Genesis 2:18 Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.” 19 So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. (S: iii) 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
21 Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. 22 The rib which Adonai,God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. 23 The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman [Genesis 2:23 Hebrew: ishah], because she was taken out of Man [Genesis 2:23 Hebrew: ish].” 24 This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh. (Complete Jewish Bible).
Before this passage helps us appreciate the profound mysteries of human intimacy, it celebrates the wild companionship of all God's creatures. Any trip to the zoo or afternoon on a farm helps us know God's imaginative creativity in all the critters. It is comical to picture Adam meeting and naming them--from chicken and pig to rhinoceros and aardvark. It is a profound gift to hear God surround human relationships with creatures great and small.
When I counsel people before marriage, I speak my concern if couples become isolated from the world around them--expecting too many of their needs to be met solely by each other. If it is not good for humans to be alone, it isn't good for a nuclear family to be alone either. Marriage is rooted in the promises that God is with us--and family is surrounded tangibly by a beautiful, blessed and beloved creation, including friends and fellow couples to call us out of isolation and preoccupation.
God, help us love each other, love our home and love all the gifts that hold your creation together. Amen.
Paul Rohde, '82
Campus Pastor, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.
21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken."
24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. (New Revised Standard Version).
The Luther Seminary
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