 |
|
 |
Prayers for all Occasions, Needs, and Intentions
THE STORY OF THE BIBLE
Retold for Children of all ages
Book 1
Introduction to The Holy Bible | God - Who is God and What is He Like | The Beginning | The Angels | The First Seven Days of Creation | The Garden of Eden
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
GOD PLANTED a garden of trees for Adam in the land of Eden. A wide river watered it, keeping it green, cool, and pleasant. God set two special trees in the middle of the garden. One was the tree of life. Its fruits and leaves were such healthful food and medicine that those who ate them would stay young and strong forever. The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2, 8-16
GOD HAS put many remedies and foods into the leaves, roots and fruits of plants. Every day more of them are found out and used. It could well be that the tree of life was a real tree, containing in itself all food and healing properties necessary to keep man in perfect health as long as he ate of it. However, it could also be that God kept Adam from sickness and death by some special action of His own, which could not be seen by human eyes. The Sacred Writer could have used the poetical image of the tree of life to describe this action of God. The writers of the Biblical books often speak of the "hand of God" when they mean God's power, and of the "eye of God" when they mean His knowledge of all things.
ADAM had a pleasant life taking care of the trees in the garden. He was never tired or sick. He saw all the animals, and gave each one a name. But among them all there was not one who could talk and laugh with Adam, and be his friend. The man was lonely. God saw this, and said to Himself, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper like himself." God put Adam into a deep sleep, and took out one of the the man's ribs. He made a girl from the rib, and brought her to Adam. As soon as Adam saw her, he knew that she was a friend and helper like himself. "I will call her woman," said Adam, "because she came from man," Adam knew that the woman was part of his own body, and he loved her. Ever since Adam's time, when a young man grows up, he leaves his father and mother and takes a wife. A girl who becomes a wife leaves her father and her mother, and lives with her husband. They raise children, and start a new family.
THE UNION of a man and his wife in marriage is holy, and God has blessed it. God meant man to have one wife, and to live with her all his life. No man may leave his wife and take another. No woman may leave her husband and marry another man.
Book 1
Introduction to The Holy Bible | God - Who is God and What is He Like | The Beginning | The Angels | The First Seven Days of Creation | The Garden of Eden