Transcription
Hey guys, welcome back to our Messiah in Genesis study. In our last episode, we looked at how the very first words of the Bible hint at a God who's more complex than we might think. A unity that includes his spirit, his word interacting in creation. Ancient Jewish commentators even picked up on this mystery. Today, we're going to take that conversation a step further and see how this idea unfolds.
When we picture Genesis 2, we often imagine a beautiful garden, a paradise scene, the creation of man and woman. But Genesis 2 isn't about paradise only. It's about God's desire to dwell among his people. So that fractal, that picture of God being himself in relationship, a fellowship, is now expanding to include us. Ariel, can you read Genesis 2:7-9 for us, please?
Yeah, let's read it. Okay. The And the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east. And there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
So this isn't just a description of creation. It's a description of a relationship. God forms man from the dust. God breathes his own breath into him. So right off the bat, it's personal. It's intimate. It's hands-on. And when we look closer, Genesis 2 gives us even more understanding of the role that God created for us. In verse 15, it says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." So the Hebrew words here are avad to serve and shamar to guard. And these aren't just like gardening words, right? They're the exact same words used for the priests working in the tabernacle. In Numbers 3:7-8, it says, "They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle." So in those two verses, it's repeated twice, avad and shamar. Avad and shamar. In other words, Adam is being placed in the garden like a priest to serve and guard this sacred space. The garden itself is a kind of temple, right? A holy place where God's presence dwells with humanity. It's beautiful.
And then we keep going in the passage and we come to what is some of the most puzzling language I think in Genesis. Yeah. The creation of woman where it describes God taking a rib from Adam to create woman. And I think this has confused a lot of people cuz they're like, why a rib? Do men have less ribs than women? like like as if it's like an anatomy thing, but really in the Hebrew the word is not rib as in a piece, you know, a literal part of your anatomy. The word is side. And the way that this word is used in scripture is to describe the sides of places where God's sacred presence is supposed to dwell. It's the same word in Hebrew, tsela, that's used to describe the sides of the ark of the covenant, the sides of the altar, the sides of the tabernacle. So God isn't just taking a bone from Adam. He's he's splitting him into two sides just like the two sides of the ark of the covenant in which dwelled the glory of God.
So then when the man says, "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh," he's not really being poetic. He's actually being precise or literal. She's his other side or like you know how we say she's my other half. You know I would say that about my wife. She's my other half. Maybe even my better half. Um, but together we form a unity, right? Man and woman form a unity that carries God's presence just like the tabernacle does.
I think another way that understanding the original text, the the meaning in Hebrew is very helpful is when we look at Genesis 2:18. God says that he's going to make the man a helper. And in English, I think sometimes people read this word helper and they think that it means like like a secretary. Like the man was in the garden and he needed a secretary, so they made woman. But this is not at all what's implied in the Hebrew. The word in Hebrew would be much more accurately translated. It's the word ezer. Uh it'd be better translated ally because this word is used 21 times in the Bible. 16 of those times are talking about God himself like when he says I am your shield and ezer right like I am your ally and then there's a few times in the text where it refers to actual military allies and the only time this this word is ever used for an individual is in Genesis when it talks about the creation of women. So ezer in the context of the Hebrew scriptures refers to someone who's supposed to stand by your side in battle. Wow.
This really changes the whole conversation, I think, about power and gender because a lot of times people today are looking at the Bible and they're coming to try to ask a question of the text. Well, what does the Bible say about who has the power in relationships? Well, this is also a way that people can take the Bible out of context and use it for for evil things, you know, such as in slavery in the past and so forth. You can take a Bible a Bible verse out of context and use it for your own benefit. And so I I like where you're going with this that it's not about having power over somebody else. Um, but what does the Bible say about who's supposed to have power in society?
Well, Genesis 2 shows us something that's radically different from our concept of power, right? Because it's saying the true power is not from the two sides. It's what's inside. Right? the the sides are balancing each other out to create sacred space for God's presence. It's like fighting side by side in battle. They're each sharing the weight of something sacred.
Right. Right. So, obviously, this can apply to like men and women in marriage. Um, but I think that there's also an even bigger picture here. Like God's power is designed to emerge through self-sacrificing love. And this idea doesn't just stay in Genesis. It's woven all the way through the Bible. You know, God's love towards us isn't demonstrated in dominion, domination, control, but through his faithfulness to us.
That's right. And so, when we get to the New Testament and we see this idea of Jesus giving his life for us, it's not a new idea. It's the same pattern revealed from the very beginning. This idea that the ultimate act of power is to serve, is to stand side by side. Jesus said about himself, "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Yeah. And it's also this concept of God desiring to dwell among his people that runs through the entire Bible. So, let's read Exodus 25:8. It says here, "And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." V'shachanti. So, dwell among them. The root here shakan means to dwell and it's the same root behind the word shekhinah or shakina, the name used in Jewish tradition for God's manifest relational presence and even in modern Hebrew the word neighbor or close dweller is shachen from the same root. And in later Jewish writings the targums the midrashim and even the cabbalistic texts describe how God's like his word or memra like we said in our previous episode was a way that he drew close to his people. And some cabbalistic or Jewish mystical texts even identify a figure called the Metatron. Um, an angelic figure who embodies God's voice and presence as a manifestation of the shekhinah or the shkhina in human form.
Okay. Wait, let me just make sure that I understand that cuz that's really fascinating. So in Jewish mysticism, there's a figure called the Metatron, which is an embodiment of God's voice and his glory in human form. Right. Right. And so our faith as Jewish believers in Jesus is not remote, and it's not disconnected from Jewish philosophy, theology, and even Jewish rabbinic commentary. And that's why John's gospel says, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." And the Greek word here, eskenosen, means he pitched his tent. A direct echo of the Mishkan, God dwelling with his people in the wilderness. So this isn't a coincidence. It's continuity, right? God's plan for his creation has never changed. It's always been about dwelling with us.
Well, and so Genesis 2, it's really showing us more than just how men and women were created. It's revealing the intent that people um were always supposed to be dwelling with God and not just as individuals actually as a community. And that when we live in right relationship with God, with one another, we become a living temple.
That's right. The God who filled the tabernacle with his glory is the same God who still longs to dwell with each and every one of us today. And through Jesus, the one who gave his life as a ransom for many, he's made a way for us to be restored to him so that his spirit can dwell within us. The invitation is open and that's our invitation to our viewers. Will you accept that invitation and invite God to dwell within you? Adam and Eve were created to be in relationship with each other and with God. And that's why we were created to enjoy relationships, to enjoy love, and to dwell in God's presence. But in Genesis 3, we see all of that starts to fall apart. That's where we're going to pick up in our next episode. And a lot of people don't realize this is the passage that contains the very first messianic prophecy in all of scripture. So join us next time. And in the meantime, like, subscribe, share this content, and we'll see you soon.