Introduction

The second week finished the first creation story. We focused on the seventh day and the meaning of Sabbath.

Chapter 2 is the second creation story and we delved deep into what that means.

Read along to get a sense of the things we reflected on!

This post is a summary of Week 1 of the 2025 Fall Friday series. To learn more about this series, go to the Fall Fridays Main Page.

Sabbath: Spiritual Creation

God created all the materials of the world in six days. But there was a seventh day.

God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it (made it holy). 

What does this reveal?

Creation is not just material creation, but it is also a spiritual creation.

Creation was not complete after the sixth day. The seventh day is what made it complete.

It shows how important that seventh day is.

The seventh day makes the six days meaningful.

In that sense, the seventh day is the MOST important day, because it gives meaning and significance to the other six days.

Therefore, we should take the seventh day seriously.

That is where the term “Sabbath” comes from.

It is a day that God rested.

What does it mean to rest on the Sabbath?

It is to put God at the very center.

It is not about what you do or don’t do. It is about where your heart is.

Worship is at the heart of Sabbath, and God is at the center of worship.

Therefore, we should take worship very seriously. Our hearts should prepare for worship, and we should be fully present in worship.

God created the Sabbath to bless us and bless creation. It is a day we stop striving in the worldly sense.

Since the Sabbath gives meaning to all other days, it is not a day we merely rest so we can be “productive” for the other six days.

Rather, the six days exist for the Sabbath. Our whole week should look in anticipation to the upcoming Sabbath. And the Sabbath should give meaning and significance for our labours during the week. 

We thank God for the gift of Sabbath!

Reflection Question: How can you meaningfully practice the Sabbath?

Two Creation Stories: Two Different Tones

Chapter 2 contains a second creation story. 

The first creation story (chapter 1) is very bright and optimistic.

God said “let there be light”, and there was light!

The first creation story is about the whole cosmos.

The second creation story is exclusively focused on human beings.

It’s like the camera zooms in on people.

It too is overall quite positive. But there are some ominous tones.

The second story foreshadows and anticipates some of the issues to come.

Human Beings: Earthly AND Divine

In the first story, we see human beings created in the image of God. We are God’s glorious creation!

In the second story, we see where we are made of.

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground… (Genesis 2:2)

We are material creatures of the earth. We are basically dirt!

When we die, we go back into the ground, and our flesh becomes dirt. So the Genesis writer was correct.

However, that is not ALL we are.

We are connected to the earth AND God. We have an earthly AND divine existence.

That is what Jesus said:

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. (John 15:4)

Jesus teaches us that our spiritual existence is even MORE important than our earthly existence. He does not deny the importance of our earthly existence. But he argues that we are much more than that.

One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

It Is Not Good To Be Alone

The first creation story focuses on what is good. 

After each day, God said “it is good”.

But at the end of the second creation story, God says “it is NOT good”. 

What is God referring to?

It is not good that the man should be alone.

God created Adam and Eve.

The important thing is not Adam nor Eve.

What’s important is the AND.

Adam AND Eve.

The relationship.

God created the relationship.

This was the most important part of creation for human beings in the second story.

Eve is the translation for the Hebrew word “ezer”. 

Ezer means helper. But not in the sense of someone underneath, or like an employee.

The word Ezer is used in a number of contexts:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)

Ezer: help. 

Eve is like “God helps”. 

We are given relationships to help us through life. We are to help one another. 

When God created Eve, the relationship was beautiful.

This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! (Genesis 2:23)

The relationship was beautiful.

But as we shall see, not all remained beautiful in paradise (Eden).

For that, we will have to wait until chapter 3.

Reflection Question: How can you cultivate good relationships with those around you?