Gen 2:21-23 | KingComments | STEP | Before Adam feels the lack of his wife ( ), God has already expressed the purpose to give her to him ( ). Adam gives the animals names. A name expresses the character of the animal. This shows the deep insight Adam has in God’s works. The word “helper” is not a derogatory expression for the woman. God Himself is also called “help” ( ). That she is “suitable to him” or literally “as one opposite him” means that she is also created in the image of God ( ). Then God gives Adam his wife. God does not do this by forming Eve out of the dust of the earth just like Adam. Then she would be independent of Adam. He forms Eve from Adam. He does not do this out of his head, for she is not his superior. Nor does he make her out of his feet, for she is not his slave. He forms her from his side. She is therefore someone of equal value, standing beside him. She is his “opposite”, as it literally says. To be able to give Adam his wife, God puts him in a deep sleep, a death-sleep. Here we have a beautiful picture of the way in which the Lord Jesus received the church as His wife. That is through His death on the cross ( ). By forming Adam first and then Eve, God establishes the rank order that He wants to see maintained in creation. With this He determines that the man is the head of creation and also of the woman. Paul draws that conclusion unambiguously in his first letter to the Corinthians and his first letter to Timothy, while also indicating the purpose for which the woman was created ( ; ).

‏ Genesis 2:21-23

Adam Gets His Wife

Before Adam feels the lack of his wife (Gen 2:20b), God has already expressed the purpose to give her to him (Gen 2:18). Adam gives the animals names. A name expresses the character of the animal. This shows the deep insight Adam has in God’s works.

The word “helper” is not a derogatory expression for the woman. God Himself is also called “help” (Psa 33:20 ; Psa 70:5 ; Psa 115:9). That she is “suitable to him” or literally “as one opposite him” means that she is also created in the image of God (Gen 1:27).

Then God gives Adam his wife. God does not do this by forming Eve out of the dust of the earth just like Adam. Then she would be independent of Adam. He forms Eve from Adam. He does not do this out of his head, for she is not his superior. Nor does he make her out of his feet, for she is not his slave. He forms her from his side. She is therefore someone of equal value, standing beside him. She is his “opposite”, as it literally says.

To be able to give Adam his wife, God puts him in a deep sleep, a death-sleep. Here we have a beautiful picture of the way in which the Lord Jesus received the church as His wife. That is through His death on the cross (Eph 5:25).

By forming Adam first and then Eve, God establishes the rank order that He wants to see maintained in creation. With this He determines that the man is the head of creation and also of the woman. Paul draws that conclusion unambiguously in his first letter to the Corinthians and his first letter to Timothy, while also indicating the purpose for which the woman was created (1Cor 11:8-9; 1Tim 2:11-13).

The Unity of Man and Woman

Adam recognizes his wife as taken from him and given to him. The conclusion of this action of God is given in Gen 2:24, which we see in the words “for this reason” at the beginning of that verse. The words of Scripture are not open to any other interpretation. God establishes the monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. It is also the only form of living together between people that is established and acknowledged by God.

The Lord Jesus refers to this when He is asked a snare question about marriage: “And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created [them] from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate”” (Mt 19:4-6). Paul also refers to this beginning to prove that immorality is not permitted under any circumstances (1Cor 6:16). Just as the account of creation exposes every different theory of origin, the institution of marriage exposes every other form of living together as false and reprehensible.

Marriage is a picture of the connection between Christ and the church. We find the proof of this in the third time that Gen 2:24 is quoted in the New Testament (Eph 5:31-32). Therefore, any other form of living together is not only disobedience to the Word of God, but also a lowering of the glory of Christ. The latter is always the aim of the enemy, satan. Because for the Christian the glory of Christ is above all else, he will honor marriage (Heb 13:4).

The fact that they are “both naked” and were not ashamed indicates that there is no shadow over their connection. They deal openly with each other and with the LORD God. This is more than just the fact that here are two undressed people together. It also shows two people between whom is nothing that should not be there. They have nothing to hide from each other. They see the other as he and she is and show themselves as they are.

Some practical comments in this respect. I read in the newspaper that a terrorist had been arrested who had been able to hide from her husband and her child that she was a terrorist all the time she was married. She led a double life. Unfortunately, it is so, that in some marriages also a kind of double life is lived. That does not have to be as extreme as with this terrorist, but sometimes husband and wife live side by side each living their own life. Some people hide a lot from each other.

If that is the case with you, show yourself ‘naked’ to your partner, that is to say: tell the other person everything that concerns you, everything that you want to commit to. Share that with each other, be open toward each other. It should not be so that a woman has to guess what her husband is doing, what is going on in him. The same applies the other way around. Otherwise it may be that after a while, if it has taken long enough for each other to play hide-and-seek, one is confronted with the hard reality on a shocking way: the other leaves.

Therefore, open yourself up to the other and listen when the other person opens up for you. You will be amazed by the results. No one has ever regretted opening up to the other. On the contrary, the sigh is: ‘If only I had done it before.’