创世记3：亚当和夏娃 Adam and Eve

红楼梦里的宝玉说男人是泥做的，女儿是水做的，不知道他怎么琢磨出来的，就冲他的这一点见识，我当了他多年的粉丝。他说对了至少一半呢！

正版是这样的，神让泥做的亚当沉睡，从他贴心的部位取了一块肋骨，用它做了一个女人。神把她领到刚睡醒的亚当面前，他立刻就认出了这是他生命的一部分，有了她生命才完整，他脱口作了一首充满爱意的情诗给她，“这是我骨中的骨，肉中的肉,可以称她为女人，因为她是从男人身上取出来的。”

我从没见过更能打动人心的情诗，把一个男人对女人的呵护珍惜，认可尊重，表达得如此充分。他既表达了对女人的爱，也表达了对上帝以此方式赐他良人佳伴的感恩。男人啊，你的女人才是你的骨肉，别再搞错了！

接下来这两个人成为一体，赤身露体，并不羞耻。简单直白的几个字，道尽了上帝对婚姻的祝福，也描述了夫妻的彼此相属。古今中外的婚姻，再也没有如此美妙过，以后的夫妻们，多多少少要遮掩了。文学作品，艺术作品中鲜有描写亚当和夏娃的爱情故事，因为太妙不可言，被罪玷污的人无从体会。

他们那时不仅彼此亲密，和上帝的关系也和谐密切。他们在上帝的慈爱注视下，一天天成熟，但不会衰老，他们越来越会享受上帝赐给他们的自由意志，选择做一些有创意的活动，上帝也乐见他们喜乐。

上帝只给了他们一个限制，就是不许吃分辨善恶树上的果子，这是上帝宣告自己的权威，不是不许他们知道善恶。他们的善恶标准必须从上帝那里接受,因为只有造他们的上帝知道什么对他们是好，什么是不好。上帝要让他们自己体会到顺服上帝旨意所带来的完美结果。上帝给他们机会运用及培育自己的意志，以配合祂不断祝福他们的旨意。上帝为了他们的益处，严严地警告他们吃那棵树上的果子必死。这两个人此刻连衰老都没见过，更不知死亡是何物。我们现在把死亡当成自然现象，亚当夏娃要凭信心来揣摩上帝提到的“死”。上帝允许他们吃生命树上的果子，他们知晓吃了后可拥有永不终结的生命，可是他们从未见过终结，难生对永远的渴望，再加上园子里果类繁多，一时半会儿吃不过来吧！

他们没着急吃生命树上的果，可他们的后代，我们现在的人们，可是无所不用其极地想找到吃了后可以长生不死的仙丹灵果，因为我们怕死。可惜大部分人都在乱找，白耽误功夫。这果子是有的，就是我们的救主耶稣，祂是生命树，也是生命果。到祂面前承认祂是救主的，都得到永远的生命。

这对天作之合的神仙眷侣就这样天长地久地过下去多好啊！那才是真的岁月静好，可惜呀！害他们的家伙要登场了。

In the book of the Dream of the Red Mansion, the main character, Baoyu, said that man was made from mud and woman was made from water. I don’t know how he figured this out, but at least what he said was half true. I was a fan for many years.

The official version is as following: God caused the man who was made by mud to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping God took one of the man’s ribs, a bone near his heart, and used it to make a woman.

God presented her to Adam when he awoke. He immediately recognized that this woman was part of his life. She would make him complete. Immediately he uttered the most romantic love poem, “this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called woman, for she was taken out of man.”

I have never read a poem so moving, that so fully expresses a man’s feelings towards a woman, full of care, respect and appreciation. Not only did he express his love to the woman, he also expressed his gratitude for God to use such a method to introduce a matching being into his life. Men, do not be mistaken, it is woman who is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Then the man united with his wife, becoming one flesh.

The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. Those simple but direct expressions fully display God’s blessing towards marriage, and also fully express the belongingness of husband and wife. Of all other marriages in human history, there is none more beautiful than this one. Not only did Adam and Eve not need to cover their body, they did not need to cover their minds, emotions, and desire. Future couples cover themselves, both physically and mentally. There is almost no depiction, whether in art or literature, of Adam and Eve’s love story, because it is so beautiful that sinful people simply cannot comprehend their relationship.

Not only were Adam and Eve close, the relationship they had with God was harmonious and intimate. Under loving watch of their heavenly father, they matured and flourished, but never getting old. They enjoyed more and more the freedom that God blessed them with, choosing to do all sorts of creative activities. God was so pleased to see their happiness and joy.

God set just one boundary for them. “They must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This was God’s declaration of sovereignty and authority, not a forbiddance for Adam and Eve from knowing good and evil. They must accept the standard set by God for good and evil, because only their Creator knew what is good for them and what is not. God wanted them to experience total surrender and obedience under Him, which would bring about the perfect outcome. God gave them more and more opportunities to choose to submit to Him. For their benefit, God solemnly warned them that “if they eat of the fruit of that tree they would surely die.” Adam and Eve did not even have the slightest understanding of death, for they had never seen it! We now think of death as a natural phenomenon, but Adam and Eve needed faith to grasp the abstract concept.

God allowed them to eat the fruit from the tree of life, and they knew that if they ate it, they would enjoy everlasting life. But they never saw an end, a termination of life. Eternity was natural for them. Plus, there were so many other fruits in the garden, there was no hurry to eat the fruit of the one tree of life.

They had no urgent desire to eat the fruit from the tree of life, but their descendents, people of today, we use every possible method we have to find the “fruit” that will grant us eternal life. We are so afraid of death that we don’t need faith to believe in “death”; we are all too familiar with the sad reality: everyone will die. Unfortunately, people are searching for all the wrong places to escape death. However, their own efforts are fruitless. Yet, there is a fruit of life: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tree of life. If we accept Him as our savior, we can have eternal life. If only this blessed, lucky couple could live forever! Life was wonderful for them. But alas, an enemy was waiting in the shadows, waiting to bring about their downfall.