrew word that refers to a female is Ishshah; the Hebrew word that refers to a male is Ish. For clarity, a literal English translation should read as follows: So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a female the rib which He had taken from Adam, and brought her to Adam. Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called a female, because she was taken out of a male." For this cause a male shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his female; and they shall become one body. And Adam and his female were both naked and were not ashamed. We must pause in awe at the greatness of the creation of the LORD God. Since creation, male and female land animals have had to cleave together to become one flesh in order to produce offspring. Adam and his wife must marry in the flesh, made to fit perfectly in unity as God designed. Adam liked what he saw and so did his wife. They were not ashamed of their bodies in any way! And like all the rest of the animals of the LORD’s creation, no covering was needed to hide their bodies.

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