The Long Quiet: Day 9

 

                                   The Garden of Eden by Jan Brueghel the Elde

Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.  26 But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden--17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die."

19 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper who is just right for him." 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky.  He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals.  But still there was no helper just right for him.

Man was not created to be a solitary creature.  God said "It is not good for the man to be alone..."

When he was creating plants and trees, God saw that it was good.  When he made the sun, moon and stars, God saw that it was good. When God created fish and other life to swarm in the seas, and birds to fill the air, God saw that it was good.  When God created the animals and livestock, God saw that it was good.

But when God looked at the solitary man, he said, "It is not good..."  Something was missing.  Something wasn't right.  Something more was needed.

God had made all beings to reproduce, but how could a lone man reproduce?  Animals were told to go forth and multiply, to reproduce their own kind, but a solitary person cannot increase.  

Genesis 2:21: So, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.  While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening.  22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

And Adam, upon awakening and finding there was a woman to be his companion, said, "At last!" (Genesis 2:23).   That exclamation seems to emphasize his excitement, does it? At last, here is another! At last, there is someone like me.  At last, there is someone to be beside me.  

God created woman to be a helpmeet. Not someone who was weaker but someone who was equally as strong and capable, who could physically help another. 

We were made to be a partner to one another.  Remember he said how he created man in his image.  Male and female, they were created in his image.  Only together can we be the whole complete image of God.  But we were also told to go forth and multiply and fill the earth.