Playing Catch-Up (Monday's reading) (Kayla)

Just got home from a nice little road trip. I didn’t have computer access, so I hope you don’t mind that I play catch-up!!

Genesis 1-3

I have read these chapters so many times….along with seeing movies and watching cartoons that contain these chapters. But this time when I read them, I had things revealed to me that I never seen, thought much about, or knew before! You possibly have, but oh well, I’m going to share anyways =)

The first one is when God rested on the seventh day (Gen 2:1-3). I’ve always read that and thought,”Okay, God rested…big deal.” But this time, I thought about it more…..since when does God need “rest?” Did He really need to rest after creating the entire universe? Uh, no. He’s God! I believe He rested to show us an example. To show us that we need to have a day of rest, and to lay the foundation for Israel’s worship.

The second observation comes from this verse. Gen 2:9b- “In the middle of the garden he (God) places the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” It doesn’t say “the tree of life and the knowledge of good and evil.” All the times before, I thought this was one tree! Now, all of you probably think this is elementary, but I seriously never knew that. In the movies I remember watching, there was just one tree. Now, God didn’t say that Adam and Eve couldn’t eat from the tree of life. He only said to stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). So this means that Adam and Eve could eat from the tree of life, and probably were before banned from the garden. But now let’s skip ahead to after they ate of the fruit and God curses them. Gen 3:22-24 is where it gets interesting. Verse 22 says, “Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” Then God banished them. Why was God so concerned about them living forever now? They were eating of the fruit before, but now that they have sinned it is a different story. I wasn’t sure of the answer, but my study bible made it a little clearer. I’ll just quote what it said. “Mercifully, God prevented humankind from eating of the tree of life and having to life forever in a fallen state. Through Jesus Christ, however, eternal life is once again available.” So, God was protecting us by banishing Adam and Eve, or we would live in a fallen world forever!

Okay…third thing. This one is just a little observation. Eve wasn’t given her name until after they sinned. Gen 3:20- “Then the man-Adam-named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.” Before the fall, Eve was just called “woman.” Not sure if this has any hidden meaning, but I didn’t notice until I read it this time.

I love it when God’s word reveals new things to me! Let me know what you think—if you knew these things already, disagree, agree, or whatever! Let’s get some discussion going! =)

----Kayla