The Creation of Adam and Eve
Just the gist (for small children and others with tiny attention spans):
God created Adam and Eve.
For those that can handle just a bit more:
“Then the Lord formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
God put the man into the garden of Eden and then filled it with the best plants for looking at and for food including two trees important to our story: The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God told the man to take care of the garden and politely asked him to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The man could literally eat anything, anything at all in that garden and from any other tree. He just had to leave that one tree alone. Seems like a pretty good deal. Live forever in paradise, don’t eat from that one tree.
Covenant Alert! Many scholars believe there is an implied covenant between God and Adam. As long as he did not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam would live in a perfect world with all of his needs met both spiritually and physically by God.
God didn’t think it was good for the man to be alone so he made all the animals to keep the man company but alas, none could provide the love, help and companionship the man needed to be whole. God wanted the man to learn he was different from the animals. His companion would have to be specially made to suit him.
God caused the man to fall asleep with a kind of God-anesthesia, and took one of his ribs, closing up the hole with flesh. From the man’s rib, God made a woman and brought her to the awakened man.
The man was excited and said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23)
“Bones of my bones and flesh of my flesh” is Bible talk for a marriage ceremony so, clearly, Adam liked her.
Married and in right-relation with God, the two ran around the garden innocent and in their created-day suits. But pre-fig leaf fashion is not Christmas talk, so we’ll move on with our story.
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