Genesis 2:20-25 (LEB based)
The man gave names to every domesticated animal and to the birds of the sky and to all the animals of the land. But for the man there was not found a helper as his opposite. Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in the place of it. Then Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said,
“This one is now bone from my bones
and flesh from my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘Woman,’
for this one was taken from man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh. The man and his wife, both of them, were naked, and they were not ashamed.
For most men, finding a wife is not an easy process. Now, perhaps some immoral men find a second wife easier to get, but it was not this way from the beginning. In the beginning, it was God’s design that there should be one man for one woman. How much difficulty there has been in the world because marriages fail and are replaced so quickly! It ought not be so.
Notice, God did not merely recognize what the man surely felt: something is out of order for there to be a lack of a mate for the man. Immediately, the man began naming the creatures on the land and in the sky. The first engineer is God, and the first scientist was the man He made, ie. Adam.
It seems the man was so busy naming the creatures and doing His God appointed task, that he got tired. There are many animals made by God, so this would have taken some time. Yet there was no match. Have you ever looked and looked and found nothing, and then you suddenly found what you sought after getting some rest?
This is what happened to Adam, he was so exhausted that he slept and slept deeply. It was as though his scientific endeavors served as an anesthesthetic. In that deep sleep, God took from his side a rib, or a part.
What is so significant about taking something from his side? Had God taken a toe, the man might have ruled over her. Had He taken the man’s hair, she might have ruled over him. Hand God taken from the man’s hand, he might have made her work all the time. No, God took from the man’s side, so that she might be beside him, near his heart, a companion next to him, a counterpart. They were to correspond to one another. They were a match designed in heaven, made on earth. The mind of God knew how to match the heart of a man and a woman, and so the man sang.
Clearly, the woman was beautiful and the man was refreshed as soon as he woke from his sleep, because he immediately sang a love song. Interestingly, this is the second love song. The first was when God made mankind. This reveals a mystery: As God loves mankind, so a man must love his wife. It will not always be easy, but it will be possible. God will heal the heart if we rest in him.
God heals the heart not by all these beasts of the field, though those are certainly nice. A bird cannot compare to a person, no matter now lovely the bird’s song. Any man worth any salt will know that a human love song truly sung between a couple has more heart in it than the song of any other creature. The dutiful dog is not delight compared to a wonderful wife.
Some speak of this as a time of innocence. And surely there was innocence: no shame. But the last sentence speaks of more when it speaks of two in the nude without shame. It speaks of love. While it does not say that they knew each other (there seems to be little mention of the word “know” apart from the tree and until after the curse), still the Lord brought the woman to the man and he sang.
The only time there is absolutely no shame when a couple comes together like that is when there is perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear and shame and anger and anxiety and sadness. There is a satisfaction in love, and the song the man sang indicated he was satisfied at last.
Are you looking for love? Where are you looking? Are you doing God’s will? Are you doing the work God has assigned for you to do like the man naming the animals? Are you following Jesus like the woman followed the Lord in the garden to her man? If you are lonely, look first to Jesus and do the work He has assigned you. I cannot guarantee you will immediately find a husband if you are a woman or a wife if you are a man, but you will find purpose.
Finally, do not look too hard for someone just like you. The man did not look for a man, but for one that was his opposite, his counterpart. The woman was not led by God to another woman, this would not make sense in God’s kingdom. They were not led to match up with boys and girls. Here we see a family beginning in seed-like form: a husband and wife meeting, called by God, made in His image, walking in love. It was paradise, heaven on earth. Multiplication requires diversity.
To close with, I would like to include a poem I sent to my wife before we were engaged. Her response made me realize that this woman who had been corresponding with me for years just might be the one who would correspond with me face to face one day.
Courage in a Raging Internal Environment
Send first to S.E.F. on November 6, 2000
When mourning dawns upon the whirling earth
and tears begin to stream the face of mirth
a cry erupts and breaks the dullness of
the eye: a plea for Son, “O Fiery Love,
Come warm the heart that’s borken by a soul
untouched by tender hands.” Alone, the sol-
dier marches on, his only food the fruiful day
that is to shine: a dream still far away
to eyes that cannot gaze upon the Light
beyond the freezing smog of sluggish fright.
Then pain, though thick around my mind, is pierced
by promise of a change in whether fierce
or fair the day shall be when met by
courage that internall foes cannot deny.
if4es 