Chapter 4

God Sets Forth His Purpose for Man and Woman

1. Did God tell Adam, at his creation, that he was to become father to a human race?

WHEN the first man Adam was alone in the Paradise of Pleasure with only the lower earthly creatures as his companions, God said nothing to him about Adam’s becoming father to a human race. But God had this in mind. This was His purpose respecting the earth. In due time he disclosed this divine purpose to man.

2, 3. (a) How did God purpose to produce the human family? (b) Why was no suitable helper to this end found among subhuman creatures?

² God did not purpose to populate the earth in the same way by which he had populated heaven, by direct creations without use of marriage. God purposed that the man Adam should marry a proper mate, looking to fatherhood. God’s thought on the matter was recorded in Genesis 2:18,  which informs us: “And Jehovah God went on to say: ‘It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.’”

³ God had created all the lower earthly creatures prior to the creation. Thus subhuman creatures, fish, flying creatures, land animals, were not of man’s “kind.” They could produce offspring only each “according to its kind.” (Genesis 1:21, 22, 25) They could not cooperate with man in producing the human kind. This was plainly to be seen after God introduced the lower earthly creatures to Adam. So the logical conclusion, after man was made acquainted with the animal world, was: “But for man there was found no helper as a complement of him.”—Genesis 2:19, 20.

4. How did God produce Adam’s “helper,” and what did he call her?

⁴ It was still the sixth creative “day,” and so God was not violating any sabbath arrangement by continuing to work at further earthly creation. How, then, did he create a helper for Adam as a complement of him? Thousands of years before modern medical science discovered anesthetics and analgesics for performing surgical operations painlessly, God performed a painless operation upon the first man Adam. “Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man. Then the man said: ‘This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman [Ish·shahʹ], because from  man [ish] this one was taken.’”—Genesis 2:21-23.

5. How was a unity of the flesh throughout the whole human family thus attained?

⁵ As Adam had been told how the first woman had been built up from one of his ribs (with blood-building properties in its marrow), he could correctly call her bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. He had all the more reason to feel that she was a part of him because his own body had contributed toward her creation by God. Precisely right it could be said thousands of years later to the judicial court on the Areopagus at Athens, Greece: “He [God] made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth.” (Acts 17:26) Thus there is a unity of the flesh throughout the whole human family, such as would not have been the case if God had created the first woman from dust out of the ground in a way separate from the first man Adam.

6. According to God’s words, how was the human family to spread?

⁶ After telling of this marriage of the first man and the first woman in Paradise, the divine record proceeds to say: “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) By reason of the manner of the woman’s creation, Adam and his wife were “one flesh” before ever they had sexual union together. The marriage of the offspring of Adam and his wife brings them together in sexual union and in especially this way they become first “one flesh.” Leaving father and mother to stick to his wife would mean that the newly married man would set up his own household. In this way the human family would spread.

7. Why were Adam and his wife not ashamed on looking at each other as created?

 ⁷ There was perfect innocence, pureheartedness, then, in the Paradise of Eden. This is testified to by the statement of Genesis 2:25: “And both of them continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed.” They had a good conscience toward God and toward each other.

8, 9. (a) Thus sex was created by whom, and for what purpose? (b) How does what God told Adam and Eve to do bear out this fact?

⁸ Here, now, is where the account in Genesis 1:27 ties in, in proper chronological order, now that we have man and woman on the Paradisaic scene. This account reads: “And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.” Just as before this there had existed male and female among the lower earthly creatures, that these might reproduce their “kind,” so at the creation of the woman there existed female and male in the human kind. God is the Creator of sex, but for reproductive purposes. This vital fact was borne out in what God now told the first man and the first woman to do.

⁹ “Further, God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.’”—Genesis 1:28.

10. Accordingly, what final state for the surface of the earth did God purpose?

¹⁰ God blessed the man and the woman at the beginning of their married life in the Paradise of Pleasure. His thoughts and expressions were of the best for them. By his words to them, God revealed what was his purpose for mankind and the earth. God purposed that this earth should be filled with the offspring of this first man and first woman. Not only this, but also that all the earth that this human family would occupy should be subdued. Subdued to what condition? To the condition of the Paradise in which the man and woman found themselves. This meant that the whole earth should be beautified and be made livable by extending the boundaries of the Paradise planted by God till east met west and north met south—to all continents  and to all islands of the seas. There was to be no overcrowding of the Paradise earth, but human reproduction was to continue until all the subdued earth was comfortably filled. They were not to kill off the lower earthly creatures, but were to have them in subjection—under loving control.

11, 12. (a) Why should we not lose sight of God’s purpose for man and the earth? (b) How can we make our lives purposeful, with lasting benefit to ourselves?

¹¹ At God’s words of blessing and command to them, did Adam and his wife catch the vision of God’s grand purpose for them and for their home, the earth? Do we today? Do we today understand the original purpose of God the Creator respecting man and woman and our home, the earth? His purpose is so simply stated, and it is not hard for an honest person to grasp.

¹² If we do grasp it, then let us not lose sight of it, for then we shall fall into religious confusion and error. Man’s existence on earth was not accidental and was not meant to be aimless. God deliberately put man and woman on earth for a purpose, and this purpose he disclosed to our first human parents. After Adam and his wife, whom he named Eve, were informed and commanded, it was their honorable, blessed privilege to make God’s purpose their purpose in life. This would call for their obedience to God. In turn, obedience would result in eternal life in perfect happiness on a Paradise earth, for obedient Adam and Eve and for all their obedient offspring in all quarters of the subdued earth. So life became purposeful for Adam and Eve, and it can become purposeful for us—according to God’s unfailing purpose.

13. Why was there to be no killing in Paradise, and no fear of food shortage for a filled earth?

¹³ God set before Adam and Eve no fear of a food shortage as the human family ‘became many.’ As a loving Father he made ample provision for the earth full of his human sons and daughters. And there was to be no need for killing in the Paradise. God pointed to these facts, for we read: “And God went on to say: ‘Here I have given to you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To you let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which  there is life as a soul [nephʹesh] I have given all green vegetation for food.’ And it came to be so.”—Genesis 1:29, 30.

14. (a) Besides that general statement by God on food, what prohibition on eating food still applied? (b) Adam and Eve needed to live by what, in addition to material food?

¹⁴ Here was only a general statement as to what mankind was to eat, a statement that both Adam and Eve heard from God. So it spoke of “every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed.” It was not here the time to go into particulars, for, in an earlier statement to Adam alone, God had placed a prohibition on eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. (Genesis 2:16, 17) At least for the time being the fruit of this forbidden tree was not to serve as food for Adam and Eve. At any rate, there was plenty of food to eat for sustaining life, without their having to eat also of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Even with all the abundance of every food in the Paradise, it was true of Adam and Eve the same as it was true of Jehovah’s chosen people more than two thousand years later: “Not by bread alone does man live but by every expression of Jehovah’s mouth does man live.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) If Adam and Eve kept the word of command expressed by Jehovah God, they would live forever with their family in the earth-wide Paradise.

END OF THE SIXTH CREATIVE “DAY”

15. At the end of the sixth creative “day,” how did earthly creation look to God?

¹⁵ Thus at God’s marked time the affairs of earth were brought to this stage as described, with marvelous possibilities ahead according to God’s purpose. As we view the situation, with the earth now inhabited by human and animal creatures and revolving around the sun and with the moon in orbit around the earth, how does it look to us? Our view ought not to differ from that of God, concerning which we read: “After that God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.”—Genesis 1:31.

16. What must have been the reaction of the “morning stars” and the “sons of God” on viewing the earth at the end of the sixth “day”?

¹⁶ Jehovah, as a progressive God, had been proceeding in an orderly way, in stages. And what logical progression  on His part there was! With the creation of Adam and Eve and the divine blessing upon them there came to an end the sixth creative “day” of God with regard to preparing the earth for occupation by earthly children of God. If, at the mere founding of the earth, “the morning stars joyfully cried out together, and all the sons of God began shouting in applause,” what expressions of admiration and praise these heavenly “sons of God” must have made at the close of the sixth creative “day” when they saw the earth now in a fully prepared state and a perfect human pair living upon it!—Job 38:7; Genesis 1:28.

17. In view of the divine accomplishment by the end of the “morning” of the sixth “day,” what question arises about the number of creative “days”?

¹⁷ The “morning” of that sixth creative “day” ended with glorious divine accomplishment. Would the cycle of creative “days” end with the sixth? The sixth “day” ended with just the foundation laid in Adam and Eve for the populating of the whole earth. Would there be another creative “day,” a seventh “day,” at the close of the “morning” of which the whole earth would be populated with a human family and be a global Paradise?

“EVENING” OF SEVENTH CREATIVE “DAY” BEGINS, 4026 B.C.E.

18. Reasonably, with what end in view should another creative “day” be allowed for?

¹⁸ God’s purpose with reference to the earth was not fully accomplished by the end of the sixth creative “day.” The question remained, Could God accomplish this purpose, especially now that he was dealing with human creatures who had the power of personal will and whom he left free to choose their earthly course, either in line with God’s purpose or against it? Reasonably, then, another creative “day,” a seventh “day,” should be allowed for, during which to have the earth populated with a perfect human race, all of them dwelling together in love and peace and all speaking the same language in a global Paradise. The end of such a creative “day” could witness the purpose of God triumphantly accomplished, in vindication of Him as Creator and Universal Sovereign.

19. (a) Why should the seventh one be called a “creative” day? (b) What did God do with regard to that “seventh day”?

¹⁹ God did make known the fullness of his purpose.  It did call for a seventh creative “day.” Our calling it a “creative” day does not mean that God kept on creating earthly things on the seventh creative “day,” but that it was inseparably connected up with the previous six creative “days” and it was of the same time length as those previous “days.” What does God’s own Word say about it?

“Thus the heavens and the earth and all their army came to their completion. And by the seventh day God came to the completion of his work that he had made, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made. And God proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it sacred, because on it he has been resting from all his work that God has created for the purpose of making.”—Genesis 2:1-3.

20. How do we determine whether Genesis 2:1-3 was speaking of a twenty-four-hour day or of a creative period that still continues?

²⁰ Let us not overlook the fact that this account of the seventh creative “day” does not conclude with the words that definitely say that the particular creative “day” of an evening and a morning ended. Genesis 2:3 does not add the words: “And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a seventh day.” The failure of such terminal words to appear indicates that the seventh creative “day” had not yet ended by the time that the prophet Moses finished writing the Pentateuch or first “five books” of the Bible, in the year 2553 Anno Mundi or 1473 B.C.E. Still later the psalmist David speaks of entering into God’s rest, in Psalm 95:7-11, or by the year 2989 A.M. or 1037 B.C.E. This indicates that Genesis 2:1-3, in speaking about God’s rest day, was not speaking of a twenty-four-hour day, but was speaking of a creative “day” of the same length as each of the preceding creative “days.” So that creative “seventh day” has not ended even as yet.

21. What situation on the earth indicates that mankind as a whole has not entered into the sabbath-keeping of God’s “seventh day”?

²¹ Accordingly, not yet do we see the Edenic Paradise extended all around our earthly globe and everywhere inhabited by a perfect, undying human family. Instead, animal life, birdlife and fish life are being killed off, and the superpowers of the world, equipped with nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction, threaten to kill off all mankind and leave the earthly globe an uninhabited waste. Certainly mankind as a whole, yes, even those religious bodies that claim to  worship the God of the Holy Bible, have not entered into God’s rest, keeping his creative “seventh day.” And now it is almost six thousand years since man’s creation!

22. How does the next verse (Genesis 2:4) prove that God is not talking of a twenty-four-hour day?

²² That the account in Genesis 2:1-3 is not speaking of the “seventh day” as a twenty-four-hour day is plain from the use of the word “day” in the very next verse. There, in Genesis 2:4, it is written: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the TIME of their being created, in the DAY that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” That “day” included six creative “days,” as described in Genesis, chapter one.

23, 24. (a) What shows that the realization of God’s purpose by the end of his “seventh day” lies yet ahead? (b) Why is there no need for discouragement on our part for putting faith in God’s working out his magnificent purpose?

²³ From the state of affairs of mankind in this twentieth century C.E., nothing could be plainer than that the realization of God’s purpose by the end of the seventh creative “day” lies yet ahead of us. At the beginning of this “seventh day” almost six thousand years ago God “proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it sacred.” According to the history of mankind during the past six millenniums, it has not been a blessed day for the whole human race. Apparently, the blessing of God upon this seventh “day” has counted for little in behalf of all mankind.

²⁴ Although God sanctified it or made it sacred, very few of mankind are holding it as sacred, holy, and have entered into God’s rest in a spiritual way. God will certainly have to show by the end of the seventh creative “day” that his blessing upon the day has had real value for mankind. He will have to show that this “seventh day” has had real sacredness, holiness, sanctity, and that his “rest” as regards the sureness about the accomplishment of his purpose has not been disturbed. Despite his desisting from works of earthly creation at the end of the sixth creative “day,” his purpose has marched forward and still marches forward to its triumphant realization. Hence, there is no need for discouragement on the part of those who, like Jehovah God himself, have faith in the ultimate working out of his magnificent purpose.

[Study Questions]