Do you ever wonder how important you are? When we view the universe, and the billions of people that have preceded us, how important are you really? You may find yourself with David asking the question, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:3-4). We can balance this out with David's other claim that, "we are fearfully and wonderfully made" in Psalm 139:14. We can look to God's love and provision. Reflect upon the sacrifice of Messiah and His resurrection. There are a number of places we can go to bask in the wonder of God's care and interest in humanity. Yet, in all the places we go to we may pass over the one that really began it all, way back in Genesis chapter two.
My last post spent a little time reminding us to consider the Creator there in Genesis one rather than a focus on the creation. Chapter two in Genesis has invited some interesting commentary and a bit of criticism as well. For some, it seems to be in conflict with the creation account. For others it is a curious expansion on what was already given. For most we just read it and move on to chapter three. However, if you take the time to go back and consider the context of the time and culture it is an amazing bit of prose that the Lord gives us to let us know just how special we are.
The summery of Genesis one gives us the record of day six in God's creative process. Here we read that God made all the critters, according to their kind, and then decided to make man in His image. Man is given stewardship over it all and told that man and beast will be vegetarians. God saw all he made, and it was very good. Chapter two starts off with the record that "God rested", which has given theologians pause as to why God would need to rest. How can an omnipotent being need a nap? I doubt that the creation of woman exhausted Him to the point that He needed to recover, as some comedians have suggested. That is a post for another day. From verse 4 on God gives us a little history as to how exactly man can to be and the responsibilities he was to carry. It gives us the account of Adam naming all the animals and being found alone. For the first time God sees something that was "not good". Man needed a special companion. God borrows a rib from Adam and forms Eve, his ideal helper and companion.
It is nice story, but why is it here? One again it helps if we do a little mental time travel and join the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai, out there in the wilderness. The are standing in the fearful shadow of the Almighty. After about 400 years of slavery and oppression they have been set free. As we saw in Genesis chapter one, they know that their God is the Lord of all creation, maker of heaven and earth. He is greater and more powerful than any of the Egyptian gods or goddesses. However, He is also the intimate and personal God who made them, not just as a random thought of creative power but as a special creation in God's image holding the very breath of God to animate their beings. As believers we likely take this for granted. However, this was not the usual story at the time of the Israelites standing in the wilderness. Genesis chapter two sets Jewish theology apart from every other middle-eastern culture and tradition. No other people group has the creation of humanity as a special act of the divine. The Egyptians, Hittites, Philistines, the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans and every other culture had mythologies and doctrines about their gods and goddesses. None of them hold an account of humanity as a special creative act of their gods or goddesses. Humans were simply pawns or toys for the gods and goddesses to torment or play with. These deities could do what they wanted and humanity had to guess what might please them. Their subjects often lived in fear, offering whatever they could to appease the current mood of their gods. The god's could take a liking to them and cohabit with them and produce demigods if they so desired. Human beings were of little value and easily replaced.
As they leave Egypt, the nations surrounding Israel, the Hittites, Philistines, Jebusites and all the rest of the kingdoms of Canaan, hold nothing special for mankind. For them there is no story of creation, no awesome act to form them in their mother's wombs. No breath of God to give them life and make them living beings in God's very image. They are just objects with no recorded beginning. They may well have a fearful end in the hands of fickle divinities who will eventually grow tiered of them and end their lives. This holds true for the nations yet to come. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans have no special origin of humanity. God's message to Israel, and to us, is that you are special. You have a beginning. You were carefully and intentionally designed and given life by the God who loves you and cares deeply about you.
As we approach Resurrection Sunday his truth is multiplied beyond measure. No other god or goddess came for you. None of them suffered, died, and rose again for you. None of them sacrificed themselves so you could be forgiven and restored to the God Who made you. Genesis chapter two is the amazing account of the divine creation of man. It is the unveiling of the heart of a God Who saw that, for all the wonder of creation, it was not good for man to be alone. It is the love story between God and man and the provision of a woman specifically designed for him that they would complete each other and be more than they could be alone. It is the record of this Creative God placing them in a garden and giving them all they needed to be fulfilled. No other culture, nation, or people knew of this remarkable reality of the devotion and provision of the Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth.
You are special, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
