Genesis 2 Discussion

Dirt, breath, rivers, mist, marriage, sex, and shame, Genesis 2 is way more concrete than people expect. We sit down with Jordan Smith and Cody Sparks and take the chapter line by line, starting with the moment God forms Adam from the dust and then breathes life into him. That “breath of life” detail opens up big questions about what a soul is, what makes humans different, and why being made in the image of God isn’t about ego but about receiving life from God.

Then we nerd out a little on Eden’s geography. We talk through the rivers named in Genesis, why places like the Tigris and Euphrates catch our attention, and how readers try to connect the Bible to the ancient world. We also explore the mysterious “mist” that waters the land, including the popular hydrosphere idea and why people link it to the long lifespans in early Genesis, while still keeping our focus on what the text clearly says.

The conversation gets personal and practical when we hit “It is not good that man should be alone.” We talk honestly about loneliness, church community, and how this verse can land differently when you’re wrestling with same-sex attraction and wondering what faithfulness means for your future. From there we move into “leave and cleave,” family boundaries in marriage, and the goal of being “naked and unashamed,” not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

If you want a Genesis 2 Bible study that connects theology to real relationships, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s reading Genesis, and leave a review with the question you’re still wrestling with.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Transcript

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Welcome And Genesis 2 Setup

Pastor Plek 0:10

Welcome back to chapter a day. Keeps that devil away. And we're looking at Genesis chapter two today. And I'm really excited to be doing this with none other than Jordan Smith and Cody Sparks from the Cody Sparks band. And uh my name is Chris Pleckenfall. You can call me Pastor Pleck. So glad that you are here for Genesis two. Uh so let's take a look at this scripture, which really points uh it's kind of a review. Uh some scholars call this a review uh uh between the uh fifth and sixth days. So on if you go back to Genesis chapter one, you find out on the uh fifth day, that's when all the the swarming creatures of the water appear and all the birds of the heavens appear, and heaven is yeah, what does heaven mean? Heaven is sky at this point, right? Um, and then you've got in in Genesis six, or sorry, Genesis one, uh the sixth day is the where man and animals are created. And so we pick up that story here in between uh really the the sixth day of like there's plants on the ground, but no rain has has fallen, or sorry, no bush has grown, but the plants have started to grow. So that's where it's kind of weird. Is it fifth or sixth? Um, I'm assuming it's the sixth day that they're reviewing, but so God's planted, he's in some sort of area where uh there isn't any plants around yet, and God takes a chunk of ground

Made From Dust And Breath

Pastor Plek 1:40

uh and forms Adam. Uh thoughts here, guys, on on him forming Adam from the ground and then bro blowing into him the breath of life. Uh any thoughts there on any of that?

Jordan Smith 1:54

Uh I don't get why he makes us from dirt. Is there some significance to that? I figured we'd be a little better than that. Yeah, okay, okay.

Pastor Plek 2:01

I mean, but we're mainly made out of water, right? So he takes some water and dirt. So what's like clay? But I mean, yeah, what would you make us out of?

Jordan Smith 2:09

I don't know. He used the Holy Spirit to form us some I don't know, it just says dirt. So I was like, why dirt? That's all.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

I think that so shows how simple we are. But but how not? Because we're formed by that, but it like the DNA of a body and how things work is it's so incredibly insane that to go from dirt, water, and then he breathed his life in us to what we are.

Pastor Plek 2:36

Right. And I think there's something really important here that I I feel like we can kind of miss. Uh, there's something called the breath of life. Um uh it is uh let me see if I can figure out the word here. Uh in verse uh seven, it says that the Lord God um formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. The breath of life is ultimately what is changes him from uh just inanimate clay to a living being that has a soul, and I think that is where it is very uh unique uh for for human beings to have uh that breath of life. Now, I do think that um animals both sort of have like uh they're they use the same word of a living creature, it's sort of like the breath of life, and it's got the same word that kind of gets that. Uh but uh I think what is unique to man is the soul, which comes from uh the breath of life, and it can mean breath, wind, spirit, uh uh it always sounds like he's inflating a balloon. Yeah, it's not used for animals, but only God and man. So I think this is what makes when you talk about what makes humans made in the image of God is we have the breath of life. So I I do think there's great value in understanding that. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And it's it's pretty cool how again it's weird where it's like dust to dust, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, that how we were formed, that's how we go back. But our spirit yeah, our spirit man lives on, and hopefully for everyone goes to heaven. But yeah, that it's cool that you're dead and back to the back to reality, yeah.

Eden’s Rivers And Real Geography

SPEAKER_02 4:36

How you came from.

Pastor Plek 4:36

I love this. So here's the other thing that I absolutely love. Um when I look at at verse 13, uh, the second the name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. Now, a lot of people don't know that Cush is Ethiopia. So when you think of the water that surrounds Ethiopia, that was a river. Now, later on in uh this is where we're gonna get ahead of myself. I think it's Genesis 9, it's where the land then breaks apart, like the Pangea effect, which I didn't realize that you know, as I'm reading scripture, I'm realizing that the land breaks up. Well, you see right here, this was just a river that becomes an ocean. Isn't that kind of wild? It is wild. Okay, so um uh and then you've got the Euphrates, which goes through all the Middle East, the Tigris that goes to the Middle East, uh, and then uh you've got Havilah, uh or sorry, the the first is the Pishon, which I've always been confused at where the Pishon is.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

This is one of those uh we need to watch on the History Channel, like Genesis. Yeah. And how they get so deep into going over there and like touring the land, looking at the Pishon flows into um Saudi Arabia, which is kind of wild.

Pastor Plek 5:54

So there you go. I mean that that's where it just goes, it goes a direct route from uh that Arabian Peninsula straight through it.

Jordan Smith 6:01

Like, is that still a thing? The Pishon is still a river that you know people call it that.

Pastor Plek 6:06

I don't think anyone calls it that, but let's see. Um yeah, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

There's a lot of I I know that I watched a deal a long time ago and I and I don't want to get this wrong, but they did uh like archaeologists were digging and stuff and found like dried rivers that were once there, yeah, that were you know that are now dried up, and they were like, oh, this was this would have been the blah blah blah river. So I mean it's crazy how things like come to light later, however many thousands of years that we are ahead.

Pastor Plek 6:41

Yeah, and and so like I feel like that's where you you can kind of you know you're searching for it, you know, where is this river? Um, but it all comes out the the source of flows out of Eden. And so wherever these four rivers go back to, which kind of gets you back down to um somewhere in like Iraq, like uh, which is kind of like uh when you look at Ur of Chaldea, remember how Abram came from there? That's the area some a lot of scholars say that where Abram came from, you know, he's several generations removed from uh Noah uh and and Mount Terat, whatever where the Noah's flood is. Anyway, it's some somewhere around that area of the Middle East is where all this stuff started in Genesis chapter 10.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Wasn't was back then though, wasn't everything just very like luscious? Yeah. It wasn't as much, it wasn't desert like it is now, right? Is that right? Or is it just too hard? Because I mean, if you think about all the water supply and the water sources that are now dried up that brings vegetation.

Pastor Plek 7:48

And also where again, getting to where the flood comes eventually, it it it moved all sorts of stuff around. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

So that's true, very true.

Mist, Hydration, And Long Lives

Jordan Smith 7:56

Something I found interesting was when it says in uh verse, I'm on the wrong chapter, but the mist on the earth, uh I've heard concepts of the hydrosphere, but essentially it was saying that back then uh the water sustained people better, um, and that's why people lived longer. But I don't know if there's any change.

Pastor Plek 8:16

Like a hyperic chamber or something that was like universal.

Jordan Smith 8:19

Yeah, you're hanging out in there because well, it's just a mist, right? So you're more hydrated and yeah, you don't have to worry about wrinkles because you're constantly being moisturized.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah. Uh that's pretty interesting. Uh, like I was reading a thing where this Russian scientist found uh like a 3.5 million year old bacteria. Yeah. And he and it was like kind of like the fountain of youth that they were thinking that it was, and he was like, This is this is it, and this is could be why people live so long in the Bible days. Yeah. And he tested it on some rats and rabbits, and then he decided to inject himself. And what happened? I don't know. We still it's still gonna find out. Yeah, I mean, I'll have to look it up again because I don't know exactly this Russian science, exactly like where it was, yeah. Um, but it's real. Sure.

Pastor Plek 9:11

Because I had to look it up to like this bacteria that from ancient, ancient, ancient bacteria, and then he injects himself.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

If they found it in Siberia, that's wild. Like how many miles in the ground?

Rest, Creation Order, And Questions

Pastor Plek 9:22

Okay. Well, the thing that really struck me, uh specific speaking of that, it starts off with a recap. He says, uh God's word says, on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So there's this thing of God resting and enjoying uh all the work of his creation. And then it he kind of goes back in time a little bit, is what it seems like. And he goes back in between, really right before the sixth day, where uh there's no plant or bush. We find out from Genesis 1, the plant and the bush were day uh three, I believe. And then day six, here you have um uh because that the plants come even before the sun, if I'm if I'm correct. And then uh, but they I guess they're in they're planted, but because water hadn't rained yet, because it says, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up the land and watering the whole face of the earth. So before all that, so you've got somewhere in between day three and day six, it's zeroing in on when God makes man. Now, the part I struggle with is how can this be reconciled that there's no plants, but he's about to make man.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Probably because sin didn't exist yet. Okay, and animals probably didn't need to eat or yeah, good point, you know, food in them or to have to drink, they just existed. Yeah. Um, because I mean, really, in in reality, if at if Eve wouldn't have done this in Adam, they probably would have lived forever. Yeah, that's true.

Pastor Plek 10:56

And just walked with God and been that so maybe food was not necessarily a necessity at this point. And so he makes the man from the dirt, and so the I was the thing I struggle was like, how could it be in day three that he makes the plants, but there's no plants yet on day six, and the only thing I can think of, he plants all the plants, and it remember there isn't any, there's no photosynthesis yet because there's no sunlight, but there is light because God is light, which we learned from Genesis 1. Uh, so, anyways, he he then kind of starts creation by forming Adam and putting in him uh the breath of life, which is only something that God and human beings share, which is how God made uh human beings in his own image. Uh Jordan, for you in this text, what is what is something that you like something that uh that teaches us about God or teaches us about people?

Not Good To Be Alone

Jordan Smith 11:55

Uh I like verse 18 where God says it is not good that man should be alone and he'd make us a helper.

Pastor Plek 12:03

Yeah.

Jordan Smith 12:03

Uh I know at least for myself, that verse has been kind of challenging to understand. Uh dealing with my same-sex attraction and what does that mean for me? Because it sounds kind of messed up to me. He's like, well, uh you're gonna be alone, Jordan. Good luck with that. So all right, yeah. I think that's the negative take. Yeah, you know, I'm I'm doing great now. I'm excited for my life. Uh so yeah, yeah, E. Or Jordan.

Pastor Plek 12:26

Eeyore Jordan coming out. But I I do appreciate that because I think that is a a real you do need to not be isolated.

Jordan Smith 12:34

Correct.

Pastor Plek 12:34

And so I think that uh even for someone who's experienced same-sex attraction, that God can heal that, transform that, change that. Uh in the meantime, you're waiting patiently, uh, as it as it is, and sometimes and yeah, and you are enjoying the fellowship that God's provided you within his church. Um, all right. What about you, Cody?

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Oh, Genesis what's 24? 224 chapter uh verse 24.

Leave And Cleave In Marriage

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Yep. Um, where uh God calls us to leave our father and mother and go get a wifey.

Pastor Plek 13:09

Yeah, which I thought was interesting, is it's this is Moses' commentary. It it's a commentary on the creation story. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. I thought that was kind of interesting. Cleave to his wife. Yeah. Leave and leave. And and and there is there a problem. Have you ever noticed a problem when a husband or a wife hasn't properly left their family of origin to properly cleave to their spouse? Yes. What happens? Probably not gonna get along very well.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, they're gonna have mommy issues with wifey issues and mother-in-law issues or and or daddy.

Pastor Plek 13:50

Yeah, there's a lot there. I think to unpack that fully is if your first priority isn't your spouse and you're giving priority to your family of origin, you will ultimately have an issue.

Naked And Unashamed Intimacy

Pastor Plek 14:01

Yep. Uh, for me, the one I thought was really powerful is and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. This naked and unashamed uh life is really what husbands and wife were designed to live. Like I could tell you anything, uh, I can be completely vulnerable before you. There is no, I'm not hiding anything. Ugh.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Yeah. I'm not looking at you going like those 10 pounds from boy, you really put that on.

Pastor Plek 14:26

Yeah. So it's like, oh man. So imagine it, you know, having no shame with your spouse. That is where you're going ultimately. And we're going trying to get that back in in marriage. And if you're not married, Jordan, there's there's hope because you don't have to deal with the constant judgment that comes with um, I'm hiding this from my spouse. Uh, and ultimately where you want to be is naked and unashamed with your spouse, and then only through Jesus can you do that, which we'll get to in upcoming chapters.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

I think it's like a beautiful thing with a man and when like when they're married, you grow together and you change together. And if you don't see, if you're not looking at the like exterior beauty, I mean, yeah, we're but we're all getting old. We're all getting our bodies are changing, we're all being different. So I think it's like really beautiful that if you both realize that we're getting old, we're growing together, don't be ashamed of each other because we're both getting older and we're both changing.

Pastor Plek 15:19

Your brain, right? What's wild about your brain, it has a um an arousal complex. Like you you get a you're aroused when you see your naked wife and a dopamine hit and an oxytocin hit whenever you have sex. And then and like the blood rushes, and you have this incredible experience of sex, and you reprogram your brain to the latest version of your spouse. Uh, if you're a man, you get the latest version of your wife when you have sex with her, is the what you're attracted to. Right. So that over time, you're not just attracted to the woman that you married 20 years ago, you're attracted to the current version of your wife, which is how also you can overcome porn addiction uh by having sex with your spouse, which is sort of wild to think about.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Did you go? I don't I went through this. I don't know about you, but so when Aaron had Conway, she knows that like, I mean, obviously when people get pregnant, they their bodies change and do all these things. But for me, I think that the like miracle of birth and the miracle of like her going through that, yeah. I never noticed anything different. I was almost more attracted to her than I was before. 100%. But it's so hard for girls sometimes to not be insecure. And I'm like, I love everything about her.

Pastor Plek 16:29

That's the ashamed part that wasn't designed. And if so, as men, we need to lead our wives to see ultimately we're pointing them back to the scripture that we see them naked and unashamed. We're not there in judgment and shame. Okay.

Final Takeaways And Goodbye

Pastor Plek 16:42

Hey, a chapter day does keep the devil away. We're so glad that you uh listen in. We'll see you next time as we take a chapter day.