Genesis 1&2 - thoughts & meditations

In the beginning You had a plan to redeem a world that hadn't yet rejected You. While You walked and talked with us in the Garden Your heart was breaking over decisions we hadn't yet been given. At the fall, we robbed You of Your precious creation, and You weren't even surprised. The Solution had already been set in motion. Jesus was already preparing to enter the world's stage. Your love for us shows through Your intricate design to take back what was stolen from You, even before it had the chance to be taken. The enemy was defeated before we fell. Our redemption began before the world was made(Ephesians 1:4). You used the very traps and schemes of the enemy in order to bring about or rescue. You saw, spread out before You, the whole plan of history, like a single snapshot. That one instantaneous moment, when viewed through Your eyes, captured the whole of history... Glory be to God, our Creator and Redeemer!! (2 Corinthians 5:18,19)

By the time You called Abram and Sarai, the world was already full of evil. We had been fruitful and multiplied, but our fruit was rotten. Cultures, societies, and histories had been established, spurred on by the creative ingenuity You gave us, and by Your shattering our language into thousands of tiny fragments. We had turned from You to the false gods of this world. Even Your chosen ones were led away by idols. Where were You in this hour? How much time had passed since You started over with Noah? How long did it take his children to stray?

Even on the First day You were preparing for Your glory to be revealed. You created light from darkness, as You always have done. The Light will always prevail over the darkness.
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God blessed water & air animals (Gen 1:22) but what about land animals? (1:24,25)
God blessed man, (Gen 1:28) & gave us authority over all the earth
God blessed the 7th day, Sabbath, and made it holy. (Gen 2:3)
God formed man(1:27), told us how He did it(2:7), & placed him in paradise(2:8)
God gave man & animals: trees, herbs & plants for food(1:29,30) which says that we were all vegetarians, living at peace with each other(man & beast) until after the flood... In Genesis 9:1-3, God changed this. He then placed a fear of man in the heart of every animal, and we began eating meat; eating other living creatures.
God planted a garden (2:8) in addition to the rest of nature, with every beautiful & food-producing tree.(2:9) He provided our food, and food for our food. There was a river in the midst of the Garden, and it watered the whole place as it split into 4 rivers (2:10-14)
God provided our work & livelihood (2:15)
in all this perfection & beauty, God placed a single tree for us NOT to eat from. This was to be a constant testing of our loyalty to Him. He put it there so we would WANT to choose Him. He wanted us to exercise our freewill to His glory; so we would CHOOSE to love Him with our actions. (2:16-17) This was revisited in Deuteronomy 30:15-18... "I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction." He wanted us to CONSTANTLY choose life...

This 1 tree triggered our redemptive history. (Gen 2:17)
How many times were Adam & Eve tempted before they finally gave in? How many thousands of years could have passed before this falling away? Obviously they wouldn't be immediately led away. It probably took place over a long period of time. (This is my personal thought, for the record. But it makes sense to me.)
God commanded us not to eat of this tree. His only command. 1 simple law that, when broken, introduced our perfect world to death & sin. (2 Cor.3:6- the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.) This fall resulted in 10 commandments, each one very specific, which in turn gave way to our sin-filled search for justification within ourselves. This further digressed into hundreds of Levitical laws & all the additions the scribes, Pharisees & Saducees tacked on... But Jesus brought it all back around to 1 SIMPLE COMMAND: LOVE. (John 15:9,10, Mark 12:29-31, Matt 22:37-40)

God said it was NOT good that man be alone, so He made him a helper. God was preparing Adam for the loss of His physical presence, and setting up every detail of the future's events. (Gen 2:18)

(It seems like Moses jumped out of the narrative in Gen 2:24, to explain the process of marriage. The word 'therefore' means 'this is the reason'... Adam & Eve were already married, but they had no father and mother to leave.)

Why did God rest on the 7th day? (Gen 2:2) Sure, creating the universe was hard work, but not for our omnipotent God. He couldn't have been tired or weak, but rather, I think He wanted the 7th day to be a day of gazing on His creation as it reflected His glory, as it reflected His Son. He blessed & sanctified it, setting it apart for His use, to be made holy. (Colossians 1:13.20)

Gen 1:10- Earth was named by God, not after any Greek/Roman mythology, like the rest of the planets, which were named by men...

Once again, these are just my thoughts. Don't take my word for it.