The account
starts with “In the beginning God,” and those four words constitute a profound
message to all the world—to the religious world, to the scholarly world, and to
the scientific world. Right from the beginning God is the foremost and preeminent
focus. Here we begin to learn about the Creator, and by learning more about his
Creation we can exercise more faith and trust in him.
The Hebrew
text of verses 1–2 can literally be read in a single sentence: “In the
beginning of God’s creating of [this] heaven and earth, the earth was empty and
desolate.”
The Hebrew
word used here for God, ’elohim, is literally a plural noun, though it
is always translated in the singular when referring to the true and living God,
owing to a principle grammarians and theologians call the plural of majesty. But Joseph Smith taught that the head of the
Gods called the Gods together (History of the Church, 6:308), and “they, that is the Gods,
organized and formed the heavens and the earth” (Abraham 4:1).
The term created is used to translate the Hebrew bara’ or baurau, which means to “organize,” to “shape,
form, or fashion.” There is no suggestion in the word that matter was created
out of nothing. Quite the contrary, the word suggests an ordering of
preexisting realities, as ancient rabbis taught.
Joseph
Smith explained: “You ask the learned
doctors why they say the world was made out of nothing, and they will answer,
‘Doesn’t the Bible say He created the world?’ And they infer, from
the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word
create came from the word baurau, which does not mean to create out
of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials
and build a ship. Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the
world out of chaos. . . . The pure principles of element are principles which
can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not
destroyed. They had no beginning and can have no end” (History of the
Church, 6:308–9; see also D&C 93:33).
On another occasion the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “this earth was
organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and remodelled and
made into the one on which we live” (Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, 60).
Creation of
other parts of the universe, including other earths, is mentioned in Moses 1:35 and 7:29 –36 and alluded to in Genesis 1:16.
The earth
after it was organized and formed was, of course, not “without form and void,”
but rather, as understood from the Hebrew and as read in the Abraham account, was “empty and desolate”—that is, it was
unpopulated and unplanted. At this point, when the earth was being prepared
as a habitable abode for man, it was enveloped in waters upon which the “Spirit
of God” moved or brooded or hovered over.
The
creative force, here called the “Spirit of God,” which acted upon the elements
to shape and prepare them to sustain life on earth, is also the Light of
Christ, as referred to in parts of the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 88:7–13).
Regarding how the Holy Ghost directs the powers of nature, Elder James E.
Talmage, himself a scientist, stated:
“Through the power of the Spirit, the Father
and the Son operate in their creative acts and in their general dealings with
the human family. The Holy Ghost may be regarded as the minister of the
Godhead, carrying into effect the decision of the Supreme Council.
“In the execution of these great purposes,
the Holy Ghost directs and controls the varied forces of nature. . . .
Gravitation, sound, heat, light, and the still more mysterious and seemingly
supernatural power of electricity, are but the common servants of the Holy
Ghost in His operations. No earnest thinker, no sincere investigator supposes
that he has yet learned of all the forces existing in and operating upon
matter; indeed, the observed phenomena of nature, yet wholly inexplicable to him,
far outnumber those for which he has devised even a partial explanation. There
are powers and forces at the command of God, compared with which electricity is
as the pack-horse to the locomotive, the foot messenger to the telegraph, the
raft of logs to the ocean steamer. With all his scientific knowledge man knows
but little respecting the enginery of creation; and yet the few forces known to
him have brought about miracles and wonders, which but for their actual
realization would be beyond belief. These mighty agencies . . . do not
constitute the Holy Ghost, but are the agencies ordained to serve His purposes”
(Articles of Faith, 160–61).
Scriptures
such as John 1:1–4
and Hebrews 1:1–2
also show that that power was exerted by the Son, under the command of the
Father (see also Helaman 12:8–14; Jacob 4:6–9).
Genesis 1:3–4
(Moses 2:3–4; Abraham 4:3–4)
This light which was brought to bear upon
the primeval planet earth was apparently from sources other than the sun, into whose rays the earth was later
brought (v. 14). The light which enlightened all creation before our current
luminary was God himself (D&C 88:7–13).
So shall it be again when the earth achieves its ultimate celestial destiny;
God will be the light of this sphere (Revelation 21:23;
22:5).
In verse 4
we begin to see how God called the successive phases of creation “good.”
Indeed, his creations are good—glorious and beautiful (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21,
25, 31).
While the
condition of light was called by God’s word for “day” and the condition of
absence of light was called by his term for “night,” there is no reason to assume that his day and night were of the same
length as ours, which are measured for us by our planet’s revolutions in the
sunlight. Other periods are indicated for others of God’s realms (Psalm
90:4; 2 Peter 3:8; Abraham 3:4;
5:13 ;
and facsimile 2, figures 1–5). Indeed, even after Adam was placed in the garden, “the Gods had not appointed unto
Adam his reckoning” (Abraham 5:13).
Genesis 1:6–8 (Moses 2:6–8; Abraham 4:6–8)
The English
word firmament is derived from the Latin word used to
translate the Hebrew word raqiya, meaning “expanse.” “Expanse” is the
word used in Abraham 4:6.
This expanse is all or any part of space. From the surface of the earth
outward, this expanse includes the atmosphere in which the birds fly and in
which the clouds float as “waters . . . above” the earth, as well as all the
space of the astral universe beyond (vv. 7, 14–18, 20).
Our
atmosphere includes water vapor and clouds floating a short distance above the
earth, but on parts of the surface of the earth is the fluid water of the
oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. Thus the atmosphere permits a division of
waters “above” (in the air) from waters “below” (on the surface). The
evaporation-condensation cycle of water brings rain and dew to the land, making
life possible on what would otherwise be a desolate planet.
“Heaven” (v. 8) is understood from the
context to connote the same thing as the English word sky. English,
Hebrew, German, and several other languages use the same word to refer to the
sky, heaven, the abode of God, and paradise, the place of the (good) departed
dead.
Genesis 1:9–10
(Moses 2:9–10; Abraham 4:9–10)
The first activity of the third “day” evidently
entailed a wrinkling of the earth’s solid crust to let some matter appear above
the enveloping waters and become dry land. Evidence is given later (Genesis 10:25)
that there was only one land mass at first. This was in preparation for the
earth to support living things which had been “spiritually” created before they
were “naturally upon the face of the earth” (compare Moses 3:4–7).
Later the waters also were made a suitable medium for sustaining life (Abraham 4:20–21).
The grand object of the Creation was life—to support mortal life in order to
test and prepare earth’s inhabitants for eternal life.
Genesis 1:11–13
(Moses 2:11–13; Abraham 4:11–13)
A second project of the third “day” was the creation of varieties of plant life, each
with power to reproduce itself according to its species or kind.
Genesis 1:14–19
(Moses 2:14–19; Abraham 4:14–19)
The work of
the fourth “day” describes the
establishment of the earth in its orbital relationship to the other
astronomical bodies of our system so that its rotation upon its axis and
its revolutions about its orbit, with its axis not quite perpendicular to the
orbital plane, would provide day and night and the year’s seasons, while its
satellite moon could provide light at night and another means of marking time.
The technical balance of the earth’s placement as to heat, light, radiation,
motion, and gravity are marvelous today as we learn more and more about the
hazards of trying to take living beings into space beyond the compatible milieu
of this earth.
Genesis 1:20–23
(Moses 2:20–23; Abraham 4:20–23)
Varieties
of fowl, fish, and other creatures were
created as the project of the fifth “day.” Note that these, like the plants,
were provided with the power to reproduce themselves—each according to its
specific kind.
The word in
verse 21 translated “great whales”
(Hebrew, tanninim) does
not refer specifically to whales; it is rendered in other passages of the Old
Testament as “serpents,” “dragons,” and “sea-monsters,” and can even mean
“crocodile.” The footnote’s “great sea-monsters” is adequate for our purposes.
The Hebrew
word ‘umilu (“and fill”) is correctly translated
here in the command to “fill the waters in the seas.” Later the same word is
rendered, in verse 28, with the English words “and replenish.” Replenish means “fill,” as may be seen in any
dictionary, but some have thought it means “re-fill,” which is an error.
Genesis 1:24–28
(Moses 2:24–28; Abraham 4:24–28)
The sixth “day” or creative period
witnessed the crowning event of creation—the establishment of humankind on the
earth. The first part of the sixth day was used in
bringing forth the wild beasts, the animals for man’s use (generically called
“cattle” in King James English), and the insects, or “creeping things.”
Note again that the Creators found that all things functioned properly, or were
“good,” among these families of creatures.
Verse 26 does not indicate who said to
whom, “Let us make man in our image,” but Moses 2:26 says it was God the Father speaking to
him who was eventually to be his Only Begotten Son. This is in harmony with
passages already considered that indicate that the work of creation was done by
the Son under the direction of the Father (John 1:1–4, 14; Hebrews 1:1–3; Moses 1:32–33).
The use of the plural “us” and “our” clearly indicates the involvement of more
than one God in the creative process (see also Genesis 3:22).
The phrase,
making man “in our image, after our likeness” certainly suggests that God has a
body. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “God Himself was once as we are now,
and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great
secret. . . . if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in
form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam
was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received
instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks
and communes with another” (Joseph Smith [manual],
40).
It is
important to point out that the terms “man” and “mankind” as they appear
throughout the King James translation of the Hebrew Old Testament text simply
represent the generic concept “human” or “humankind.” “Man” usually means “male
and female,” as indicated in verse 27 (see also D&C 20:18).
A father cannot create children without a mother, so the male and female were
created in the image of a Father and a Mother, their Heavenly Parents.
Abraham’s account of the Creation clearly implies that the Gods are male and
female: “So the Gods went down to organize man [humankind] in their own image,
in the image of the Gods to form they him, male and female to form they them” (Abraham 4:27).
The First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith,
John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund) declared, “All men and women are in the
similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and
daughters of Deity” (Messages
of the First Presidency, 4:203).
And President Spencer W. Kimball confirmed the origins of humankind in this
way: “The Creators breathed into their nostrils the breath of life and man and
woman became living souls. We don’t know exactly how their coming into this
world happened, and when we’re able to understand it the Lord will tell us” (Ensign, Mar. 1976, 72).
In verse 28 God is speaking to the man and
the woman. If God spoke to them, then both God and his offspring used a common
language. We sometimes refer to this pure language of God as the Adamic
language.
Genesis 1:28–31
(Moses 2:28–31; Abraham 4:28–31)
Note the
important responsibilities, privileges, and powers given to mankind, in order that
they might fulfill the purposes of
creation as sons and daughters of God.
1. To reproduce: procreate children and care for them—an
exercise in potential godliness;
2. To fill (replenish) the earth and
subdue it, using all of
its resources and facilities;
3. To have dominion, or rulership, among
all other creatures—another exercise in godliness. God is definitely concerned about the
environment—he spent a lot of effort creating this earth, and now that we’ve
been given dominion he expects us to take good care of it. We are to exercise
dominion over other living things, but not unrighteous dominion. Moses 5:1 replaces “subdue” (Genesis 1:28)
with “till,” which implies Adam’s obligation to manage the earth and enhance
its lifegiving ability.
In verse 29 we see that the produce of
plants and trees was given to man for “meat.” This is simply the King James
English term for food. What we call meat, the King James Bible refers to as
“flesh.” But more than just for food, “all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are
made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden
the heart” (D&C 59:18). The Lord of creation cares about beauty and
aesthetic value.
At the conclusion of the creation of all
nature with its interrelationships and balances, the Creator saw that
everything functioned properly and was “very good.” Doctrinally, the Creation
is one of the three pillars of eternity (three key elements of the plan of
salvation), along with the Fall and the Atonement.
Looking
back over Genesis 1,
we can see that the account of the creative periods is very brief. But it is
dignified brevity, which is how ancient Hebrew writers sometimes wrote. Much
more is meant than is actually written. What we have is presented with
monumental diction, stately cadence, and reverent grandeur.
It should
be remembered, too, that there was no
intention of answering all the questions: who, what, where, when, how, and why.
“Who,” “what,” and especially “why” are adequately answered for us in Genesis
and in the elaborations on Genesis found in the other standard works. The
opening chapter of Genesis was never intended as a textbook of geology,
archaeology, anthropology, or astronomy, though the details of “where,” “when,”
and “how” can come later (see Article of Faith 9; D&C 101:32–33;
121:26–32).
There is so
much about the creative process and the early history of our earth that remains
in the realm of the unknown. Nevertheless, we should never lose faith in the
things we know because of the things we don’t know.
Genesis 2:1–5
(Moses 3:1–5; Abraham 5:1–5)
Observe that the break between chapters 1
and 2 disrupts the continuity of the narrative. This division into chapters and
verses was not part of the original text but is the result of relatively recent
editing and is sometimes more bothersome than beneficial.
Verse 1 sums up the divine accomplishments—the completion of the creation of both
the heavens and the earth and all the host of animate and inanimate things. A more detailed summary in verses 4 and 5
specifies that there had been a dual creation process, entailing the creation
of everything “before it was in the earth, and . . . before it grew.” The
corresponding verses in Moses 3:4–5
(compare D&C 77:2)
make it clear that all things were created spiritually in heaven before they
were formed in their earthly material counterparts. But note again that
verse 1 asserts that both phases of creation of “the heaven and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.” The
narrative then continues with a more topical, less chronological statement of
the way in which man was presented with his status and his facilities, his
resources, and his responsibilities on earth.
Before that narrative is considered,
however, note that the last of the divine edicts in the seven creative periods
was the one in which God blessed and consecrated the seventh day as the day in
which he had concluded and rested “from all his work which he had made.”
We are
taught in modern revelation, unique in Judeo-Christian theology, about the
definition of the word rest. While it can mean to cease all
activity, it obviously means something else when speaking about God and
Creation and the seventh day. God has never completely ceased activity. Such an
idea is unthinkable. According to modern revelation, “rest” refers to the
fulness of God’s glory (D&C 84:24).
Thus, on the seventh day, after God had placed life on earth, he rested—he
entered into or enjoyed or basked in the glory that only a perfect Creator-God
can experience by seeing the earth come to life with human beings, plants, and
animals.
No further mention of the Sabbath is found in the Bible until the
Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, but it is assumed that the practice of
sanctification of the Sabbath was kept by the patriarchs of Genesis and their
societies. The Hebrew
word shabbat (“sabbath”) which now means
“cessation, rest, stop,” obviously carried a different connotation anciently.
Over the centuries before the Restoration, theology influenced meaning—and not
for the better. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament),
the Samaritan, and other manuscripts indicate that God ended his work on the sixth day and then rested on the seventh.
During the seventh one-thousand-year
period of this world’s temporal existence there will be another divine Sabbath,
according to Revelation 8 and 20; see also Doctrine and
Covenants 77:6, 7, 12, 13. Compare Isaiah 11:6–9;
65:17–25, word pictures of what we call the Millennium.
Remember
that when scripture speaks of a “day” (as in v. 4), the term is often used in
the same sense that we sometimes mean when we say, for example, “back in my
grandfather’s day . . .”—referring not to a twenty-four-hour period but to a
general time frame. President Brigham Young tersely stated: “It is said in this
book (the Bible) that God made the earth in six days. This is a mere term, but
it matters not whether it took six days, six months, six years, or six thousand
years. The creation occupied certain periods of time. We are not authorized to
say what the duration of these days was” (Discourses of Brigham Young, 100).
The title
“Lord God” is used frequently in chapters 2 and 3, but seldom anywhere else. The usual title for Deity in the Old Testament—appearing
more than 6,800 times—is lord, written in small capital letters in our King
James Version, and referring to Jehovah, the same Being who later entered
this world as a baby in Bethlehem, that is, Jesus Christ. The Son of God, the
great Jehovah, created this world (Moses 1 and 2:4–25); (see also “The Name of
God” in this chapter, page 40; “Names and Titles for God,” Ogden and Skinner, Book of Mormon, 1:43 .)
A reminder that the
evaporation-condensation cycle was a phenomenon necessary to establish life on
earth.
A statement
concerning the creation of man’s physical body with added detail about its
earthly and spiritual components is in order. From other sources, it is evident
that the term “breath of life” refers to
the spirit, for it is the spirit combined with the body that constitutes “a
living soul” (D&C 88:15). For other allusions to this dual nature of
man, see Numbers 16:22; Job 32:8; 1 Kings 17:17–23; Luke 23:46; Doctrine and
Covenants 93:33–35; see also Doctrine and
Covenants 77:2for a reference to the spirits of other living things.
The Lord God “formed” man—the Hebrew verb yatzar is the same word used for the work of
the potter in Jeremiah 18:2–3.
God shaped “the dust of the ground,” that is, the elements of the earth, into a
physical body for the first human being. There are word plays involved in the account of the creation of
man. The name Adam derives from adamah, which generally means “ground,” and
Adam means “man.” However, Adam’s beginning as a mortal being was not from
physical materials just scraped together from the ground and shaped into a
body; he was born as all others are born (Moses 6:59).
The bodies of Adam and Eve were patterned after the image and likeness of our
Father and Mother in Heaven.
President
Brigham Young taught, “When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make
adobes from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me
that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking
idle words devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities
where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring of
parents . . . and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were
commanded to multiply and replenish the earth” (Journal of Discourses, 7:285; Discourses of Brigham Young,
104–5).
President
Joseph Fielding Smith was of the same mind. He said, “Life did not commence
upon this earth spontaneously. Its origin was not here. Life existed long
before our solar system was called into being. . . . The Lord has given us the
information regarding his creations, and how he has made many earths . . . and
when the time came for this earth to be peopled, the Lord, our God, transplanted
upon it from some other earth, the life which is found here” (Doctrines of
Salvation1:139–40).
The account
in Moses 3:7 mentions Adam’s status as “the first
flesh upon the earth, the first man also.” If the orderly accounts of the
creation of all things prior to and in preparation for man given in Genesis 1 and Moses 2 and given also in the Temple in an
account that President Joseph Fielding Smith called “the clearest of all these”
accounts (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:75)—if
all these are accounts of the physical or
material creation, a question arises as to how Adam could be termed “the first
flesh upon the earth.” Several explanations are possible; for example, “also”
in the next phrase, “the first man also,” can be understood in the sense of the
Hebrew word gam, which is not only a connective like
“also” but is frequently used as a parallel phrase meaning “even”—the second
phrase being an explanation of the preceding phrase. “First” may sometimes
refer to statusrather than priority of occurrence; for example, “the First Lady,”
or “the First Presidency.”
President
Joseph Fielding Smith explained what was meant by the term “flesh”:
“Adam was
the first man upon the earth, according to the Lord’s statement, and the first
flesh also. That needs a little explanation.
“Adam did
not come to this earth until it was prepared for him. The animals were here.
Plants were here. The Lord did not bring him here to a desolate world, and then
bring other creatures. It was all prepared for him, just according to the order
that is written in our scriptures, and when it was all ready for Adam he was
placed upon the earth.
“Then what
is meant by the ‘first flesh’? It is simple when you understand it. Adam was
the first of all creatures to fall and become flesh, and flesh in this sense
means mortality, and all through our scriptures the Lord speaks of this life as
flesh, while we are here in the flesh, so Adam became the first flesh. There
was no other mortal creature before him, and there was no mortal death until he
brought it, and the scriptures tell you that. It is here written, and that is
the gospel of Jesus Christ” (Seek Ye Earnestly, 280–81).
The First
Presidency of the Church has clarified: “It is held by some that Adam was not
the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a
development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the
theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was ‘the first man of
all men’ (Moses 1:34), and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him
as the primal parent of our race” (Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon
H. Lund,Improvement Era, Nov.
1909, 80).
President
Marion G. Romney further commented: “For many years I had an assignment from
the First Presidency to serve on what was then known as the Church Publications
Committee. We were expected to read and pass upon material submitted for use in
the study courses of our auxiliary organizations. In reading these materials my
spirit was sometimes offended by the use of language which expressed the views
of those who did not believe in the mission of Adam. I have reference to words
and phrases such as ‘primitive man,’ ‘prehistoric man,’ ‘before men learned to
write,’ and the like. Sometimes these terms are used in ways which evidence a
misunderstanding of the mission of Adam. The connotation of these terms, as
used by unbelievers, is out of harmony with our understanding of the mission of
Adam as taught by such teachers as Enoch, Moses, and Nephi. . . .
“I am not a
scientist. I do not profess to know much about what they know. My emphasis is
on Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and the revealed principles of his gospel.
If, however, there are some things in the strata of the earth indicating there
were men before Adam, they were not the ancestors of Adam. And we should avoid
using language and ideas that would cause confusion on this matter” (Symposium
on the Old Testament, 4).
As to
Adam’s status, it is noteworthy that he is also identified as the premortal
archangel Michael in Doctrine and
Covenants 107:41–56 and 78:15–16. He was the leader of the forces of
the Lord against the forces of Satan in the war in heaven before the world was
(Revelation 12:7–12).
He is and ever shall be our patriarch and leader, even in the final battle
against the forces of evil at the end of the Millennium, according to Doctrine and
Covenants 29:26; 78:15–16; 88:111–14; compare also Daniel 10:13,
21; 12:1. Joseph Smith said that Adam is “the father of the human family, and
presides over the spirits of all men” (Joseph Smith [manual], 104). President Joseph
Fielding Smith stated that “Adam was not a ‘cave man’ but perhaps the most
nearly perfect man in form and feature to our Father and Creator” (Doctrines
of Salvation 1:140). He is
the first as to priesthood and shall continue so in the end of the world also (Moses 6:7; D&C 84:16;
27:11).
The Prophet
Joseph Smith further taught: “The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he
obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to
generation. He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Gen. 1:26,
27, 28. He had dominion given him over every living creature. He is Michael the
Archangel , spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to
Noah, who is Gabriel; he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood; he
was called of God to this office, and was the father of all living in his day,
and to him was given the dominion. These men held keys first on earth, and then
in heaven.
“The
Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and
will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years. The keys have to
be brought from heaven whenever the Gospel is sent. . . . The Priesthood is
everlasting” (History of the Church, 3:385–87).
Genesis 2:8,
15 (Moses 3:8,
15; Abraham 5:8,
11)
These
verses review the introduction of plant life into the earth and the preparation
of a garden eastward in a land called “Pleasantness,” or Eden
Brigham
Young: “In the beginning, after this earth was prepared for man, the Lord
commenced his work upon what is now called the American continent, where the
Garden of Eden was made. In the days of Noah, in the days of the floating of
the ark, he took the people to another part of the earth: the earth was
divided, and there he set up his kingdom” (Journal of Discourses,8:195; Discourses of Brigham Young,
102).
Brigham
Young: “It is a pleasant thing to think of and to know where the Garden of Eden
was. Did you ever think of it? I do not think many do, for in Jackson County
Wilford
Woodruff: “Joseph, the Prophet, told me that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson
County, Missouri. When Adam was driven out he went to the place we now call
Adam-ondi-Ahman, Daviess County , Missouri
Genesis 2:10–14
(Moses 3:10–14; Abraham 5:10)
Beyond the
land called “Eden
Genesis 2:9,
16–17 (Moses 3:9,
16–17; Abraham 5:9,
12–13)
In the
midst of the garden were placed, among the other trees, the “tree of life” and
the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Of the fruit of all trees, including
the tree of life, man could freely eat, so long as he did not partake of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. If no such permission or
prohibition—alternate choices with their consequences—had been given, and no
warning had been voiced about the phenomenon of death, could there have been
any development of the power to decide and to do what man’s intelligence and
sense of judgment directed, according to his own agency? There could have been
no opportunity to learn good from evil, helpful from harmful, virtue from vice,
sweet from bitter, joy from sorrow, constructive from destructive, harmonious
from discordant. “If only one course of action is open to us, we are not free
agents. Freedom presupposes a law which can be broken as well as kept” (Smith
and Sjodahl, Doctrine and
Covenants Commentary, 158).
The
scriptural answer to the question, “Why did there have to be a choice between
seemingly contradictory commandments?” is explained by Lehi: “It must needs be
that there was an opposition [or opposites]; . . . Wherefore, man could not act
for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other” (2 Nephi 2:15–16).
Evidence
that this chapter is in topical but not chronological sequence comes from the
fact that the account of the creation of a companion for Adam is found before the account of the naming of the
animals in Abraham and after that event in Genesis and Moses.
Instead of
“I will make . . .” the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of Genesis have “we will make . . .”—again pointing to a
plurality of Gods involved in the creative enterprises.
“It is not
good that the man should be alone.” The modern Hebrew term for a bachelor isravak, from the adjective reyk, meaning “empty,” “incomplete.” There
are numerous situations in modern society that show the wisdom of these
timeless words of God. To keep a man safe from the temptations and evils of an
increasingly immoral world (for example, the vile seductions of pornography),
it is indeed good to have and cherish a loving companion and not spend too much
time alone, away from that companion.
Genesis 2:19–20
(Moses 3:19–20; Abraham 5:20–21)
The
beginnings of man’s earthly language are hinted at in the story of the naming
of the animals. More about Adam’s means of communication will be found in Moses 6:5–6.
Of paramount importance is the fact that he possessed “a language which was
pure and undefiled” (Moses 6:6).
The reasons
for the insertion of this story at this point in Genesis and Moses, and in a
slightly different sequence in Abraham’s account, are not readily evident.
Genesis 2:21–25
(Moses 3:21–25; Abraham 5:15–19)
Though
there existed male and female members of other species, there was, as yet, no
companion for Adam (v. 20). The phrase “help meet for him” is translated from
the Hebrew ‘ezer kanegdo, which is more properly translated as
“a help (or support) suitable (or appropriate, complementary) to him.”
“Suitable” or “appropriate” is the intent of the King James English “meet.” The
Hebrew ‘ezer (help, support) also carries the
connotation of coming to the aid of someone. The Hebrew does not evince a
meaning of second class status. The indication is that they as companions would
be at once mutually beneficial, complementary, and appropriate to each other’s
nature (see First Presidency, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”).
In addition
to the “help meet” designation, further indications of the ideal compatibility
of the married couple are shown in the fact that they were made of the same
material; therefore, it is
pointed out that every bridal pair should also become “one flesh” by being
united in their life-goals, and unselfishly concerned with their common needs.
The
miracles of the formation of our own bodies, entailing the assimilation of
materials, the organization of the intricate life-process systems, the
preparation for independent existence at the proper moment of separation, the
marvels of biological inheritance, etc., are still amazing in spite of all we
understand about them. Certainly the creation of the first bodies of this earth
was no less miraculous. Various opinions have been published by Latter-day
Saint writers about the manner whereby the bodies of Adam and Eve were brought
to the earth, but there is little profit in speculating (note the promises of
future revelation on things presently unknown: D&C 101:32–34;
121:26–32).
In
connection with the creation of Eve’s body, President Spencer W. Kimball
commented succinctly, “The story of the rib, of course, is figurative” (Ensign, Mar. 1976, 71).
About the
eternal union of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, President Joseph Fielding
Smith taught: “When Eve was given to Adam, it was not ‘until death doth you
part,’ but it was a perpetual union. . . . The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that
‘marriage is an institution of heaven, instituted in the garden of Eden, and
that it should be solemnized by the authority of the everlasting priesthood.’
Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for
eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy
Priesthood, ‘they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not
have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the
power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without
committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have
children in the celestial glory’” (Restoration of All Things, 242, 243). President Smith also
clearly stated that “God the Father married Adam and Eve. . . . The ceremony on
that occasion was performed by the Eternal Father himself whose work endures
forever” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:71).
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