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4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. ~ Genesis 2:4-7
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 2 which highlights the fact that God is complete in and of Himself. He lacks nothing and therefore anything that He has created is a demonstration of His own goodness and reflects His infinite worth.
In v.4-6 of today's passage we read, "4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground."
The words "This is the history of the heavens and the earth" is a phrase used eleven times in the book of Genesis. It is always followed by an account of what had happened before. Today's passage is the beginning of what is described regarding what happened to the world that God created. So, Genesis 2 is not a second creation account, but rather is an expansion of what we have already been told in Genesis 1. In Genesis 2, Moses tells us how man was created. This is important because it provides the background which helps us to see the magnitude of man's rebellion against God. In order to understand the fall in Genesis 3, we need to understand what we fell from. Sin will only make sense within a worldview of a good, omnipotent God who created us in His image to know Him personally.
Here, we have for the first time another name of God that appears in so much of the rest of the Bible. The name translated "Lord" is the Hebrew name YHWH. In Genesis 1 we were introduced to Elohim which is God's name for His transcendence and power over creation. In relationship to being the Creator, He is Elohim, the Mighty God.
Sometimes the word Elohim is shortened to El and used as part of a longer name. El Shaddai, for example, means "God Almighty." El Elyon means "God Most High." When the Lord Jesus cried out from the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani," He addressed the Father with a form of Elohim, Eloi which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
In addition to Elohim, God introduced His other name YHWH. In His relationship to history, especially history of His people, the Covenant people, He uses the Covenant name Yahweh. When Moses was commissioned by God to go to the children of Israel, Moses asked God, "Who I am I going to say sent me?" God responded by saying: "Tell them that I AM has sent you to them for this is My name forever and a memorial to all generations."
The name Yahweh underscores the fact that God is the self-existent One. He doesn't depend on anybody else for life. He is the only non-contingent being in the universe. Everything else is dependent or contingent upon Him. Yahweh the uncaused cause speaks to His eternal nature, not I WAS THAT I WAS but I AM THAT I AM. The name YHWH underscores the fact that He is always faithful, He's always available. All of the characteristics that embody Him are part of His eternal nature.
In v.6 we see that before the Fall of man, the springs of the earth watered the earth. This means the whole world of plants and trees did not receive water from above; they received water from below. This means the ability of the Earth to produce flourishing plants and flourishing trees was not originally dependent upon rain, which sometimes comes and sometimes does not. Man would have continued to enjoy these conditions had he resisted the temptation to sin. But when he transgressed even the soil of the earth obtain its moisture from above.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
Mankind bears God's image mentally, morally, and socially, but in this verse we learn that Adam consisted of both heaven and earth. Man was formed out of the dust and then the divine Creator breathed life into him. This doesn’t imply that he or we are in any way divine, but that the life of man came from God, not by random chance. The spark of life which quickened the clay jar was none other than the breath of the Creator. The man had become a living being. We are the final act of creation. We are the highest form of what has been made. And, we are fearfully and wonderfully sculpted.
God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing on the first day of creation. Five days later, on the sixth day, He created His final and most stupendous work of art , a masterpiece made out of the simplest and most common part of God's creation, dust. God took this "next to nothing" material, formed it and breathed His life into it. God didn’t use gold dust, He didn’t use silver dust, He didn’t even use zinc. And, to this day we are of the dust of the earth. We came from the dust and to the dust we shall return.
This verse tells us that God "formed us." The Hebrew word used here implies a careful and attentive shaping of man. This same word is used in the books of the prophets when describing a potter shaping a bowl from the clay. And so, the man became a living being. God shaped man into the form He determined and we are as He decided.
This God, Elohim YHWH, the One who created the heavens and the earth has also formed us out of the dust of the ground and He also has breathed into us His very breath. It is this same God who also forms new hearts and new eyes for everyone with a willing heart, a heart that is willing enough to take a chance on Him. He didn’t repair our old heart; No, He gave us a new heart; A new heart that is in spec with His and has the ability to see what is really real and is really fake.
