Man and woman

Story: Creation of man and woman

Passage: Genesis 2:4-25

Characters: God (2:4), Adam (2:7/2:20), the woman (2:22)

Interaction: God created a man. God didn’t want the man to be alone but the animals were not good enough helpers. He made a woman from the man’s rib. Adam recognized that the woman was like him, but he still proceeded to name her like he had been doing with the animals, which I think is funny! The man and woman were naked, but felt no shame. Adam is referred to as “the man” until verse 20 at which point the author just begins calling him Adam with no explanation.
Notes: Plants had not yet grown even though they were created on the third day. The passage says that they had not yet grown because it had not rained yet and there was no man to work the earth. God might have created seedlings on the third day and they were alive, but waiting for God to finish creation before they flourished. However, when God created man, the passage says that trees sprung up from the ground. The bible even says that these trees sprung up for two reasons: they were pleasing to the eye, and to provide food. God cares about our pleasure! In the garden though, this pleasure would not have distracted the man from God, but rather it would have added to the total perfect pleasure Adam was experiencing in God’s presence. A huge river flowed out of Eden, big enough to form four major rivers in the area. A garden that is able to produce that much water would have to be huge, which is not how I normally envision the Garden of Eden. Even in a perfect world in the presence of God, God did not want the man to be alone. The man was not really alone since God was with him but God still decided that the man should have a helper. Ponder that for a little bit and the significance of that will hit you. Even in the presence of God, God saw fit to create a woman for the man! After God decided the man needed a helper, he did not create a woman immediately. He led all the animals past Adam and had him name them. After finding no suitable helper there, He created Eve. After this search, the man would have had a profound appreciation for the wonder of creation that God had just made. As the man said, she was the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bones. She was the same as a man but also totally different. Yet, she was perfectly suited to complement his strengths and weaknesses. Out of every creature on the world, a woman was God’s solution to the man’s need for companionship and help. Adam would have understood this and had a total appreciation for this final creation of God. This is why marriage is so beautiful and sacred. A man was not God’s final plan for what humanity looked like, but rather a man and a woman are meant to work together and become one, unified to serve and glorify God together. This unity is seen later in the church and in our relationship with Christ, but it is first modeled in this final and most beautiful aspect of the amazing creation of God.

Questions: Why did God not grow the plants immediately? Why did man have to exist first? Why did Adam need a helper? Having perfect fellowship with God should be enough. Why is Adam not actually named until verse 20 and who named him? Why does Moses emphasize the nakedness of the man and woman? (we will continue to see this throughout the next story)

Lessons: God wants us to delight in Him through His creation. Women and men are supposed to be together. We are created to work together in unity to fulfill God’s purpose for us. That was His original intent in creating us.