Fall in the Garden...

I was reading again this morning the creation account in Genesis, and several things struck me, but one thought was new and worthy of further consideration... As God spoke creation into being, as he created man and animals, he did so out of the dust of the Earth (Adam: ch.2, v.7- animals: ch.2, v.19), but when he created woman it was out of Adam's rib (Eve: ch.2, v21-22). I think it is interesting that of all God's creation only woman was created out of different material than all the rest of creation, only woman formed out of living organism... Woman was formed out of man, yet is delightfully unique from all of creation! What a blessing! Perhaps we as men have too long done a disservice to our counterparts, holding them as lesser than us rather than acknowledging their wonderful uniqueness- equal but different... Food for thought.

I was also reminded this morning, as I reread this account, that God created man in the wild, and placed him in the Garden, and gave to man the ultimatum not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil before Eve was created... It was man's responsibility to protect that mandate, and though Eve was decieved, Adam was clearly there and did nothing to stop the deception... Though we blame Eve for being the deceived one the reality is that it was Adam's responsibility to protect not only the mandate of God, but also Eve from the deception. Adam failed both Eve and God...

The other thing I found interesting about the whole Garden of Eden account was the incredible size that the Garden must have encompassed. For kicks and giggles I called up a map of the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (two of the four rivers that flowed out of the headwaters of the river that flowed from the Garden of Eden- the other two rivers are not there today) and the area encompassed is huge! Imagine living in a garden that is the size of a good size state! Each day you could explore and experience something new, something fresh, everything there for your delight. It shows how even before the Fall, before the deception, our human nature was to want what we cannot have. Adam and Eve were given everything, but with only one restriction, and they had to break that one restriction. Just like us today...