Genesis 2:8-17

2006.May.29 15:44

A home for humanity

Read Genesis 2:8-17 | Full Chapter

God makes a home for man, that is, the dust-figure. The sort of home he makes for man is a garden, which he names Eden (or, at least, that’s what we’ve decided he might have named it). The garden is full of trees and watered by a river which then divides into four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates–at least thus sayeth the translation. And, as it turns out, that’s nearly all this passage has to say about Eden. I can suppose that is quite beautiful and lush, filled with all sorts of vegetation and animals, despite, from my limited geographical reckoning, being in what is now a desert. Go figure.

What he places in this garden of particular importance are two special trees:

1. The tree of life
2. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil

I would guess that these are symbolic in nature. That is, the fruit of either tree is not particularly special, but by naming the trees as he does God sets them up to have meaning. The tree of life is only named in this chapter; it is not really discussed. However, in addition to God setting up a labor for man, to cultivate the garden, God instructs man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Romans 5:20 says "”The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”" (Romans 5:20, NASB) This is the first example of the Law. Because humanity, in my guess, wishes to be as God, wherever there is Law, we will try to break it as a statement of our own godhood. This fits with God’s plan because then he can offer us grace and if we humble ourselves and accept his grace, we can develop a relationship with him not disturbed by our trying to attain equal or greater status to him. And having committed one sin–that of taking of the fruit–humanity realizes this way of attaining a pretense at godhood and will now continue to do so, until we receive God’s grace and he has perfected us.

In other words, everything is beautiful and good for humanity but we desire to be as God and so the one thing forbidden is the one we will take to prove our power. Only in doing so, we reveal to ourselves our sin and separate ourselves from God. Could God somehow have sidestepped all the resulting havoc and heartache? I don’t think so, if we are really to be the bride of Christ. But it is sad to realize how much pain we put him through because of our pride.

Genesis 23:17-20

2008.Jan.26 21:02

The Burial Ground

Read Genesis 23:17-20 | Full Chapter

So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border thereof round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth.
(Genesis 23:17-20, ASV)

I find it kind of fascinating–well, I probably won’t be fascinated by it for very long–that the first property that Abraham is recorded as actually possessing in Canaan, indeed for the whole nation of Israel, is a place for burying.

For a religion that holds as a centerpiece resurrection–Paul says, "If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we day" (1 Corinthians 15:32) –to have as one of its great ancestral acts the purchase of a place to bury the dead…well, it strikes as a bit ironic doesn’t it?

But it also seems to me to be very appropriate. In her death, Sarah begins to redeem the land from the idolatry of the current inhabitants (See Deuteronomy 7:1-5) (NB: I acknowledge that the preceding sentence may be completely misguided). And throughout the Bible, there is a connection between death and redemption, particularly in the sacrifices of Mosaic law and in Jesus’ death.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
(Hebrews 9:11-14, NASB)

So, I’ll no doubt have plenty of opporutunity to talk about the blood sacrifice stuff, and I’m not in the mood. Instead, I just want to remind myself that death is something God is able to handle. And not only that, but where I see death from a mortal perspective, he sees it–in part–from the perspective of what is waiting to be redeemed. I don’t know that I can really get a hold of that.