(2:2) "He rested."
Even God gets tired sometimes.
Does God work on the Sabbath?
(2:4-25) "These are the generations"
The second creation account. Compare
with Genesis 1:1-2:3 in which the order of events is entirely different.
The two creations
(2:5-7)
"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth"
In chapter 1 plants are created on the third day before humans are created on the sixth. But in
chapter 2 the order is reversed.
When were plants created?
(2:7, 18-22) "God formed man of the dust of the ground."
In the first creation story, God makes humans (male and female) after the
other animals; in the second, God makes a man first, then the other animals, and then a woman.
Were humans created before or after the other animals?
But humans were not created instantaneously from dust and breath, but evolved over millions of years from simpler life
forms.
(2:9) "The tree of life ... and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
God created two magic trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Eat from the first, and you become a god and live forever
(3:22); eat from the second and you'll die the same day (2:17). (Or that's what God said, anyway.
Adam ate from the tree of knowledge and yet he didn't die. In fact he lived for another 930 years or so (5:5). But Adam
never got a chance to eat from the tree of life. God kicked him out of the garden before he could eat from that tree, become a god, and
live forever.)
(2:15) "To dress it and to keep it"
Some believers claim that this verse
requires them to be environmentalists.
(2:17a) "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it."
Why not? What's wrong with knowing right from wrong?
(2:17b) "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
God says that if Adam eats from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, then the day that he does so, he will die. But later
Adam eats the forbidden fruit (3:6) and yet lives for another 930 years (5:5).
May Adam eat from any tree?
(2:18) "It is not good that man should be alone."
Is marriage a good thing?
(2:19) "Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast."
From what were the animals created?
(2:19-20) "God ... brought them unto Adam to see what he would
call them."
After making the animals, God has Adam name them all. The naming of several million species must have kept Adam busy for a while.
But animals were not created instantaneously from the ground, but evolved over millions of years. And we still don't have names for all of them.
Ten thousand new species of insects are discovered and named each year.
(2:19-22) "But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."
God makes the animals and parades them before Adam to see if any would strike his fancy. But none seem to have what it
takes. (Although he was tempted to go for the sheep.)
When were humans created?
When was Eve created?
(2:22) God fashions a woman out of one of Adam's ribs.
Because of this story, it was commonly believed (and sometimes it is still said today) that males have one less
rib than females. When Vesalius showed in 1543 that the number of ribs was the same in males and females, it created a storm
of controversy.
When will Armageddon occur?
(2:22) "The rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman."
God made only one woman to be Adam's helpmeet.
Is polygamy OK?
(2:25) "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
What the Bible says about nudism