Genesis 2

Like biblereadingcompanion said, the creation story is one we’ve heard so often that we tend to go into sleep mode when we come across it just once more. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not just the first chapter, but the whole book of Genesis that we read repeatedly. (Going along the reasoning that we start reading the Bible from Genesis and keep going until we hit the second part of Exodus or if you’re more tenacious, Leviticus. Stop. Then start with Genesis again. J)

Knowing the events in the book is all well and good, but we know the Bible is not a storybook or a textbook. After reading, we must go through the stage of ‘knowing’, then ‘understanding’ and finally ‘doing’. This means that we must not just stop at the whats and hows but should seek to find out the whys behind the seemingly straightforward events.

What is one of the whys we can ask for today’s chapter? Let’s read and find out.

Bible Passage:  Genesis 2

The chapter talks about a beginning which is very close to our hearts – the beginning of man. By this simple fact, we know that the God we worship is not just the God of the Hebrews or Christians but of all mankind for we read that He created the first couple from which we all are born. My question to readers is this however:

Why did God create man from dust?

I’ll share some answers (from various sources) to this question and hope you can share yours too.

Be humble

[…] Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. (Gen 18:27)

This is the first answer most people would give and with good reason indeed because the term “humility” is derived from the Latin word humilitas, a noun related to the adjective humilis, translated not only as “humble”, but also alternatively as “low”, or “from the earth”.

Bearing this in mind helps us keep the correct Christian perspective no matter how great we become or how much work we do for we remember that we are but dust and that no one is above another because we are all made from dust. This is the same dust that animals were made from as well as the dust that they trod on before we were created. When we think about it this way, what is there for us to be haughty about?

Remember what’s precious

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Cor 4:7)

Having said that however, let us remember there is more to us than our physical bodies. When God made animals and man, He made them all from dust. What makes us different from animals then? It is the breath of life that God breathed into us.

This is what is precious and makes us more honourable. This breath of life is also what sets eternity in the hearts of man (Ecc 3:11) so that we can look beyond the temporal physical body and prepare as well as yearn for eternal life.

Submit to God’s sovereignty

You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”? (Is 29:16)

One way of preparing for eternal life is obviously to submit to the One who gives this eternal life. This is also linked to the fact that we are made from dust.

Like earthen vessels, we are shaped and moulded for the Potter’s purpose. Our bodies did not come about by our own doings or will thus it is important that we remember who made us and submit to His will and direction instead of trying to run our own lives and think we know better.

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I’ve deliberately *not* shared all the answers I have so that readers can share as well.:)

So what do you think? Why dust?