4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before
any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had
grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but
a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2: 1-7)
A
old man was lamenting how easy these kids today have it. “Back in my day,“ the old man began.
“Which day, Grandpa?” his young
grandson interrupted.
“My day,” Grandpa replied beginning his
story again, “We had to . . .”
“Monday?” his grandson asked.
“What?
No.”
“Tuesday?” Now the kid was in full
sing-song mode.
“Wednesday? Thursday? Friday? . . . “ the child chanted,
swaying from side to side, until he’d finished all the days of week and
ad-libbed a chorus.
Grandpa laughed. “They all used to be my day, son. Now they’re all yours.”
When
Genesis 2:4 references “the history of the heavens and the earth,” Scripture is
talking about what happened way, way back “in
the day,” when the climate was different and plants hadn’t been
domesticated into crops.
“Back
in those days,” God said, “I didn’t even have rain. Clouds couldn’t get high enough off the
ground. I just had fog—wet, wet fog.
“And another thing, you couldn’t go
down to the farmer’s market and pick out tomatoes all willy-nilly. There were no farms. I had to invent farming. Built My own garden. Called it Eden.
“And I didn’t have a landscaper or ‘garden
guy’ to take care of it for Me. I had to
invent one of them, too. Called him Adam.”
7And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward
in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.(Genesis 2:7-8)
“Oh,
you should’ve seen it, son. Every fruit
and vegetable you can imagine, and some that ya’ll don’t even have anymore. And
right there in the middle of the rows, I planted two trees.”
And
out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food. The tree of life was
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. (Genesis 2:9)
“I
built an irrigation system, cause you know we didn’t have rain, and Adam had to
carry fog water to the plants, uphill --- both ways.
“But this was old school, son. I didn’t have no fancy-schmancy hoses running
this way and that, spraying water all over the place. No, son.
I cut a river, a whole river down
by the garden so Adam didn’t have so far to walk, even though it was still
uphill --- both ways.”
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water
the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The
name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land
of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And
the gold of that land is good.
Bdellium and the onyx stone are
there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one
which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the
third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of
Assyria. The fourth river is the
Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14)
“Those
was good times then, son. No politics,
no disease, no war, none of this drama ya’ll have about everything.
“As long as Adam kept up my garden,
he could do just about anything he wanted.
I only gave him one rule. Just ONE
rule.”
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put
him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord
God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis
2:15-17)
“Yeah,
Moses,” God said, “I tell you. Those were
the days.”
And
Moses nodded. Then he said, “Maybe I
should write all this down.”
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer,
community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization (SAYNO); and
director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Subscribe to my personal blog www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
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