A FEW LESSONS FROM GENESIS 2 & 3

Strangely, God had said to Himself: “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18)

Well, if God had already known, which He did, that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone, why hadn’t He already created Eve?

Instead, God asked Adam to name the animals He had created. However, in the process, Adam failed to find for himself a suitable mate. No surprise there!

What did it mean for Adam to name the animals? Why did God subject him to this ordeal? In The Bible, names were not arbitrarily assigned. Instead, names were to represent who a person is. There are many examples of this. Jacob’s name, meaning “usurper,” was assigned to him because he was seen grabbing the leg of his twin brother Esau, as he emerged first from his mother’s womb, as if he had been trying to take the esteemed honor of the firstborn, Esau.

Therefore, it is likely that as Adam was assigning the names to the animals, he was also seeking one suitable for himself:

·       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 2:20)

This brings us back to our original question: “Why hadn’t God created Eve when he created Adam?” I think that this is related to the question, “Why doesn’t God supply all of our needs the moment we have them?”

There are many reasons for this. He wants to teach us patience and perseverance. To name all of the animals might have taken Adam months. My guess is that the Creator brought these animals to Adam by pairs, perhaps to help Adam to become aware of the companionship he had been missing.

Graciously, He opens our eyes to our needs so that, in our loneliness, we would cry out for His help. Here’s an example I was thinking about today. Scripture informs me that I must love my brethren. However, loving them is not easy, but I know that I must. This causes me to cry out daily for His assistance, and He answers me, although gradually.

Another reason that our Lord doesn’t give us what we need right away is because we love to trust in ourselves rather than in God. We love to be in control and able to meet our needs. However, Paul had to repeatedly learn that he couldn’t trust in himself:

·       For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

He wants us to look towards Him to fulfill our needs, not to ourselves. As a teacher, I find it so gratifying that my students come to me to satisfy their need for understanding. This also creates community, as each depends on the gifting of others.

Evidently, Adam had learned something about the art of naming. God had caused Adam to sleep, and He took one of his ribs and, from it, created Eve. All the other animals had been created out of the ground, but Eve had been created from Adam. Therefore:

·       Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman [“isha”], Because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23 )

In the Hebrew, woman is “isha,” while the man is “ish,” connoting their intimate similarities and connection.

This profound and intimate connection was then solemnized by marriage:

·       “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

What creates this oneness? Certainly not their present freedom from the concerns of life! Truly, they seemed to be living a carefree existence, even running naked (Gen. 2:25), but things were beginning to go wrong. The irresistible isha seems to have taken charge. It was her to whom the serpent had directed his deceitful temptation, even though Adam was right there at her side and never intervened. As the serpent had seduced the isha, the isha had seduced her ish into eating the forbidden fruit. It was downhill from there, even though their Creator had given them numerous opportunities to confess their sin.

The Creator informed them that they would now have to die, as He had promised. They would also be expelled from His Garden presence, but judging from how they hid from God and then lied to Him, they probably experienced great relief by their expulsion. With one sin, they had become lovers of the darkness (John 3:19-20) and could no longer tolerate the presence of God.

In addition, their Creator had informed the isha:

·       “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16 NLT)

Their rolls would now be reversed. Nevertheless, their Creator continued to love them and made them cloths of animal skins in the place of the fig leaves they used to cover their shame. This symbolized the fact that sin is costly. It required the shedding of innocent blood, a picture of the Gospel.

Perhaps even death and expulsion had been a token of His love for them. Perhaps, it would only be because of the various threats that would now confront them together that they might find oneness. Thank God even for our struggles!