Saturday 26 September 2026

Psalm 127

Background
In chapter 1 of Genesis, God was known simply as God (‘Elohim’ in the Hebrew) – the creator of all. Throughout chapters 2 and 3, God is called the Lord God (Yahweh Elohim).  This personal name for God, as revealed to Moses in Exodus 3 (Yahweh – ‘I AM’), was a much more holy name for God, and the name used by the family of Israel. Yahweh Elohim is not just the creator, he is the God of relationship, the God of covenant, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is this relationship that has shaped the story of human beginnings.

As in the first chapter of Genesis, in these verses we find God seemingly in conversation with himself – almost like a committee meeting! Verse 22 suggests that God judges in their present state humans are not ready to receive everlasting life.They have knowledge but not yet wisdom, and need to grow in love and responsibility. So, like many children, they have to leave home if they are to truly grow up. Their work on the land can continue outside the garden (v. 23), away from the particular temptation of the Tree of Life.

Christian theology and preaching has made great use of the imagery in this chapter to describe our present condition and then to say Jesus Christ is the remedy – often saying that our sin creates a barrier between us and God. In Genesis 3, there is a barrier, but it is not a barrier to a relationship with God, it's only exclusion from the Tree of Life. The tree is guarded by angels and a flaming sword. This is a gate that God is clearly in control of. The stance says “Not yet!” It is not a permanent state (why guard something you’re never going to use again?), but the tree is protected until a time or scenario of God’s choosing.

This is not the end of Adam and Eve or their family’s story. It will continue (even more painfully) with the next generation. In the first verses of the next chapter, we read of their children learning to worship God, bringing offerings. This is not a family who have completely broken their relationship with the Lord, their God and creator. But the tendency to sin – to disobey and go their own way – will always be around.

Perhaps the chapter could be summed up like this: the first humans disobeyed God’s one restriction and followed instead the voice of temptation. They took what was not theirs, at the expense of the very thing they were reaching out for: godly wisdom. To help them grow into a better relationship with God, they had to leave their home in a garden, and learn about love and responsibility the hard way. But it was the start of God’s relationship with a human family which would stretch for many generations, with several bumps and reboots along the way, and a further painful exile – which the original scribes of this passage were probably living through. 

It is a story which at the time of writing had not reached a satisfactory conclusion, but from which its readers would try to discern how to grow in the love of the same Lord God, hoping that one day the way to the Tree of Life would be open to them again.

To Ponder:

• Read Philippians 2:5-11 and compare it to the story of Adam and Eve.  How does Jesus succeed where they failed?
• St Paul describes Jesus as the ‘Last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45), and he writes about how Jesus offers the free gift of God’s grace opening the way to eternal life (Romans 5:12-21) made possible by the death and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). How can this faith give you hope if you are feeling some of the same frustrations of sin found in Genesis 3?
• Finally, read Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22:1-5. Notice how the story comes full circle? Can you imagine what is promised?

Bible notes author: The Revd Andrew Murphy
Andrew is a Methodist presbyter in the East Mercia Circuit, and currently the minister of the churches of Market Harborough, Kibworth and Rothwell, and part of the ministry team at St Giles, Desborough. He is married to Emily, with two children. He has been in the ministry for 18 years, previously serving in the Hinckley Circuit. He trained at the Wesley Study Centre in Durham, is a published hymn writer, supports Newcastle United FC, and is proud of his roots in Consett, County Durham.