A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
GENESIS 2
Lesson #08
THE AGE OF SIMPLICITY AND THE EDENIC COVENANT
- Memory verse: Gen 2:24
- Read Gen 2:1-25
- The First Dispensation: The Age of Simplicity Gen 2:8-3:23
- The First Covenant: The Edenic Covenant
- This is the first attempt at a relationship between God and man. We have learned that a Biblical covenant is an agreement between God and man.
- The conditions of the Edenic Covenant:
- Gen 1:28-29 Gen 2:15-19
| God’s Promises: | Man’s Responsibilities: |
| Man is to have dominion over the earth | Man must reproduce and fill the earth |
| Man is promised material abundance | Man must subdue the earth |
| Man will have a close fellowship with God | Man must eat a vegetarian diet |
| Man can eat from the tree of eternal life | Man must take care of the garden of Eden |
| Man must not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil | |
| Man must name the animals |
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- Sign of the covenant: 2 trees
- Every covenant has a symbolic sign.
- The symbol for the Edenic Covenant is the 2 trees.
- The covenant duration:
- God intended this covenant to be permanent.
- But sin made it temporary.
- Life span for the first dispensation:
- Man was initially to live forever. As long as man ate from the tree of life, he would live forever.
- After the first sin, God removed man from the presence of the tree of life. In God’s mercy, he did not want man to live forever in his sinful state.
- The final fulfillment of the Edenic Covenant:
- God will fulfill all his promises to man even though man failed to fulfill his part of the covenant.
- The final fulfillment for the Edenic covenant comes through Jesus Christ in the millennium and in eternity to come.
- Read Rev 22:2
- Sign of the covenant: 2 trees
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- The seventh day (2-3)
- God rested on the seventh day,
- Why?
- God specifies that the day is different. His purpose is to commemorate a finished creation.
- Through the designation that the seventh day is different from other days, God demonstrates his plan of time.
- The Jews believed that time on this earth would be 7,000 years long. God worked in cycles of 7’s over and over with the Jews.
- Therefore, the number 7 is God’s number of perfection and completion.
- God specified that all creatures need rest one day a week.
- This is not the beginning of the “Sabbath”.
- The word Sabbath is not used here in Genesis.
- The Sabbath was part of the Mosaic Law and started with Moses in the book of Exodus.
- The conditions of the Garden of Eden:
- There was no rain on earth until the flood of Noah.
- During this first dispensation, the earth was watered by a greenhouse effect. (5)
- The name of the garden was “Eden”.
- The name “Eden” means = paradise or pleasure (8).
- The location of Eden: (10-14)
- The exact location is unknown.
- However, there are some known rivers mentioned in scripture. They are the Euphrates River and the Tigris River. (Hiddekel) (11-14)
- The two trees: (9)
- What was the purpose of the two trees?
- They gave man a free will choice.
- The tree of life was in the center of the garden.
- Eternal life is central to God’s plan.
- Adam and eve were supposed to live forever in the center of God’s will and God’s blessing.
- Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- What was it? What is its significance? Why was it so bad to break the restriction?
- To not eat from this tree is the only restriction placed on Adam and Eve.
- It was probably not any special kind of tree. What made it special was God’s restriction. It was Adam’s test of obedience to the covenant.
- Eating of it would cause man to have a consciousness of good and evil. Eating of it was to experience the consequences of evil. He would know what evil was, having tasted of disobedience.
- The consequence of breaking God’s restriction:
- The tree of life was in the center of the garden.
- Death. Verse 17 literally reads in Hebrew, “in dying thou shalt die“.
- This means that the day Adam ate of it, his body would begin to age and progress toward eventual physical death.
- It also means that the day Adam ate of it, his spirit would die immediately.
- The two trees are a type:
- Read Act 5:30 and 1Pet 2:24
- Scripture refers to the cross of Christ as a tree.
| The two trees of Genesis | Christ on the cross |
| Planted in a garden | Planted in a garden (Joh 19:41) |
| Planted by God in Eden | Planted by man on calvary (Mat 27:35) |
| Pleasant to the eyes | They saw no beauty in him (Isa 53:2) |
| Thought to be good for food | The true food for the soul |
| Thought to make one wise | The source of true wisdom |
| Forbidden to eat of it | Man is invited to eat (Joh 6:51) |
| Satan enticed eve to eat it | Satan tries to prevent man from partaking of Christ |
| Eating it brought death to man | Partaking of Christ brings life to man
(Joh 6:53-54 Joh 11:26) |
| Adam, the thief, was cast out of paradise | The thief on the cross was invited into paradise (Luk 23:43) |
| Violation of the tree brought a curse upon all people | The cross of Christ lifts the curse from people (Gal 3:13) |
- Man’s responsibility in Eden: (15) =
- Adam was to “dress and keep the garden” =
- He was to subdue and bring it into bondage under his dominion and authority.
- The word also means to worship by building a hedge of protection around it.
- God’s intention in the balance between man and his environment was a balance between dominion and care. God gave man the ultimate authority over his physical world, but he was not to abuse it. He was to take care of it and protect it.
- He was to subdue and bring it into bondage under his dominion and authority.
- The missing ingredient in Adam’s world: (21-22)
- What was Adam’s perfect environment lacking?
- Eve
- All the animals had a mate, but Adam had no one.
- What significance is it that Eve was made from Adam’s rib instead of any other bone in Adam’s body?
- Woman was to be equal with man.
- She was not made from a bone in Adam’s foot so he could dominate her.
- She was not made from a bone in Adam’s head so she would dominate him.
- Theirs was to be a love relationship, for the rib is next to man’s heart.
- What were male / female relationships to be like before the fall into sin? (23-24)
- The King James Bible uses the words, “help meet for him” (18)
- The surface meaning of the word “help” is simply = help, or aid.
- The root meaning of this word means = to surround, protect, help, and nourish.
- The meaning of the word “meet” is = suitable, fit, or corresponding to.
- The word “meet” is not a separate word in the Hebrew.
- The idea is that she is all around him in a daily intimate relationship of help. She was to supply what he lacked, and he must supply what she lacked.
- The underlying concept was “to confront face to face”.
- If Eve was always around Adam, he would look at Eve and see what he lacked in his personality, just like looking into a mirror.
- They were to be a mirror of truth to each other.
- Their relationship was to be one of equality and love.
- Man was to be head of the household. He was responsible to God for its success.
- Man was to cleave to his wife = they were to have a permanent monogamous relationship.
- Man and wife were to be one flesh = they were to have the characteristics of acceptance and deference for the sake of unity.
- They were to have an intimacy of body, soul, and spirit.
- The King James Bible uses the words, “help meet for him” (18)
- What was Adam’s perfect environment lacking?
Homework
Genesis 3:1-6
- Application of Genesis 2:
- If you are married, what can you do in your marriage to make it more like what God originally intended?
- Preparation for Genesis 3:1-6
- Read Gen 3:1-6 The fall into sin
- Read Luk 4 and 1Joh 2:16
- What do you notice that is similar in these 3 scripture passages?
- What do you learn about fighting temptation from these 3 passages?
- Memory verse: James 1:2-3
