ONE THING HAVE I DESIRED
GENESIS
01. B'REISHEET 1 of 5
01. Parashah: B'reisheet = In the Beginning
TORAH REFERENCE
Genesis 1:1-2:25
HAFTORAH REFERENCE
BRIT CHADASHAH REFERENCE
GOD, CREATION, CREATOR, BEGINNING, WORLD, HOUSE, MAN, WOMAN, BREATH OF LIFE, GARDEN, CARETAKER, LANGUAGE, TABERNACLE, TEMPLE, ASSIGNMENT, COMMAND, FRAME OF REFERENCE, DIET, RIB
Since this is the beginning of the story of the creation of man and the world Elohim created for him, there are a lot of themes to introduce and if you want to go into any depth at all you will need to acquire additional resources. The importance of these chapters cannot be over-emphasized. Elohim has told us the “end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10), so if we want to know what is going to happen in the end we must understand the beginning.
Notice that Elohim created the heavens and the earth at the beginning of everything. These chapters are His account of what He did to make everything appear, in the order He wanted them to appear. Elohim used words alone to create everything except for the man and woman. He created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He put Adam into the garden to be its caretaker. Once Adam realized that there was no other being like himself, the Creator took a rib from him to create a helper. Adam called her Chavah (woman, mother of all living). We call her Eve.
We are told in Scripture that Elohim is going to restore to us a pure language so that we may all call upon and serve Him in unity (Zephaniah 3:9). If Elohim communicated with Adam and Eve in the Hebrew language then that is the language we will use. Many people are now learning Hebrew and their studies are helping them understand the messages of Scripture much better. It is not the intent of this curriculum to teach Hebrew, but we will occasionally refer to Hebrew words and letters in order to understand the current theme. The first word we will mention is the Hebrew word for “house” (more on resource page). We could say that Elohim created the heavens and the earth to be a house for the people He made, where they could work and worship Him and be a sign of His awesomeness.
The house of Elohim has endless potential! By creating Adam and Eve and commanding the two of them to multiply and fill the earth Elohim created the house of Adam, comprised of the entire human race, within His house. And since the Creator breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life so he could become a living being we could say that Adam was created to be the house into which Elohim put His very own life—also within His house. If we want that to be eternal, we must learn to do things Elohim’s way so we can qualify to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Revelation 3:12 tells us that is possible.
Do a keyword search on the internet for the terms tabernacle, temple, house of the Lord, temple of the Lord, plus any variations you can think of, and make a list of the Scripture references you find. For example, you might list Numbers 9:15 under tabernacle and Psalm 27:4 under temple. Put references referring to our human bodies as temples, such as 1 Corinthians 6:19, under a separate temple point. Elohim’s temple in the New Jerusalem on earth will be awesome.
Words are incredibly powerful! Behind them are thoughts and intents of the heart, so whenever you speak or write words something is created—whether you want it to be or not. You cannot create a whole world as Elohim did but you can create in other people good feelings or bad feelings, hope, dreams, motivation, colourful pictures in the mind, and so on. Yeshua told us that if we had faith as small as a mustard seed we could move mountains (Matthew 17:20), so perhaps one day we will be able to create just by speaking
words! If that’s true, we need to learn how to control our words now. Start a daily journal with two columns. In one column, write things you’ve said or written that created positive feelings in others. In the other column, write things you said or wrote that created negative feelings in others. Review it occasionally, and observe which column is growing fastest.
Adam and Eve were the first two people on the earth. Male and female He created them. Elohim created them perfectly suited to one another, and said this was the pattern for future marital relationships. Then He gave them one assignment—be fruitful, multiply, fill and subdue the earth, and take dominion over everything else that lives on the earth. Perhaps when the time is right—probably after the Millennium—He will let us go on to help Him create, fill, subdue and take dominion of something much larger as well. Right now the house of Adam is busy growing and developing skills that will be useful then.
Adam and Eve and their children (and all the birds and beasts) were to eat a diet based on whatever seed-bearing trees and green herbs they found on the earth. This may sound rather limited, but there is actually a huge variety of such plant-life around the earth—vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and what we call herbs are found in many different forms in different places. When you do your shopping this week (and in future weeks), purchase at least one “exotic” new food (fresh fruits and vegetables are easiest to spot) and learn how to prepare it. Sketch or take a picture of it, write down its name and the place it was grown, and note what it is especially good for. Add other interesting tidbits of information about the item to the recipe card.
There was only one edible thing they were not to eat. Elohim told Adam, “Eat of every tree of the garden, but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall certainly die.” We are not told directly much about this tree, but it was very clearly not meant to be food for mankind. Not because it was poisonous or unclean, but just because Elohim commanded it to be so. It was a test—there had to be one thing mankind could not do so there could be a means of determining whether or not they truly loved their Creator. Yeshua told us that if we loved Him we would guard His commandments (John 14:15). As long as Adam and Eve obeyed this commandment (by not eating of the forbidden tree) they showed their love for their Creator, and the relationship that existed between them was awesome!
The seven creation days are also a pattern for this age. Day 1 parallels the first thousand years of earth’s history, Day 2 parallels the second thousand years, and so on. The seventh day parallels the Messiah’s Millennial reign on the earth. This period will start with a period of “darkness” (where the Messiah fights with and conquers His enemies) and people rebuild things. Later, things will be like Elohim created them to be in the beginning. Because Elohim created everything and told us everything we need to know about what pertains to us, and Eve is the mother of us all, there is really only one true complete frame of reference about our universe. All others are false and dangerous to the degree they pull people away from obedience to Elohim. Misunderstanding (and/or deliberately disregarding) the Bible’s explanation about creation has led to enormous error in fields such as religion and science. The evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin is one case in point. You must be diligent to counter evolutionary doctrine every time you encounter it! Begin by thoroughly studying the creation list given in these two chapters. Make a chart with four columns and read through the creation account very carefully to complete it. Label the columns: Verses, Day #, Thing(s) Created, Description. Let the “Description” column be as wide as possible, and use it to explain in your own words what was created.