I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 1-3.

    There is beauty in the way in which Genesis 1 describes the creation of the earth and everything in it. It is interesting how closely the order of events resembles current cosmological theories about the formation of the universe. There was a formless void and then God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. Then God separated the earth out from all of the matter in the Universe so that it resembles what we see today. Notice how this was a multi-step process. Plants appeared before any animals, aquatic animals appeared before land animals. Then God created man as the capstone of His creation. According to this account, all animals were vegetarians at this point. Before anyone says, “See, that means we were intended to be vegans,” I want to point out that God said that every seed bearing plant and every fruit was food for the Humans He had made. Yet today, many seeds and fruits are poisonous. Things have changed.

    The second chapter is a different story about how man and woman are meant to be together. Perhaps the best quote which sums up the important message of Genesis chapter 2 comes from Matthew Henry:

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

There is a lot of truth to this. Husband and wife are intended to be partners. I am so glad that God gave me a wife who is my partner.

    Chapter three describes how it all started to go wrong. Adam and Eve had been told that they could eat the fruit of every tree but one. The serpent played on Eve’s curiosity and innocence to convince her to eat of the fruit which they were forbidden to eat. However, I want to make sure that people understand, while Eve was the one who was convinced and ate first, Adam was standing right there the whole time. And it was Adam to whom God gave the command not to eat the fruit (a command which applied to Eve). I have seen too many men stand to the side while their wife was convinced to do something she would later regret (and he often regretted it as well). You can argue that Adam had little choice but to eat the fruit once Eve had done so, but when the serpent was convincing Eve, Adam could have, and should have, spoken up.