(a) Narrate the second creation story. (b) In what four ways did God provide comfort for man?

Answer Details

(a) The second creation story (Genesis 2:4-25).

1. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
2. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
3. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
4. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and in the midst of the garden the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided into four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates.
5. The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
6. The Lord God commanded the man that he might freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he should not eat, for in the day that he ate of it he would surely die.
7. The Lord God said that it was not good that the man should be alone, and He would make him a helper fit for him.
8. The Lord God formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. But for the man there was not found a helper fit for him.
9. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. From the rib the Lord God made a woman and brought her to the man.
10. The man 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." Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

(b) Four ways God provided comfort for man.

1. He planted a beautiful garden in Eden with pleasant, fruit-bearing trees and placed man in it to enjoy.
2. He provided food by allowing man to eat freely of every tree of the garden except one.
3. He gave man meaningful work by putting him in the garden to till it and keep it.
4. He provided companionship by creating the woman as a suitable helper, so that man would not be alone.
5. He provided water through the river that flowed out of Eden to water the garden.