GENESIS
THE CREATION OF EVE AND MARRIAGE
Genesis 2:4-25
CENTRAL VERSES FOR THIS STUDY
"For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother
and cleave to his wife,
and the 2 shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).
"In the image of God He created him:
male and female He created them" (Gen. 1:27)
INTRODUCTION
After creating Adam and placing him in the garden, God sees that the man is alone. Up to this point God has claimed that everything that has happened is good. At this point though God sees Adam's loneliness and declares that it is not good; God considers loneliness NOT GOOD. (This is not surprising since God Himself is so relationship focused. He is such a relational God that He actually exists as 3 Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit who are in a vibrant relationship with each other.) At this juncture God brings all the animals in the garden to Adam for him to name. Naming the animals shows that Adam had authority over the animals; he was fulfilling his role as lord over creation.
More though is involved in naming the animals. In the Bible the name is more than just a label we attach to something. The name stands for the person who has that name; it reveals something about that person. The name for God--Yahweh--literally means "I am that I am"; it refers to the truth that God is eternal. Jesus' name means "salvation" which is only fitting since He Himself is the Savior. As Adam names the animals, he is actually looking at their true natures which their names will reveal. After seeing the animals for who they truly are, he realizes that none are his equal and none are suitable to be his mate.
THE CREATION OF THE WOMAN EVE (Gen. 2:18-25)
It is only after God has proved to Adam that none of the animals are suitable to be his mate that He causes a deep sleep to fall upon Adam as a type of sedative or anesthetic. God removes one of Adam's ribs and forms the woman Eve. When Adam awakens, God presents Eve to Adam, just like the father of the bride presents the bride to the groom in the wedding ceremony. Adam responds:
SHE is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh
SHE shall be called Woman
Because taken out of Man was SHE
If you look at the poem Adam writes about Eve, you will see that Adam is really impressed with her. Three times he emphasizes the word SHE in his poem. In the Hebrew the entire poem consists of 13 words. The word SHE is the first, seventh, and thirteenth words in the poem, that is, the first, middle and last word in the poem. (One storyteller said that the word "woman" came about in the following way: "When Adam saw Eve for the time, he was so blown away by her, that he said, 'Whoa........Man!") Everything in the poem centers on her: she is the beginning, middle, and end indicating also the importance she should have for Adam.
THE NATURE OF MARRIAGE (Gen. 2:18-25)
The Most Important HUMAN Relationship
How important is this relationship between the husband and wife?
"For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother
and cleave to his wife,
and the 2 shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).
In this passage God declares that the marriage relationship is the most important human relationship in a person's life. The relationship with one's parents is huge; however, it is not as important as a person's relationship with his wife.
Not only is the man to leave his parents physically and establish his own home, he is to leave them emotionally and psychologically. Nearly everybody has unresolved issues with one of their parents. Before getting married though, the best thing a person can do is try to get a handle on that relationship. Too many men are still controlled by their dads or are still attached to their mothers' apron strings to be in a healthy relationship with a woman; the same applies to the woman. Now it is good for men to have "men's night out" and for women to have "women's night out." Wives should encourage their husbands to have good Christian male friends, and men should encourage their wives to have good Christian female friends. Yet the marriage relationship is far more important than those relationships. Only when we are free from all unhealthy emotional attachments can we be the kind of spouses God intends for us to be. Only our relationship with Jesus supersedes our relationship with our spouses.
The Man and Woman Dependent on Each Other
The way God constructs the woman teaches us a lot about the kind of relationship God wanted between the man and the woman. God could have just as easily formed the woman from the dust of the ground as He formed Adam. If He had done this, however, the man and woman would have been independent of each other. The fact God created woman from the man's rib shows that the man and woman are connected to each other. They were made for each other. [Paul goes even one step further. He claims that because woman was taken from the man's rib, she is dependent upon man. On the other hand though, because woman from then on gives birth to man, man is dependent upon woman (1 Cor. 11:11-12).]
Moreover, the name Adam calls Eve further teaches us about the man and the woman being connected. In the poem Adam calls her "woman." In the Hebrew the word "woman" (ISHah) comes from the Hebrew word for "man" (ish). We see this same play on words in the English words man and woman. The very word used to designate the woman shows that the man and woman depend upon each other for them to find their fulfillment in life.
I like the saying: "You were not taken from his feet, to be under him, nor were you taken from his head, to be above him. You were taken from his side, to stand beside him and be held close to his side."
Marriage Completes Us
In marriage the man and woman more than depend upon each other; they complete each other. Look more closely at Gen. 1:27. There Moses writes that when God created man, He did not create just male; rather He created male and female: "in the image of God He created him: male and female He created them." In other words, it takes 2 people (the male and the female) to make a whole person. The man is not complete without the woman, and the woman is not complete without the man. It takes a man and a woman to make a whole person. Nancy completes me, and I complete her. We are different, not in a bad way, but in a good way. Many times before we do something, we will check it out with the other person to get a wider perspective on what we are about to do. This way we are better informed and better prepared.
Moreover, because we are different, we both bring different strengths and weaknesses to the marriage. The healthy couple knows who has which strengths and who has which weaknesses. That couple then will tap into the strengths of each partner.
The wise man and woman will allow their spouses to use their strengths where they are weak and vice versa. For example, in my marriage I am not all that fiscally astute. I hate balancing check-books; Nancy loves it. Now I could assert my manhood and demand to run the finances, but I would be making a major mistake; therefore, I turn the books over to her. I have the last word in deciding the family's budget and how we spend the money, but that is because I am the spiritual head of the household and am ultimately responsible for my family; however, I turn over the daily operations to her. Not to operate this way would be foolish. It is only the man who is not sure about himself and his masculinity who has to be in charge of the finances even though he would be a disaster at it.
A Sexual Relationship
Note the significance of the fact that God made man male and the woman female.
Whatever else marriage is, it is a sexual union. It is not only a sexual union; however, if sex is absent from the marriage relationship, then it is not a true marriage relationship according to the Bible. The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to far the "marriage bed" a "sex bed" (Heb. 13:4). That is how integral sex is to marriage.
The reason God has made us sexual beings is that He wants to unite us, make us one. Sex is the powerful instrument God has created to make that union possible. The union that it creates is so powerful that it can only be shared with one other person. Sex literally takes 2 people and makes them one.
Sex includes but also goes way beyond the act of intercourse. Sexual identity also affects the way we act. Too often today we try to minimize the sexual differences between people with the results leading to confusion. We don't want little boys to be little boys; we want them to learn how to get over their male aggressive behavior and therefore give them dolls to play with. We treat the girls similarly. The only problem is that whenever you give a doll to a little boy to play with, he ends up ripping off its head and uses the body for a weapon. We all need to be civilized; however, that does NOT mean boys are to be feminized and girls masculinized.
The Leadership Role of the Husband
Finally, before leaving the topic of the relationship of the husband to wife, we must also address the fact that the Bible stresses the different roles the husbands and wives are to play in the family. The Bible categorically and consistently assigns the leadership role of the family to the husband, not to the wife. Paul lists 2 reasons why God has arranged it this way: (1) man was created first and (2) it was Eve and not Adam who was deceived by the serpent in the garden (see 1 Tim. 2:11-14). The biblical model of marriage is that the husband is the leader (head) of the home, while the woman submits to that leadership.
Unfortunately many have warped the meaning of Paul's instructions here. They interpret the word "to submit" to mean "to be a slave to." These people practically paint the wife to be a sniveling little creature. That's just simply NOT the biblical model for marriage. In fact when you study the different godly women of the Bible, you come across some very strong individuals: Sarah, Deborah, Ruth, Abigail, Esther, Mary, Lydia, etc. These women are praised in the Bible as being models for godly Christian women, and yet they don't fit the mold that many want to fit the modern Christian woman into. The problem is that many have misunderstood the word "submit."
Markus Barth (pron. "Bart") says that the Greek word translated "submit" in Eph. 5:21-22 does not mean "to get under," like that of a servant or slave. Rather it means "get in line." It does not have the idea of a master (husband) above his slave (wife). Rather it has the idea of a military parade in which the general leads the parade, followed by the colonel, then by the major, then by the captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, and finally private. They are all on the same plane; it's just that the general is leading the pack. He is setting the direction for the army, not lording it over it. (Another picture is that of a shepherd who goes in FRONT of the flock to guide it, not ABOVE it.)
For any group of people to function properly, it must have ONE leader, not two, or three. A body with one head is normal; a body with two heads is a freak show attraction. Yet unfortunately many homes are freak show attractions because the wife refuses to follow the leadership of the husband. God's design for the home is that the leader be the husband/father. (As we shall see a little later, even more important things are at stake in the male being the leader of the home.)
THE RELIGIOUS NATURE OF MARRIAGE
This is one of the most important verses dealing with social issues we face today. So much discussion today centers around the definition of marriage. The discussion needs to recognize the fact that this concept is rooted in religion; it is MOSES and not BRAD PITT who first informs us that GOD and not BARNEY FRANKS has created marriage. When people try to secularize marriage, they have struck right at the fact that God and not man has created the idea of marriage. The result is that if God created marriage, then He and He alone can define marriage.
Some though who want to keep marriage religious end up destroying it by allowing people to do things to marriage which violate the very spirit and nature of marriage. For example, there is emerging today more discussion about polygamy (Mormonism) and same-sex marriages. Divorce still plagues our society today. Moreover, watch movies from Hollywood a little more closely and you will see them treating sex with animals flippantly. This verse addresses these issues.
| TOPIC | HOW THIS VERSE ADDRESSES THE TOPIC |
| Homosexuality | This verse first rejects homosexuality: "For this cause a MAN shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his WIFE and the 2 shall become one flesh." In other words, marriage is between a MAN and a WOMAN, not between 2 men or between 2 women. (This is reinforced by Gen. 1:27 which states that it takes a MALE and a FEMALE to make a whole person, not 2 PERSONS, such as, 2 men or 2 women.) |
| Polygamy | "For this cause A MAN shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his WIFE and the TWO shall become one flesh." Moses uses singular words here regarding marriage--a SINGULAR man marries a SINGULAR woman. Then he goes on to say that the TWO, not THREE, or FOUR, or FIVE, but the TWO shall become one flesh (monogamy). |
| Divorce | Next this verse contradicts the idea of divorce. In fact when Jesus discusses divorce (Matt. 19), He appeals to this passage as support for His teaching that the husband and wife are NOT to get divorced: "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be JOINED to his wife and the 2 shall become ONE FLESH." After quoting this passage Jesus will then add: "What therefore GOD has joined together, let NO MAN separate." The minister did not join them together; the man and woman did not join them together. The parents did not join them together. GOD is the one who fused them together and God alone has the right to separate them. Since He is not in the business of separating those He has joined together, they are not free to separate themselves from each other unless God and God alone permits it. Marriage is not a human act; it is an act of God. |
| Bestiality | Unfortunately today we have to address bestiality. It does not take much insight to see that Moses' instructions rule out bestiality. Marriage is between man and woman, not between man and beast. In order to emphasize this, Moses writes that before God made Eve for Adam, He first had Adam to "check out" the animal realm. After scouring the animal realm, Adam realized that these animals were inappropriate mates for him. Only woman is suitable for man, and vice versa. |
THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE
You might ask: "What's the big deal? As long as all of this is between consenting adults it shouldn't bother me what anybody else does."
The first problem is that marriage is not a human affair. God has created it and retains rights over what a marriage should or should not be.
The second problem is that whenever we tamper with marriage, we are destroying the very purpose God gave us marriage in the first place. Marriage involves more than just the union of a man and a woman. At the end of his discussion on marriage, Paul writes: "This mystery is great but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:32). In fact throughout his entire discussion of marriage, Paul continually compares the relationship of the husband to his wife with the relationship of Christ to the church (Eph. 5:21-33). God so designed marriage that it should be the primary witness to the world of the love of Christ for the church and the love and submission of the church to Christ. When we tamper with marriage, we are destroying the very purpose God created it in the first place, to help us see Christ's love for us and our love for Christ. THAT is serious indeed.
Now we see the reason that the husband is to be the leader of the home. Since marriage is to represent the relationship of the church to Christ, the husband must lead because he represents Christ in this relationship, whether he likes it or not. In the church Christ is to be the leader. In the same way the woman is to follow the husband since she represents the church in its relationship to Christ. A lot is at stake here in our marriages. God has invested much into them and is expecting to reap much from them.