[ CONTEXT ]As a reminder from the previous study, the story’s tension right now is Adam choosing which tree to eat from: the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or any of the other trees in the garden. Really it’s a choice about obedience. The effects of this choice are drastic, and he needs someone to help him with it (2:18).
God can’t really help him in this. He can only tell him the consequences. Helping him beyond that would violate free will. The animals weren’t suitable to help him either (2:20). So he needs someone else.
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 the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. “
[ THE HELPER ]God gave Adam a helper who was like himself. She was not created from new dust, like he and the animals were. She was taken directly from him. This suitable helper was a product of himself.
This point is significant, as is reflected in Adam’s cry of relief when she was presented to him. He immediately cried out “this is now [finally!] bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!” (v.23).
Adam was relieved that she was made from him, not from scratch.
[ ADAM’S RIB ]I don’t think there is any significance to the woman being created from the man’s rib rather than from, say, his femur or his tibia.
- Some commentators suggest the rib was chosen because ribs are curvy like women.
- Others say it was a rib because women are emotional, and ribs are close to the heart.
- Less weird interpreters think it was a rib because Adam would love her and his rib was close his heart.
These seem like a stretch to me. Nothing in the text suggests these connections. They are speculations at best.
The original Hebrew text suggests a better explanation in my opinion. If you use the NIV, take a look at the footnote for v.22 regarding the word “rib.” The footnote says “or, part.” That is correct.
Even though this Hebrew word,
tsela’ (צלע), occurs 53 times in the Hebrew Bible, it is only translated “rib” here. That is true in every major English translation. In nearly every other occurrence it is translated something like “side” or “part.”
“Part” (as in the NIV’s footnote) is the most basic meaning of the Hebrew word, and I think that is the intended meaning of the word in our story. Eve was created from PART OF Adam, therefore Eve IS part of Adam.
That is supported by looking at this paragraph as a whole. The text emphasizes the natural connection between Adam and Eve 7 times in just 4 verses:
- God took “part” of Adam (v.21)
- God closed up his flesh (v.21)
- God fashion a woman from “the part He had taken from the man” (v.22)
- Adam’s reply when he received her was “this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (v.23)
- Adam named her woman “because she was taken out of man” (v.23)
- Man will be joined again to his wife (v.24)
- Man and wife will become one flesh again (v.24)
The significance of Eve being part of Adam is inescapable.
23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
[ ONE SELF ]
What “flesh” means here is a bit tricky. There is a cause-effect relationship between “flesh” in vv.23-24. Adam said that Eve was “flesh of my flesh” (v.23), and “for this reason” husbands and wives will become one flesh (v.24).
So the word “flesh” in both of these verses must obviously mean the same thing.
Now look closely at its meaning in v.24. That verse says husbands and wives will become one flesh. Husbands and wives don’t actually become one body of muscle, do they?
“Flesh” can’t mean “muscle” in v.24. So what does it refer to? If we understand that, we’ll understand what it also means in v.23.
It helps to realize that nothing in Genesis suggests that Adam and Eve had physical bodies (as we’re used to thinking of it) at this point. And it’s easy enough to imagine in Paradise, before The Fall, that their bodies might differ from ours, isn’t it?
The Hebrew word translated “flesh” here,
basar (בשר), is translated “body” elsewhere in the Bible, and it often doesn’t refer to a physical body. Our English word “body” simply means the boundaries of something’s identity – whether that is a person’s body or a “body of knowledge,” for example. That is true of the biblical use of this Hebrew word
basar as well.
Although sometimes
basar clearly means a physical body of “flesh,” most often it refers to a person’s whole being or self.
We can explore this in Discussion Week if you would like to. I can provide many examples and greater clarity if there is interest. At the moment, though, I just want to point out that since husbands and wives don’t become one physical body of flesh,
basar must mean something different than “flesh” in both verse 23 and verse 24.
I believe that more specific meaning is “self.” The man and the woman; Adam and Eve; A husband and wife… These are one self. That is the point.
The man’s connection to the woman was very different from his connection to God or to the animals, and this is of great importance to the writer.
Again, God didn’t speak man into existence as He did other things He created. He fashioned man from another part of His creation – the dust (which we moderns tend to think of as organic decay), just as He did birds and animals.
But God also breathed His Spirit into man. He did this for no other. In this way, man was created in a unique and special way.
Eve was created in a unique and special way too.
- She wasn’t spoken into existence like much of creation.
- She wasn’t created from dust like Adam and the animals were.
- God didn’t breathe His Spirit directly into her as He did Adam.
No, she was extracted from Adam himself and became one self with him.
[ MAN AND MANKIND ]Vv.23-24 introduce a new word for “man.” In these verses, “man” is not the Hebrew word
adam (אדם) as before. It is the word
'iysh (איש ).
Both
adam and
‘iysh are common words throughout the Old Testament. Up to this point in the Bible, “
adam” has been used exclusively to refer to man. This new word,
'iysh, usually refers to “mankind” in general. It sometimes also refers to the “male gender” or to “husband.”
So in Hebrew, v.23 more literally says “the MAN ('adam) said ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘Woman’, because she was taken out of MANKIND ('iysh.)”
You see, a new need arose at this point in the story – the need to distinguish humans with names. When Adam was the only human there was no need for names. Adam was mankind, and mankind was Adam. Or, in Hebrew,
‘adam was
‘iysh and
‘iysh was
‘adam.
Now that there is another human, however, names became important. Adam had the privilege of naming Eve as he did the other potential companions (animals and birds). So he called Eve
'ishshah (אשה).
You may have noticed how similar the Hebrew word
'ishshah (woman) is to
’iysh (mankind), especially when they are pronounced. That is because the Hebrew word for “woman” is derived from the Hebrew word for “mankind,” just as our English word “woman” is derived from our word “man,” and [this is the main point!] just as the woman herself was derived from mankind.
Adam called her woman because she was derived from him.
[ LEAVING AND CLEAVING ]Finally, v.24 emphasizes that a man will leave his parents (the ones he was taken from) and be joined to his wife (the one who was taken from him). His parents were his helpers for the first part of life. His wife will be his helper for the rest of it.
