Bible 101

Bible 101 – The Books of the Law

GenesisIn the Beginning…

Bible 101

The seventh dayGen 2:1-3

• Vs. 1-2– God was not tired:

• He ended His work• He rested from His work• Never sleeps or slumbers (ref)

• Vs. 3– Sabbath is a sign to the Jews, not the church– A day off is a good thing– Ex 31:12

• Sign between God and the Jew• Keep it for it is holy, those who profane it will be cut off (put to death)• Children of Israel

– Ezek 20 :12-17• God’s anger towrds them for vs.13

– Rebelled against Me– Did not walk in my statutes– Despised My Judgments – Greatly profaned My Sabbaths

– 2 Chron 36:17 – Reason for the Babylonian Exile• Vs. 21 – one reason for the exile was that the land was denied its Sabbaths (Sabbath years)

• Legalists – Should we keep the Sabbath? – naaa!– Seventh Day Adventists make a big deal about it– Rom 14: ; Col 2:16; Heb 12:18– No command or teaching for or against the Sabbath for the Church

• I have celebrated Shabat with some friends who were Messianic Jews… it was great

Bible 101

Creation of ManGen 2:4-7

• Vs. 4 How did we get Chapter 2?– possibly written by Adam, seems to be written by an eye witness

• Not necessary, God could have revealed it to Moses just like He revealed the future events of the book of Revelation to John

– Another issue that comes up – JEDP Theory• http://www.theopedia.com/JEDP_Theory• Without a WHOLE lot of boring details – comes down to this – a scholar who didn’t believe that Moses came up

with a hypothesis on how The first five books of the Bible were compiled.– Jesus quotes from all the books of the Law (the first 5 books) and attributes them to Moses

• Matt 19:3-9 Moses wrote Deuteronomy• Mark 1:44 – Moses wrote Leviticus• Mark 7 9-12 – Moses wrote Exodus and Deuteronomy• John 7:19 – Jesus says Moses gave you the Law (common name for the first 5 books of the Bible)• Rom 10:5 Paul says that Moses wrote the Law• http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/moses.html

• Vs.5-6 what day are we on?– Day 2 or early day 3 right?– How was the ground watered? (vs.6)

• Vs. 7 When was man created? (day 6)• So we have a little more detail about two separate things

– God’s watering system• Understand that there was No rain until chapter 7 (flood)

– Understand a little more about Noah’s experience - Imagine him saying “water will fall from the sky…”• Understand how God made man

– What? Is God making mud pies? – does this sound very “scientific” to you?– Actually it is… Simple, but accurate

» We in our wisdom have discovered that all the elements that make up a man are found in dirt

Bible 101

Garden of EdenGen 2:8-9

• Vs. 8 Eden means “delight”– So the garden of Eden means…

• vs. 9 Again… what day would we be on in– Day 6 at the earliest because man is there, possibly day 8 or later?– SO… we are not seeing the events of day three in vs.9– So what are we seeing? The planting of the garden

• So what was the garden like?– Pretty trees (planted every tree that was pleasant to the eye and good for food)– Tree of life

• Gen 3:22 – could grant eternal life to the cursed man• Rev 2:7 – says that one of the rewards of the over comer will be to eat from it, in the

paradise of God• Rev 22 – Tells us exactly where “they” will be found next.• Mentioned again in Rev 22:14 as a right of him who can enter the city of God.• Ezekiel 47:1-12 – Earthly version (Millennium)

– Tree of the knowledge of good and evil – NOT a test, a choice– River (must have been quite a flow)

• Splits into four rivers from there… more on that in a bit.– Gold and Gems in the land of Havila– Q). What’s this sound like? (minus the tree of the knowledge of good and evil)

• Heaven?

Bible 101

Where is Eden?Gen 2:10-14

• Vs. 10-14 Where is Eden? Eastward– Possibly east of Canaan or the Sinai Peninsula (If Moses wrote this from the

desert during the wildernes wandering).• Moses mentions 4 rivers in vs. 11-13 – we know of 2 of them

– Euphrates – all our Middle east vets know about that one…– Dan 4 tells us that the Hiddekel is the Tigris, but the current one is flowing

N-S not east• Remember that the flood could have (probably did) changed their courses• Our rivers today could be named for rivers that existed pre-flood • Its very likely that many of the post-flood areas were named for Pre-flood places

• Eden was the source of the rivers…– One river went out from Eden and split into 4.

• Different people locate Eden all over the Middle East, Turkey, Iran– More popular ones I remember was Kuwait, between the Euphrates and

Tigris rivers… – That is near the end of the rivers, not near the source

• Bottom Line - I don’t think its possible to locate Ancient Eden– The Flood destroyed it– The Flood changed the markers to lead us to the spot it was on

Bible 101

Bible 101

Man in the gardenGen 2:15-25

• Vs. 15-16 Man’s Job – tend and keep it– Gave Adam a job, Adam the first man served God

• Probably wasn’t too difficult, God watered it, no weeds to pull…• Like serving him today… WE make it hard, but its not intended to be.

– Gives us His Spirit, wisdom (if we will ask), a spiritual gift (intended area of service)– We make it hard when we decide what WE are going to do for God and we don’t ask for help

or seek Him out about it.

• Vs. 17 But there was one rule…– Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (vs.17)– Why did God put the tree there?

• Gayle Erwin story – beans up the nose – Tell me NOT to do something then what is the first thing im going to do?

– Is God cruel?• Not at all look at the situation:

– Perfect Garden, good food, a purpose, animals, perfect climate, tree of Life– Best of all - daily face to face fellowship w/ God– But Love is a choice – Love is not good if its forced or automatic– The tree was what God put in the garden to ensure we were there by choice – it was the way

out (more on that next week)

– The choice had a penalty – you shall surely die.• Did Adam die? What death was he talking about?• Adam lived 930 years (Gen 5:3-4)

Bible 101

Eve is built• Vs. 18-19 It is NOT good that man should be alone (first NOT good)

– God didn’t want Adam to be alone, came up with an interesting exercise: He had him name all the creatures on earth

– Why?• ALONE, I got you God… We can fish, we can eat, we don’t have to say excuse me

• Vs 20 As he started naming, he would have noticed each male had a female version that was made just for the male.

– No mate was found for Adam from the animals God had made• Vs.21 God does the first surgery…

– Familiar deep sleep• JFB say that Adam may have seen the procedure (heb. word implies that he was in a trance)

– No matter what happens, Adam would always know that the are more alike than they are different• God removes the rib

– Not from his hand – she is not a handmaiden or slave– Not from his foot – she is not to be a doormat– From his side – that is where she is supposed to be at his side and near his heart

• Interesting comparison – Jesus also received a wound in his side in the process of getting His bride

• Vs. 22 Makes (lit. builds) the woman from the rib– She wasn’t made of the dust… she was made of Adam (no dirt boy comments now…)– Imagine the scene when Adam woke up– When he named Eve… literally the words are Ish (man – husband) and Isha (woman-wife)

• Dumb Question - Do men have one less rib than women?– No, in fact I’m told that if you lose one of you lower ribs, it will grow back…

Bible 101

Rib can also mean “side”

• Word for Rib can also mean “side”– Both Hebrew and Greek, (Septuagint) Greek word only

means side.– Ken Graves make a great point about the side

• Thru the Word, God is portrayed as a Masculine God– Power, strength, endurance, judgement

• The Bible aslo gives God some qualities that are considered Feminine, He is:

– Gentle, nurturing, loving• Ken suggests what God removed the feminine side of

Adam– If Adam had been made in God’s image, he may have had

both “sides”• Perhaps this is why man is only complete when he has

“become one” with his wife and the two sides are united.

Bible 101

Leave and cleave• Vs. 23-24 she is:

– Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh– Still the same today – we become one in marriage– Oneness supersedes all earthly relationships:

• Mom and Dad– Doesn’t mean you ignore them, don’t have time for them,

disrespect them– Don’t run to them anymore

» Denise and I in Germany– husbands (esp. with Mom)

• Friends• Children

– Doesn’t mean you neglect them– You don’t put them above your spouse– wives (esp w/ sons)

• Spouse is our First ministry, Second Love (Jesus is first), First priority

– Do I do this perfectly – I wish, but I am still working on this too