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ND the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:21-25)
At the beginning of the pre-Deluvian era, the earth was void and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Just how long the earth had lingered in this morass of water vapors, atrophied elements and marshes of suspended gases and dissolved earth, we do not know. It was the Beginning! We might normally expect that God would never have created such a molten globe in its imperfection since all that He does is perfect What caused the earth to be void and without form is not our business, else the Lord would have told us. But we do know that the six day Creation of the world began when the earth was in that state. The more science is able to uncover truths buried in the sands of time from that moment, the more certain one can be of the veritable truth of the six-day Creation. The Earth was shrouded in heavy darkness – darkness so smothering that one could have cut it with a butcher’s knife. There were no moon or stars to illumine the night sky. There were no heavenly bodies at all when the Creation moment began in God’s time.
One thing we know: God began the Creation of the world, and all things thereon, in abject darkness. The world stood apart from God in the beginning and lacked the improving touch of His mighty creative imagination. In fact, all things remain in darkness unless acted upon by God Almighty for God is Light! God gives us a perfect chronological table of Creation which science, after long-suffering to prove otherwise, has begrudgingly come to admit is unchallenged in its accuracy.
God created a beautiful world for His crowning achievement of Creation – Man. The air was clear and pristine; the waters flowed in rivers of pure abundance to water the Garden eastward in Eden which God had prepared as a Paradise for man to live. He divided the waters from the waters above and those below. There was no rain in those days since there were likely no clouds. Many scientists speculate that there was a layer of water above the firmament to shield the world from toxic sunrays and to maintain a constant temperature perfect for life. This was broken up during the days of the Flood; however, God made a heavy dew to arise at night to water the Garden and all plant life. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2:4 -6)
On the sixth day of Creation, God created animal life to wander the earth and to be pets and helpers for man – and He also created man on that same day. Those pets we love and cherish were likewise created, cell-by-cell, in their mother’s womb just as is man.
Now, the Lord God only created one man in the beginning, but He saw that man would need a helpmeet and a support – someone to claim as the darling of his heart. So God created woman (womb-man) from the opening of the man’s side from which He took a rib to create woman.
God named the man ADAM meaning ruddy or earthy, since he was created from the dust of the earth. Adam named his bride, EVE, which means Giver of Life. Without woman, there would be no man to populate the earth. God had planned it this way from the beginning; He therefore created one man for one woman to be a model for our Lord’s Bride, the Church which was also created from the wounded side of our Lord. Noteworthy is the fact that both Adam and Eve shared the same name - ADAM. (see Genesis 5:2) So in Christian lands, the man and woman claim the same last name.
I have often written of a beautiful river in Persia (modern Iran) called the Zayanderud (Giver of Life). Flying across the desert on my military missions, I saw a green belt of vegetations perhaps five miles wide on either side of the river as it meandered through the dry and desolate desert dunes and sands. Everywhere that river went, it gave life-giving water. It died in a dead sea (Ghav Khuni – blood of an Ox) some one hundred miles from its source - the melting snows from the heights of the Zagross Mountain Range to the west (biblical Elam) of Esfahan. That river also could be compared to the life of Christ which was brief but life-giving. He died for us in the wilderness of our sins and purchased, thereby, our salvation.
God had commanded Adam not to eat of only ONE tree in the Garden. Even that one commandment, Adam could not keep. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17) I call the reader’s remembrance to the fact that there were TWO trees in the midst of the Garden – the Tree of Life (representing our Lord Jesus Christ and whom we memorialize with lighted and decorated trees at Christmas) and the other Tree of ill wind to all.
Adam and Eve represent the prototype of mankind from the beginning. It would have been Adam’s responsibility to emphasize to Eve the importance of avoiding that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil. It seems that he had definitely warned her, but with what emphasis I am not certain. God had commanded the same to Eve. You may not have noticed, but I can tell you from my own observations that the distaff of the gentler sex does not suffer from a lack of curiosity. They desire to know EVERYTHING – where we have been, whom we met, what we said, how long were we there, etc., etc. Eve was no exception. Instead of going before the Tree of Life, perhaps her curiosity was pricked by the commandment AGAINST eating or touching that bad tree. Her first mistake was mental. She determined to WALK to the tree. She STOPPED before the ill-natured Tree. She LISTENED to the voice from behind the Tree. She conversed with that Voice and allowed her soul to be tempted thereby. The Voice (Serpent) first question what God had said (as our modern bible perversions do). Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? God had said no such thing. God had said the couple could only not eat of the very Tree before which Eve stood. The Serpent then MISQUOTES Scripture. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Eve was thusly seduced by the Serpent. Her curiosity and trusting heart knew no compass. She ate of the fruit of the Tree and gave to Adam.
These two had been naked from the beginning in the Garden, but felt no shame, for they knew only ONE moral law which was to avoid the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Where no law exists, or has not been given, there is no sin. But when the couple ate of that Tree, their eyes were, indeed opened, and their countenance fell and their faces turned crimson with shame. Hiding from God was not a very successful ploy for them, or for us. Sewing fig leaves together to cover their nakedness (sin) was a great failure as well since mankind cannot cover its own sin. God then gives us the first manifestation of the sacrifice of His only Begotten Son some four thousand years hence by taking the life of an innocent animal that He no doubt loved, but found necessary as a temporary covering for the sins of Adam and Eve. The death of the innocent animal provided a covering for the pair.
One last point: Eve was deceived by the Serpent, but Adam was not. You may wonder why we do not ordain women to the ministry? It is not because they are bad. They have overly-trusting hearts and can be deceived by a sweet and gentle voice. Paul tells us outright. We do not base our doctrine on this alone, but other revelations which are beyond the scope of this devotion: But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:12-15) I have heard Paul’s counsel assailed by many proponents of women ordination, but they seldom quote the passage fully. Instead, they say Paul made reference to some local dispute; but the verses that follow in context explain WHY Paul gave the counsel. But without the love and nurture of women, this old world would be in a more sorrowful state (uninhabited) than it is today. It would be without form and void.
