It was not God’s original intention for man to die, but man is now put on probation. You see, man has a free will, and privilege always creates responsibility.

This is an axiomatic statement that is true. This man who is given a free will must be given a test to determine whether he will obey God or not.

“For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Remember that man is a trinity, and he would have to die in a threefold way. Adam did not die physically until over nine hundred years after this, but God said, “In the day you eat, you shall die.” Death means separation, and Adam was separated from God spiritually the very day he ate, you may be sure of that.

Genesis 2:16-20 KJV

[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

[18] And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

[19] And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Genesis 2:16

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the Garden you may freely eat:

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As stated, before the Fall, man was vegetarian.

Genesis 2:17

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

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Thou shalt not eat of it thou shalt surely die — no reason assigned for the prohibition, but death was to be the punishment of disobedience. A positive command like this was not only the simplest and easiest, but the only trial to which their fidelity could be exposed.

As for the “evil,” that was obvious; however, it is the “good” on this tree that deceives much of the world.

The “good” speaks of religion.

The definition of religion pertains to a system devised by men in order to bring about Salvation, to reach God, or to better oneself in some way.

Because it is devised by man, it is unacceptable to God.

God’s answer to the dilemma of the human race is “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” [I Cor. 1:23]):

“for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” speaks of spiritual death, which is separation from God.

Let it be understood that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not the cause of Adam’s Fall.

It was a failure to heed and obey the Word of God, which is the cause of every single failure.

Spiritual death ultimately brought on physical death, and has, in fact, filled the world with death, all because of the Fall of man.

GOD’S FORESIGHT FOR MAN

Genesis 2:18

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

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The making of the woman, and institution of marriage.

It is not good for the man to be alone — In the midst of plenty and delights, he was conscious of feelings he could not gratify.

To make him sensible of his wants,

The phrase “and God saw that it was good” appears at various stages of His creative work (Genesis 1: 10 , 12 , 18 , 21 , 25).

The assessment of the creation as “very good” concludes the entire account (Genesis 1: 31).

However, we now learn of a situation that is not good: the fact that the man should be alone.

This doesn’t mean that the idea of a companion for Adam suddenly presented itself to the Lord.

God never intended that man should be alone.

So God determines that He will make him an help meet for him.

This is not meant to infer that the creation of woman was an afterthought.

There is no Plan of God that is incomplete!

The word meet in this context carries with it the idea of “appropriate.”

Therefore the help to be provided for the man is someone who will serve as an appropriate companion.

Thus something of the purpose for the creation of woman is already hinted at even before her creation takes place.

She will complete the man, helping him become what he would not be capable of becoming were he to remain alone.

After seven evaluations of creation’s elements being “good,” we come to something that is not good: the solitary existence of the man.

We glean from this passage that God creates us to interact within a context of companionship and community of our own kind.

This aspect of the human makeup also relates to the above-stated directives to multiply and replenish the earth.

We do so as we relate to mutual benefit in a wider circle of family, friends, and humanity as a whole.

Our quality of life is found in relationships.

The divine assessment It is not good that the man should be alone therefore doesn’t count the fact that the man is technically not alone given that he already has the companionship of God and the creatures of the garden.

The assessment we see here must involve additional purpose of God that the man is unable to fulfill by himself.

To “multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:27, 28) won’t happen if there is only one human.

This description establishes both the woman’s similarity to the man and her equality with him.

In the older English of the KJV, the word meet carries the idea of “appropriate” (compare Matthew 3:8).

The woman to be created will possess all the qualities of humanity and personhood that the man does and will likewise be distinct from every other animal or vegetable.

The description of her as a helper to the man in no way diminishes her dignity or standing, for “help” is a term also used to describe God in relation to people (see Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 121:1, 2).

The woman will be equal in personhood though complementarily opposite in her procreative role.

ADAM AND THE ANIMAL WORLD

Genesis 2:19

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

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God brought unto Adam — not all the animals in existence, but those chiefly in his immediate neighborhood to be subservient to his use.

whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof — His powers of perception and intelligence were supernaturally enlarged to know the characters, habits, and uses of each species that was brought to him.

The animals and the fowls were created out of dust, exactly as man.

Carried within the name that Adam gave to each one of these creatures are the characteristics of that particular animal or fowl.

So we are speaking here of a man who had amazing intelligence.

To do all of this, Adam had to have a distinct knowledge of speech, the meaning of all words, and the capacity of attaching words to ideas.

Why not?

Adam had the greatest Teacher that man has ever had, “the LORD God”

The line out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field reflects what has already occurred on the sixth day of creation.

While the waters are said to have brought forth the various sea creatures and birds on the fifth day, all creatures are made from the ground or dust as noted in Psalm 104: 29.

The man himself also has been formed “of the dust of the ground” by the Lord God.

But now we come to new information: all of the creatures that God has made are brought before Adam for naming by the man.

We wonder if this naming procedure includes each and every subcategory of creature “after his kind”.

Some think that that would take too long for a single day, so they propose that Adam names only the broader categories of animals and birds rather than the much more numerous subcategories.

It is noteworthy that this verse includes the first time in the Genesis account that the name Adam appears.

In the Hebrew text, the word Adam is actually the same as that which is translated “the man” in Genesis 2: 18 (the Hebrew language has no capital letters to designate proper names).

Of perhaps greater significance at this time is the fact that the name Adam comes from the Hebrew word meaning “ground” in Genesis 2: 7 .

This calls attention to the material from which he is created.

The sequence of events here appears to differ from the account of creation in Genesis 1, in which the animals are created before humans.

Questions have therefore arisen about the relationship between the two versions of the story.

A reasonable solution is that one chapter or the other presents a thematic account that is not intended to be taken as chronological.

Yet another possibility is that Genesis 2 narrates an additional, special act of creation undertaken for the purpose of presenting the animals for naming.

The latter view has a very long history.

Though the animals are formed from the ground just as the man is, none of them is created in God’s image.

By naming the animals, the man assigns a function and place to each one, thereby exercising the ruling authority that bearers of the divine image possess (Genesis 1:26).

In the process of observing the animal world, Adam certainly recognizes that he is not like them; he undoubtedly realizes his superior nature.

Genesis 2:20

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

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But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him — The design of this singular scene was to show him that none of the living creatures he saw were on an equal footing with himself, and that while each class came with its mate of the same nature, form, and habits, he alone had no companion.

Besides, in giving names to them he was led to exercise his powers of speech and to prepare for social intercourse with his partner, a creature yet to be formed.

We learn from this that the animal creation was of far greater magnitude and intelligence than at the present.

It was the Fall which changed that creation [Rom. 8:19-23].

Adam proceeds to name the various creatures.

But in the process a sobering truth dawns.

Although they come from the ground as he does, none is quite like him.

For Adam there was not found an help meet for him .

Thus the state of being alone, which God has already said is “not good” for the man, is recognized by the man himself.

Perhaps we have been wondering to this point why God doesn’t just name all the creatures himself.

This may be the reason : having Adam do the naming allows him to come to his own conclusion regarding his need.

The text reveals that the parade of animals involves not only naming them but also searching among them for a suitable companion.

Even though all the animals are formed from the same material as the man and by the same good Creator, no animal is adequate as a proper help.

We reasonably speculate that the man eventually becomes aware of what God already knows: none of the animals can stand beside the man as his equal, to partner with him in his assigned roles.

As Adam gives names to all cattle, and to the fowl . . . and to every beast, he presumably observes the complementary nature of male and female among them. For him, something is missing!

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

 

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