Week 1 Bible Study Notes - Heart of Wisdom

Genesis 2The First Sabbath DayIn this great religious devotional painting is shown the culmination of the creation of theworld. For six days God labored; and under His hand the earth became a completedwhole, marvelously and wonderfully complete. But the earth had not been made for themere earthly pleasure of man. He, as God’s creature, was to take his place in the greatchoir of the angels worshipping the Almighty.Upon that first Sabbath day the work was ended; and man, the last created being, wassummoned to join in the divine pæan of peace and joy and rest. “And God saw everythingthat he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” So the Master reached forth Hishand and blessed the whole, and Adam and Eve began their life in that primeval happinessand intimacy with God, of which their sin was so soon to deprive them and theworld.C. Gutherz Copyright 1894 Franz HanfstaenglGenesis 2Thus the heavens and the earth werecompleted, and all their hosts.By the seventh day God completed Hiswork which He had done, and Herested on the seventh day from allHis work which He had done.Then God blessed the seventh day andsanctified it, because in it He restedfrom all His work which God hadcreated and made.This is the account of the heavens and theearth when they were created, in theday that the Lord God made earthand heaven.Now no shrub of the field was yet in theearth, and no plant of the field hadyet sprouted, for the Lord God hadnot sent rain upon the earth, andthere was no man to cultivate theground.But a mist used to rise from the earthand water the whole surface of theground.Then the Lord God formed man of dustfrom the ground, and breathed intohis nostrils the breath of life; and manbecame a living being.The Lord God planted a garden toward theeast, in Eden; and there He placedthe man whom He had formed.Out of the ground the Lord God causedto grow every tree that is pleasingto the sight and good for food; thetree of life also in the midst of thegarden, and the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil.Now a river flowed out of Eden to waterthe garden; and from there it dividedand became four rivers.The name of the first is Pishon; it flowsaround the whole land of Havilah,where there is gold.The gold of that land is good; the bdelliumand the onyx stone are there.The name of the second river is Gihon; itflows around the whole land of Cush.The name of the third river is Tigris; itflows east of Assyria. And the fourthriver is the Euphrates.Then the Lord God took the man and puthim into the garden of Eden to cultivateit and keep it.The Lord God commanded the man,saying, “From any tree of the gardenyou may eat freely;but from the tree of the knowledge of goodand evil you shall not eat, for in theday that you eat from it you will surelydie.”Then the Lord God said, “It is not good forthe man to be alone; I will make hima helper suitable for him.”Out of the ground the Lord God formedevery beast of the field and every birdof the sky, and brought them to theman to see what he would call them;and whatever the man called a livingcreature, that was its name.The man gave names to all the cattle, andto the birds of the sky, and to everybeast of the field, but for Adam therewas not found a helper suitable forhim.So the Lord God caused a deep sleep tofall upon the man, and he slept; thenHeartofWisdom.com August 22, 2010

The Four Rivers of EdenHe took one of his ribs and closed upthe flesh at that place.The Lord God fashioned into a woman therib which He had taken from the man,and brought her to the man.The man said,“This is now bone of my bones,And flesh of my flesh;She shall be called Woman,Because she was taken out ofMan.”For this reason a man shall leave hisfather and his mother, and be joinedto his wife; and they shall becomeone flesh.And the man and his wife were both nakedand were not ashamed.The Last Days of CreationWith these two pictures the artist, Burne-Jones, completes his celebrated series of thecreation. Each day is represented by a gigantic angel bearing the globe of the earth,with the work done upon it in that “day.” Thus the fifth angel upholds a world of birdsand fishes, the sixth a world of vaguely shadowed land animals with man rising beforethem all. Each angel, as his day is completed, steps into the background to give placeto the next; but the earlier angels do not disappear, for their worlds are still existent andin harmony with the newer creations. Only the flame fades from their foreheads. Thisflame typifies the creative power, the word of God Himself operating for a moment inthem and through them, in the creation of the world.At the feet of the sixth angel sits a seraph singing; for the work is finished, the time ofrest is come. When God viewed all the work that He had done, He was satisfied. He“saw that it was good.” So on the seventh day God rested, and sanctified that day to bea day of blessing and song and rest for-ever.Sir A. Hamilton