On Point EVENING BIBLE STUDY HOMEWORK

Week 4 (9/23)
Life in the Garden
Scripture Passage: Genesis 2:4-17

Week Four: September 23-29, 2009

1. Read through the passage. How is this passage different from the pattern we have
seen in describing the acts of creation so far?

It is almost like God pressed the rewind button and now He is taking us back to the
details of the sixth day of creation. Let’s open our hearts, minds and spirits to why these
details are important to understanding ourselves and God better.

2. What day were the scrubs and plants created? (Genesis 1:9-13).

What was the purpose of the scrubs and plants according to Genesis 1:29-30?

3. Why had the scrubs not spouted yet according to Genesis 2:5?

Considering that God’s description of His sinless creation (Genesis 1-2) included
scrubs that required man to help them become what they were created to be; how
is man’s need to work the ground good and not evil?

What is the first reference to work and who was doing it? (Genesis 2:3)

How does our purpose and relationship to work relate to the image of God?

4. Genesis 2:5 contains the first mention of a man. What is the context of the first
mention of man?

5. Next week we will look at Genesis 2:18-25 in detail, but for comparison’s sake,
what is the context for the first mention of a woman—Genesis 2:18?
On Point EVENING BIBLE STUDY HOMEWORK
Week 4 (9/23)

6. As you think about the first mention of a man in the context of cultivating plants
—making something happen, and the first mention of a woman in the context of
relationship—helper, reliever of loneliness, what insight does that give you about
the major stereotypes of men and women?

7. How was the earth watered before God sent rain and created man? (Genesis 2:6)

How does the fact that cultivating and growing plants depends on man’s work and
God’s work reveal that we bear the image of God in a unique way from His other
creation?

8. How does Genesis 2:7 report that the man was created? What two physical acts
does God describe Himself as doing?

What does man become as a result of these two actions?

What details of how He created man did God describe differently than all other
actions of creation?

How is man’s “living beingness” different than the way a plant is a living being,
or a dog is a living being?

9. Describe the garden that God made for the man? What details are given? What
trees were in the middle of the garden (this will become an even more important
detail when we study Genesis 3)? Describe the rivers and where they originated.
(Genesis 2:8-14)

Trees
On Point EVENING BIBLE STUDY HOMEWORK
Week 4 (9/23)

Trees in the Middle of the Garden

Rivers and Names, descriptions

10. What two reasons did God give for putting man in the garden? (Genesis 2:15)

11. What was man free to do while he lived in the garden? (Genesis 2:16)

12. What was man not free to do? Why? (Genesis 2:17)

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF THE WEEK: Care of the Earth

From the beginning of creation God has placed the responsibility for the care of the earth
into the hands of man (Genesis 2:15). We honor God for giving us the gifts of this
creation when we obey Him by caring for the earth. We need to think of the generations
that will come after us as we practice the discipline of caring for the earth. Perhaps you
practice this discipline already and just haven’t thought of it as a spiritual discipline or a
way your honor and worship God. For example if you recycle, you are caring for the
earth. Caring for the earth involves a loving or caring dominion and honoring the earth
as belonging to God and considering how you live today and use the earth’s resources
will effect future generations. Picking up a piece of litter is caring for the earth. Ask
God to open your eyes to way you can have dominion in a caring way. Ask Him to help
you see the litter, or show you a place you can plant a flower to make your workplace or
home more beautiful. Ask God to open your eyes to the provisions He has given you in
creation and for Him to show you a way to care for what you see.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the
creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one
who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to
decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
The Apostle Paul, Romans 8:19-21