|
God created the heavens and the
earth (Gen. 1:1). Six times we read that God saw that His
creation was good. In fact, in Genesis 1:31 God summed up all of
creation and said in the emphatic that it was all “very good!”
But we find a marked contrast in chapter two.
“Then the LORD God said, ‘It
is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a
helper suitable for him.’” (Gen. 2:18)
“Not good” is a Hebrew word for
incomplete. Did God make a mistake by making the man
incomplete? No! He obviously wanted Adam, and us, to understand
that the woman completes the man. It is God who gives woman to
man in order to complete him.
Two expressions describe the role
of woman in relationship to man.
Woman is to be, first of all, a
helper. The word “helper” is the Hebrew word “atzer.”
God’s design for the woman was that she be a help to the man.
Another translation of the word could be “to assist.” “Assist”
is not a synonym for enslave or rule. Eve was to help Adam in
the garden.
This word was often used to
describe God’s military help.
“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help (atzer)
you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold,
all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and
disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive
with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find
them— Those who contended with you. Those who war against
you shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent thing. For I, the
LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you,
‘Fear not, I will help (atzer)
you.’” (Isa. 41:10-13)
The word was so common in Israel
that Jews began to use it to name their children. Eliezar, God
helps; Azariah, help from Yahweh; Ezra, helper; and Ebineezer,
“rock of help.” (See Psalm 72:12 and Psalm 121:1-2).
The second expression that
describes the role of the woman is suitable. She was to be made
suitable for Him. “Suitable” means, “to correspond to.” The
wife was to be a helper who perfectly corresponded to the man.
It could also be translated “of like kind” - someone like
himself who could meet his need for a partner. Remember that
man was created to rule over all lower creation (the animals and
the plants) and in the realm of his human spirit (his nephesh
chayim), he was to have fellowship with God. He was to be
satisfied with this. But he needed a helper suitable to him to
help him.
Adam’s Rule
First, God established Adam’s
sovereignty over the animal world.
“Out of the ground the LORD
God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the
sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call
them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that
was its name.” (Gen. 2:19)
Before the fall, Adam was in a
state of innocence before God. Adam probably had intelligence
beyond anything that we can imagine today. Remember that Bible
names often reveal some characteristic in the one named. “To
name” in the Hebrew implies that God had given Adam the ability
to understand the nature of animals and to name them
accordingly.
“The man gave names to all
the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast
of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper (atzer)
suitable for him.” (Gen. 2:20)
Every animal sent out a “mating
call,” and there was an answer to its cry, but for Adam there
was silence. There was no one with nephesh chayim to
answer him. Adam was alone!
Adam’s Rib
“So the Lord God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept, then the Lord
God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that
place.” (Gen. 2:21)
We do not know what kind of
“sleep” this was. S. Lewis Johnson in a tape series from
Believers Chapel, in Dallas, Texas, called it some kind of
“divine anesthesia.” What we do know is that man was removed
from the scene. All the attention was upon God. While man
slept, God removed one of his ribs.
“The Lord God ‘fashioned’
into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and
brought her to the man.” (Gen. 2:22)
Someone has written: “The rib was
not taken from his head, indicating superiority. It was not from
his feet, indicating slavery. But it was taken from his side,
indicating that she would come along side of him as an equal.”
The Hebrew word for fashion is “banah.” This was to
distinguish this creative act from “bara,” to create out
of nothing (Gen. 1:1) and from “yatzar,” to create from
something (Gen. 2:7). “Banah” means to fashion or to
shape. The woman was the second human being created by God. She
was not taken from the soil but from the man. Both have
significance, as we shall see later on. For believers in Jesus
Christ, God still brings the woman to the man.
Suffice it to say, the woman did
not look like Adam’s rib when God brought her back to him.
“The man said, ‘This is now
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, She shall be called
woman because she was taken from man.’” (Gen 1:23)
Dr. Howard Hendricks, professor
at Dallas Theological Seminary, called this a “tame translation”
of the original Hebrew. He said that it should read, “Here now
at last! Where have you been all my life? All the animals have
their mates; now at last here is mine.” There was excitement!
Adam called her “Isha,” woman, because she was taken from
“Ish,” man.
“For this reason a man shall
leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife;
and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24)
God’s Design
Found in this creation process is
the true basis for marriage. Male and female were originally
one flesh because they were both one in Adam. The woman was in
him but she could not be seen. When Adam’s rib was taken from
him and made into the woman, he became incomplete. He was no
longer a whole person. He was a rib short!
God then fashioned the woman from
that part taken from Adam. She really belonged to the man (his
rib). When Adam received his rib back, he was again made
complete; and when she was given back to him, she likewise was
made complete. The two once again became “one flesh.”
Leave and Cleave
It was for this reason that they
were to leave their father and mother. “Leave” means to be
permanently severed from someone physically and emotionally.
Marriage is not the extension of an old home but the starting of
a new one. “Joined” is a Hebrew word which means, “to be
permanently glued together.” So when the man got his rib back
and the woman was placed back into the man, they once again
become one flesh.
“And the man and his wife
were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Gen. 2:25)
Remember there are two parts to
God’s breath in man, man’s nephesh chayim. Their human
spirit at this point was alive and active with fellowship toward
God. With their mind they knew God. With their emotion, they
valued God; and with their will, they chose to fellowship with
Him. In fact, Adam walked with God, the Lord Jesus, in the cool
of the garden each day. It is assumed that he had perfect
fellowship with God, perfect fellowship with his wife Eve, and
was in tune with his environment.
Because they were spiritually
alive at this point, their physical nakedness had no evil
connotation. It bore absolutely no shame. There was no need for
clothes. Within them was no knowledge of good and evil. There
were no evil thoughts and no inordinate sensual lusts. But all
of this changed after the fall.
The Order of Creation
Let’s
pause at this point to establish some insights that will become
important later on. As mentioned earlier, the divine order of
creation has extreme significance. Adam, created first, was
taken from the soil. He became the image and glory of God (1
Cor. 11:7). He became the representative head of the human race,
the federal head (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:23). Eve was created
second, and she was taken - not from the soil - but from the
man. She became the glory of the man because she was created for
the man (1 Cor. 11:7). She became responsible to God through
the man. (See “The
Fall”
and “The
Consequences of the Fall”).
Sources
New American
Standard Bible
Robert B. Thieme,
Jr.
Howard G. Hendricks
Brown, Driver, and
Briggs Hebrew Definitions
|
