Page 10 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

his transcendence or greatness with the name “Elohim” and emphasizes his immanence or personal
involvement with “Yahweh.” The apparent conflict disappears and adds theological meaning to the
account of creation.

As the scriptures continue, we learn much more. Revelation clarifies God the Father’s purpose in
creation to honor God the Son (Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2-3). He says to all of creation, “Look at my Son, isn’t he
marvelous?” But already in these first verses of Genesis, a basis is laid for understanding life that is quite
different from the creation stories of other ancient nations and from modern science.

One more day is left in the week of creation, the seventh day. The heavens and earth are finished, and
God rests. Here we find the first occurrence of a unique word, one of the most important in scripture.
God makes the seventh day “holy.” The seventh day is special, different from all the other days. We are
rightly impressed with a spoken word that brings about light. We are rightly impressed with the creation
of humans in the image of God. Yet in none of the other days of creation does God make “holy.” Resting
is special, uncommon.

We will have to wait for later parts of the Pentateuch to learn more about the Sabbath. Many chapters
are spent on this topic. At this point we simply emphasize the core idea of holiness: a time or place or
person identified as special. “Everything God made, as recorded in Genesis, he called good. Only the
Sabbath, however, he sanctified, indicating perhaps that the climax of creation was not the creation of
man, as is often stated, but the day of rest, the seventh day. The Sabbath is thus an invitation to rejoice
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in God’s creation and recognize God’s sovereignty over our time.”

Now our attention is turned to Adam’s situation. He is alone on the earth, the only “living being” (2:7). In
God’s view this loneliness is “not good” (2:18). Adam needs a “helper suitable to him” (2:18). The
animals, also “formed out of the ground” (2:19), are brought before Adam to be named. Among them
no “suitable helper” is found (2:20).

The word “helper” is most frequently used to describe Yahweh’s relationship to Israel. He is Israel’s
help(er) because he is the stronger one (Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7, 26, 29; Ps. 33:20; 115:9-11; 124:8;
146:5). The word is used less frequently for human helpers, and even here, the helper is one appealed
to because of superior military strength (Isa. 30:5) or superior size (Ps. 121:1). God’s purpose is for
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Adam to have someone alongside of him to take care of the garden. Made in God’s image, she is his
equal in creation, like him above all plants and animals.

This is an expansion of 1:26-27. God’s creation of male (Adam) and female (Eve) is designed to be a
partnership. Adam is taken physically from the “dust of the ground” (2:7) and Eve is
taken from “one of the man’s ribs” (2:21). Neither is involved in creating the other.
Adam identifies Eve as “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (2:23). She is like
him and unlike the animals he has already named. Her similarity to him is not just in
her physical nature but in the human characteristic of relationship. The phrase is
repeated later in the OT to refer to family ties that carry expectations of commitment
beyond what is convenient (Gen. 29:14; Judg. 9:2; 2 Sam. 5:1; 19:12-13).

9 Hamilton, “vbt,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. Harris, et al, (Chicago: Moody, 1980), 2:903.
10 Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17; (Grand Rapids: Erdmann, 1990), p. 176.

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