In Genesis 1-3, God shows his mercy toward Adam and Eve after they ate from the tree of knowledge.
Personally, the bible has always been difficult for me to read and often I would give up before even starting. But recently we (the kids and I during our homeschool sessions) have been reading this book written by Tara-Leigh Cobble called The Bible Recap. We read each day, which is bout 2 pages per day and this writing is my grasp on day 1, Genesis 1-3.
1:26 is when you see God referring himself in the plural form when he speaks of the Trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. As a trinity, they all work toward the same goal. The Father gives creation, The Son pursues the manual labor of the creation, and The Spirit observes creation from above, approving and sustaining it.
2:4 discusses the word Lord. One part I really found fascinating is the word, YHWH. Yup, that’s a word.. with no vowels. When pronounced it sounds like “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”. What’s even more eye opening is that YHWH is God’s personal name and by telling us his name he’s being personal with us because he wants to be spoken too and known.
And just as God has a name, so do the angels and demons. Demons are fallen angles, just like Lucifer. This isn’t spoken about in Day 1 of the book, but this is just an additional tid-bit of my own extended knowledge.
Next, in 2:17 we see the fall of man-kind beginning with Adam and Eve when they eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the beginning of this article, I mention the “mercy of god” is talked about here.
God knew, with certainty, that Adam and Eve were going to eat from the tree and stated that when they did, “…they shall surely die.” Eve is convinced by the snake (the devil) that she would make a better God and that God was withholding from her… Which is the beginning of the curses of man-kind.
“Part of Eve’s curse is that her desire will be to control and rule over Adam. Part of Adam’s curse is that what he’s in charge of cultivating will work against him. We see this tension alive today: In general, women tend toward control and men tend toward passivity.”
Page 19, A One-Year Guide, The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble
This little section in the reading hit home.. I’ve had plenty of relationships and all of them have failed and I took this as a opportunity for self reflection. Although, I do still believe in the open communication of boundaries and having them respected on both sides, I can also see areas where I tend to be more controlling and can back off.
Men don’t take control of relationships anymore, and this is something I’ve noticed. They kind of settle in after giving a solid effort at first, then there is usually lack of effort from there. Creating instability in the relationship when the woman feels a need to take over and usually ends up making most of the compromises, feeling insecure in their roles and unstable.. and that’s usually when I call it quits.
Women could be more understanding and supportive. Men could own more of their leadership role and also be more supportive. Because, after all, Eve came from the Rib of Adam, signifying equality. Just because our jobs/roles in life are different, does not make un unequal. We each have importance in the eyes of God and by understanding him, we can understand us.
Feel free to comment below if you might have other/different understandings in your readings. I want this to be a safe place for discussion.