Genesis 2
Day 7: God Rests
So the earth and the rest of the universe were completed along with all of their inhabitants. On the seventh day, God’s work had already been completed, so he rested from everything he had done. Then God honored the seventh day and set it apart since that was the day he rested after working and creating.
This concludes the account of how God, the Existing One, fashioned the earth and the rest of the universe.
God Plants Trees & Creates Man
Plants hadn’t sprouted yet because the Existing One hadn’t sent rain yet and there weren’t any people to cultivate the land. (In those days, a mist used to rise from the ground to irrigate it.)
So the Existing One sculpted mankind from the dirt and blew the spirit of life into his nostrils, causing him to become a living soul. The Existing One planted an ancient garden in Eden [which means “pleasure”], and God took the man and put him in the garden.
Then the Existing One caused all the trees to grow out of the ground. The garden had trees that produced food, trees that were just for the sake of beauty, a “Life Tree,” and a “Morality Enlightenment Tree.”
There was a river that flowed out of Eden to irrigate the garden and from there it split into four rivers to rule the region:
The first was Pishon [which means “increase”]. It encircled the entire region of Havilah [probably northwest Iran] where there is gold, onyx stone, and bdellium (which is used in fragrances).
The second was Gihon [which means “bursting forth”]. It encircled the entire region of Cush [Ethiopia].
The third was Tigris [which means “rapid”]. It flows east of Assyria [northern Iraq].
The fourth was Euphrates [which means “fruitfulness”].
When the Existing One put the man in Eden’s garden to cultivate it and maintain it, God instructed him,
“You’re welcome to eat from any tree in the garden except for the Morality Enlightenment Tree. The day that you eat from it will be the day that you die.”
God Makes Woman
Then the Existing One said,
“It isn’t good for the man to be by himself. I’ll make him a corresponding helper.”
So the Existing One started sculpting all kinds of lifeforms out of the ground. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called them became their names. The man named the behemoths, the birds, and all the other wild animals, but a corresponding helper for Adam was nowhere to be found. So the Existing One put Adam into a trance that caused him to fall into a deep sleep. Then God took one of Adam’s ribs and closed up his flesh. The Existing One took the rib and reconfigured it into a woman. God presented her to the man, and Adam said,
“Her essence resonates with mine down to the bone!
And even her body corresponds with my own.
‘Woman’ is what her name will be,
Since I am ‘man’ and she was pulled out from me.”
To this day, that’s why a man leaves his parents and sticks with his wife—together, the two of them make up one body.
The man and his wife were naked together—completely unashamed.
Related Articles (coming soon):
Husband and Wife Make Up One Body