The Purpose of Marriage and the Place of Animals

It is not Good that Man should be Alone; I will make him a helper to fit him.      Gen. 2:18 The fact that Adam was in original solitude without a helper is repeated twice and acts like “bookends” to the creation and naming of animals (2:18 and 20).  The primary meaning is obvious; Adam needs … Read more

In Statu Viae

…for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. Gen. 2:17 As we view Genesis 1 and 2, we find that God made all things that make up His cosmic temple “good,” but not “good” in a finished sort of way. He left the three elements of chaos ─ darkness, the watery … Read more

Binary World of Bright Side/Dark Side

God made the world binary. Everything comes in twos, whether in sets like man/woman, opposites like black/white, or dark side/bright side in positive-negative contrasts. Pagans observed this latter phenomenon and naturally concluded that reality was dualistic, where good and evil always existed alongside each other as equal powers, and are in eternal conflict. Their pantheons … Read more

The Two Trees

… the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:9) Trees tend to be mere plants to us westerners with little or no spiritual symbolism. Not so with the Hebrews, and for that matter, all ancient peoples. Trees always had … Read more

A Look into the Holy of Holies

And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food … Gen 2:9 It is, therefore, evident that the opinion is false of those who asserted that it made no difference to the truth of the faith what anyone holds about creatures, … Read more

The Garden: The Idea of Sacred Space

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East; and there he put the man he had formed (Gen. 2:8). This grand universe is the cosmic Temple of God! This is the essence of Genesis One. Every inch of it is full of His glory, for He fills all things (Jeremiah 23:23). … Read more