(Trial Version) Moses 1-5. Scripture Study/Discussion Questions
Read Genesis 2:4-25 and discuss the questions.
(See "Materials")
1. What are the necessities of your life?
2. What did God prepare for Adam in the Garden of Eden?
3. What aspects of God’s characteristics are reflected in the things God prepared for Adam?
4. This passage’s title for God is similar to Genesis 1:1What is the difference between 2:3 and 3? What is the purpose?
5. What restrictions did Adam have in the Garden of Eden? Do you think these restrictions were too harsh?
6. What provisions, assignments, or restrictions has God placed on your life? How do you respond?
7. Share a personal experience of God’s provision for you and how that event increased your knowledge of God.
Scripture Study
Read the passage Genesis 2:4-25 and discuss the following questions together.
1. What do you think are the necessities of life?
Answer: (This is a sharing question, there is no specified answer.)
2. What did God prepare for Adam in the Garden of Eden?
A: A suitable living environment (flowers, trees, rivers), fruits and vegetables for food, working in the garden, and a spouse prepared for him. (Please refer to the reference material "Part 2")
3. What aspects of God’s characteristics are reflected in the things God prepared for Adam?
Answer: (1) God is a God of grace. He provides man with the necessities of life.
(2) God is a God of power. He arranged the positions of all things in the universe simply by speaking. He shared this power with man, appointing humans to tend and guard the garden and to name the birds and animals.
(3) God is a rich and perfect God. His creation is not only wonderful and precise, but also has an endless reproductive capacity.
(4) God is a God of order. His creation is orderly and hierarchical.
4. How is the name of God in this passage different from that in Genesis 1:1-2:3? What is the purpose?
Answer: Starting from this paragraph, the name of God changes from "God" to "Jehovah God" (Yahweh Elohim), emphasizing the special and close relationship between God and mankind.
Later, when God made a covenant with the Israelites, He also used this name. Another way of saying it is that "God" represents the attribute of "righteousness" and "Jehovah" represents the attribute of "mercy". (Please read the reference material "Part 3")
5. What restrictions did Adam have in the Garden of Eden? Do you think these restrictions were too harsh?
Answer: (Let the students share their feelings first.) Actually, verses 16 and 17 can be divided into two parts. First is God’s grant (you can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden at will), and then is God’s prohibition (you cannot eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).
God did not explain why He established this gift, which shows that the focus is not on "why", but that people should understand God's sovereignty and obey (listen to) God's commands because He is the Creator of the universe (Elohim).
Furthermore, God allowed him to eat the fruit of every tree in the garden at will, but he was not allowed to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because "in the day he ate of it he would surely die." This shows that the motivation was out of love. We should not only look at the appearance of the restrictions. For example, parents have many restrictions on their young children out of love and protection. (If time permits, you can explain the reference material "2:2")
6. What provisions, assignments, or restrictions has God placed on your life? How do you respond?
A: (This is a sharing question with no specific answer. The point is to help students think about how God walks with us in life.)
7. Share a personal experience of God’s provision for you and how that experience increased your knowledge of God.
Answer: (This is a sharing question, there is no specified answer.)