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18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. ~ Genesis 2:18-20
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 2 where God has spoken everything into existence and He has now created a pristine environment for the first man, Adam. In the Garden of Eden, God provided for Adam all that he would ever need.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'"
Again, in this verse God "said." This small, seemingly insignificant word highlights the fact that the word of God is far more important to us than we realize. There is a power to the word of God that most know nothing of. In Proverbs 30:5 we read, "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him." The word of God imparts wisdom to the hungry soul. Wisdom is the ability to look at life and its difficulties from God's point of view. As we learn more of the Word of God and begin to get a grasp of its practical principles, we will also gain the ability to look at life from a heavenly and eternal viewpoint. When the word of God dwells within us richly, we will see the world through the eyes of someone who is infinitely wise, entirely good, and whose agenda includes the well-being of all people. Consequently, we will begin to see our circumstances as opportunities He has designed to train us according to His culture.
If there were no other reason to disbelieve in the theory of evolution, the creation of women would be enough. No amount of random chance, no amount of adapting and changing, nothing in the evolutionary equation could ever be able to produce the genius of God as seen in the woman. Only an infinitely intelligent mind could give man such a wonderful gift. Only God could have created a woman and He did it from Adam's rib.
God created woman for man. The two fit together much better than one does all alone. In Genesis 1, we read at the end of the sixth day that "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." But, in today's passage God concluded it was "not good" that Adam was alone on the sixth day. This underscores the literal interpretation of the six day creation narrative. God had to have created everything in six literal days because of the precise nature of the narrative.
God interjected the first negative in the story of His creation when He said, "It is not good for man to be alone." Up to this point in the creation story, everything had been pronounced "good" and on the sixth day of creation God said that everything He had done was "very good." But now we read that it was "not good for man to be alone," indicating that it never was God's intention for man to be alone. From the very beginning God intended to make two genders in the making of man, especially in light of the fact that this was the case in the rest of His creation.
Toxic to the human condition is loneliness which is now reckoned to be the single greatest cause of suicide, and it is undoubtedly the most widespread source of human misery in the world today. Yet, it is a perfectly human experience. Each of us has felt at times the need for human companionship. There is nothing wrong with that; God made us that way. Loneliness is not a product of the Fall. We need one another. We were not made to exist in loneliness.
The phrase "I will make him a helper comparable to him" literally means the woman was prepared by God to share man’s responsibilities, respond to him with love and understanding, as he should to her. The man and woman were meant to work together. As a result much oneness and intimacy is created when a man and woman work on tasks together. The blending of the three loves, companionship love, commitment love and physical love produces the intimacy each couple desires. Intimacy with our spouse really is about who we are together, not simply what we do. In the context of everyday life, we are offered opportunities to develop trust between us and this is a large piece wherein our intimacy grows.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name."
It was out of the ground that the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air. God created the woman from Adam. Then God gave to Adam the task of studying the animals. He gave him a project to work out before he was ready for marriage. Doubtless it was in order to show him that his wife was to be quite different than the animals. Many men have not learned this yet, but it is clear that this was the intent of God in setting man upon this research.
Adam could not possibly have given names to the animals without knowing the character of each, because a name always reflects a characteristic. In the giving of a name to each of the animals Adam had to understand, whether by a revelation from God or by searching and examining on his own, something of the character of each animal. As a result Adam learned that woman was not to be like an animal as so often she has become in the history of mankind. There are societies where women are treated exactly like animals, where the price of a woman is approximately the price of a cow, and where women are sometimes traded for cows. But this is a violation of what Adam learned in the beginning, that woman is not like the animals. She is precious having been taken from so near to Adam's heart.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him."
Very quickly Adam learned that the wife was to be a helper fit for him, corresponding to him. The philosophy of the pornography industry reflects the idea that women are nothing more than something to be used. God's way is to use things and to love people. A wife is not to be treated as some mere disposable thing. It is very instructive that the word "helper" in this passage is the same word God used to describe Himself in Psalm 46:1 which reads, "The Lord is our refuge and our strength, a present help in times of trouble." The very same exact Hebrew word used there for God is used for the wife here in today's passage.
Marriage is a pre-fall institution and our definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman comes from the very beginning of God’s created order. The marriage relationship is rooted in our understanding of how and who God created us to be. God created us with the need for relationship and this is a reflection of His image and character. God Himself exists in relationship; it is clear even in the biblical names used to describe God: God the "Father," and God the "Son." The whole idea of the Trinity is an idea of relationship, of "one God eternally existing in three persons," of needing one another, and yet being equal with one another. Our very understanding of God is an understanding of relationship, and we reflect that in how we were created in God’s image.
