The Creation of Woman

2:18 And Yahweh God said, it is not good for the man (‘adam) to be alone. I will make a help meet (‘ezer neged – a counterpart, a complement) for him. 

Man was incomplete without woman; and this was not good. To complete and prefect God’s creation man needed a counterpart, a complement, corresponding to him. The glory of the man is that the woman was created for him. The humility of the man is that without the woman he was incomplete.

The woman’s creation was necessitated by two points:

1.In order for mankind to fulfill the cultural mandate to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, they had to be both male and female with the ability to procreate.

2.Adam was not able to serve and obey God properly without a corresponding, horizontal relationship. He needed a partner in order to worship God fully.

2:19-20 Now Yahweh God had formed from the ground every creature of the field and every bird of the sky. And He brought them unto the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called to every creature, that was its name. And the man called names to every beast and to the birds of the sky and to every living creature of the field; but for Adam a helper corresponding to him was not found.

Adam, acting as one made in the image of God, imitated the work of the Creator by naming the animals and demonstrating his rule over the animal kingdom.

We have no way of knowing exactly how many “kinds” of animals appeared before Adam, but it is not unreasonable to suggest that Adam could have named about ten species each minute, so that in a time span  of about five hours three thousand kinds of animals could have been named.

The intellectual ability for Adam to do this was given by His creator. Adam’s intellect before the fall was perfect and unhindered from doing whatever his Creator would ask him to do.

As the animals came before Adam (most likely in pairs, male and female), Adam could not help but be impressed with his own uniqueness—not only in intellectual and spiritual discernment, but also in the fact that he was alone.

None of the animals was suitable biologically to be a mate to produce offspring nor could they communicate with him and provide fellowship or companionship. It is abundantly clear and certain that he had not evolved from them.

As God’s last act of creation He provided a helper and companion for Adam, one “like” him, and yet different, perfectly complementing and completing him.

A “helper” provides what is lacking. The woman supplies what the man lacks. Therefore she is more than just man’s counterpart, she is his complement. Without the woman man is incomplete.

2:21-22 So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man (adam), and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place. And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which He took from the man into a woman. And He brought her to the man.

Yahweh God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep not allowing him to witness the creation of the woman.

While the body of Adam was made from the dust of the ground and was not formed from some manlike creature, (no such creature existed), it is said of the woman that she was taken from the man.

The Hebrew word for rib (isela) is translated “side” thirty-five times in the Old Testament and this is the only time it has been rendered “rib”.

A “side” would include flesh and bone, as well as blood, taken from the open side of Adam. Adam could later say, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”

Physiologically, it is significant that both bone and flesh in the human body are sustained by blood and the elaborate blood-pumping and circulatory network intelligently designed by God.

So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man (adam), and he slept. And He took from one of his sides (flesh, bone, & blood), and He closed up the flesh in its place. And from the side (the flesh, bone & blood), which Yahweh God had taken from man, He made the woman, and brought her to the man.

It is interesting to note that, through the blood sustaining bones and flesh of the first Adam, Eve (his bride) received her life (physically). In like manner, through the blood, shed on the cross by the last Adam, the church (His bride) receives her life (spiritually and eternally).

Eve was made from Adam’s side to work alongside him to serve and obey their Creator and carry out His commission to “fill” and “subdue” the earth.

The woman not only had the same “flesh” and “life” as Adam did, but she also had an eternal soul and was created in the “image” of God as Adam was.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.