After God created man, He knew that He didn’t want man to be alone, so He created woman. This devotional reading looks at marriage and making the connections on woman’s creation.
Nuggets
- God wanted a marriage so they could be fruitful and multiply in order to fill the earth.
The last devotion went long, so the last section, the Connection, and the Application are in this devotion.
We were not made to be alone, so God took a rib from the man to create a woman. He wanted a suitable helper for the man to fulfill His purpose for humankind. He needed one of his own kind so that a marriage would be possible.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Creating Everything theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Celebrating Creation’s Story series
The Institution of Marriage
“This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame” (Gen. 2: 24-25 NLT)
God wanted a marriage so they could be fruitful and multiply in order to fill the earth.
Marriage is important to God. In fact, it has been described as a covenant.
- “She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God” (Prov. 2: 17 NLT).
- “Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together” (Mt. 19: 6 NLT).
- “Don’t you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you? Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches” (I Cor. 7: 16-17 NLT).
Look at these verses.
- “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (I Cor. 6: 19-20 NLT).
- “Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth” (Mal. 2: 15 NLT).
- “Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?” (Ezek. 16: 21 NLT).
Through it, humankind fulfills God’s command to have families. Taylor wrote that it is to be a “… vow of perpetual and indissoluble friendship.”
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We trip up when we are united as one — in churchy words, becoming one flesh. Bradford helped us with that. He wrote, “… in God’s eyes they are organically and spiritually interconnected.”
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This is more than just a physical connection. It is a reuniting of a male and a female to what God created us to be.
But think of all that a woman does for a man in marriage. In addition to addressing his loneliness, she provides him with companionship.
Together, they meet whatever life throws at them.
Paul said it this way. “Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (Heb. 13: 4 NLT).
Why is this so important? Through marriage, humankind fulfills God’s command to have families.
We’ll be talking about families — dysfunctional families — throughout the rest of Genesis.
Richards had an interesting take on the woman. He wrote,
“If, then, Adam was the type of Christ, and Christ is the spouse of the Church, it follows as a logical deduction that Eve was a type of the Church. And our conclusion therefore is this, that the marriage of Adam and Eve, and the marriage institute altogether, is typical and emblematical of the union between Christ and His Church. And thus, in the very first page almost of the Bible (and there is hardly a page or a letter that has not reference to the same wonderful subject), we find redemption hinted at, and a Redeemer pointed out, and a Church suggested.”
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Richards went on to talk about the woman being created from the man’s rib and Jesus being struck by the sword on the cross — which formed His Church.
Now convince me the Gospel is not in the Old Testament. You will have to have a hum dinger of an argument to convince me that the foreshadowing of Jesus is not anywhere in the Old Testament.
Jesus is here. We just have to open our eyes and hearts.
Making the Connections #1
When we introduced the Creating Everything theme, we said that Genesis was a book of instructions. Many of these instructions came through revelation.
That is the whole purpose of the Book of Genesis. Humankind was made in God’s image to have a soul that reflects Him.
Look what Ainger said. He wrote,
“The actual revelation which has been made to us is of God in His relation to the soul of man. We are not to demand, we are not to expect, any further revelation. Of the secrets of God’s power and origin we are told not a word. Such knowledge is not for us. The self-declared object of the Scriptures is that men should know God and know themselves.”
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In other words, we know right from wrong. More specifically, we know God’s good as opposed to Satan’s evil.
- We know God created everything, even if we don’t know how.
- We know God deserves our worship.
- We know God made only males and females — any other so called genders are influences of sin.
- We know marriage is only between males and females — anything else is a homosexual relationship (Lev. 18: 22).
In other words, God doesn’t want us to rely on science to gain this knowledge. We should rely on Him. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (Heb. 11: 1 NLT).
Making the Connections #2
The way it reads is that animals were to be companions for humankind. Even though they, too, were formed from dust, they were not alike humankind enough to have a suitable relationship with mankind.
Starting in Genesis 4, animals would be used in sacrifices.
After the flood, God allowed some animals to be eaten by humankind.
Looking at all of that together, God’s initial plan for human-animal relationships was to be one of respect and companionship. Sin wrecked that.
We shouldn’t compare ourselves to animals. We must compare ourselves to God. Yes, we will always come out on the short end because His ways are higher than ours (Isa. 55: 8-9 ESV).
But we have to focus on God.
Making the Connections #3
Some use these verses to try to say that women are inferior to men. That wasn’t the intent. I believe the intent was to show humankind’s superiority over the animal kingdom.
Just as the man shared God’s nature, the woman shared the man’s. They shared the same substance.
The woman could have been created from dust as the man was, but God did not make her secondary.
God doesn’t change, so we think God is going to do the same thing over and over again. This is a good case to show He doesn’t.
Doing things differently doesn’t always mean change.
Besides, God did things differently for Cain, Abel, Seth, and the rest of their children. That doesn’t mean we are no longer made in God’s image. We are.
While the process may be different, the outcome is still the same.
Making the Connections #4
Both spouses have responsibilities within the marriage.
Women are charged to build up their homes. “A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands” (Prov. 14: 1 NLT).
Husbands are to provide for their wives. “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word” (Eph. 5: 25-26 NLT).
Making the Connections #5
Parker’s statement was interesting. He wrote,
“For man to be alone means suicide; for two men to be together means homicide; woman alone can keep society moving and healthful. The woman and the little child are the [saviors] of social order at this day all over the world. For woman to be alone is as bad as for man to be alone. Safety is in contrast, and in mutual complement. Reverence for womanhood will save any civilization from decay.”
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To me, this just means each have their purpose in the family and in society.
- Man is the leader of the family, not just the sperm donor.
- Woman has a role in family governance, not just a servant in the household.
- Children should be nurtured as they are the future.
Making the Connections #6
Adam has been compared to Jesus — and not just Jesus being mistaken for the Gardner (Jn. 20: 15)!
- “The Scriptures tell us, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ But the last Adam — that is, Christ — is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man” (I Cor. 15: 45-49 NLT).
- “So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (I Cor. 15: 21-22 NLT).
- “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died — from the time of Adam to the time of Moses — even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5: 12-19 NLT).
Adam was the first man created – the head of humanity. Jesus was called the first-born Son of God, the Head of the Church.
Remember, Jesus was present and assisted in creating everything. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him” (Jn. 1: 1-3 NLT).
We know being the firstborn was important. He was the leader of the family. Until God set up the Levites as priests, the firstborn probably was the religious leader of the family, also.
Both began their lives in this world being sinless creatures. Adam screwed up; Jesus didn’t.
While Adam doomed mankind to a sinful existence, Jesus died to pay the penalty for all our sins.
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, He is also known as the last Adam. He is our Mediator before God.
Making the Connections #7
Eden pointed out a great observation. Remember how Genesis 2 started? God established Shabbat a day of heavenly rest to seek God.
Here at the end of Genesis 2, marriage completes a spiritual union between Jesus to the Church.
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Think of the communion between spouses. Think of the holiness we have because of our Creator.
Shabbat brings us even closer to the Bridegroom.
But we have to honor Shabbat, or that communion isn’t there.
I feel like a broken record at times. Yes, God is interested in who and what we are in this life. This life prepares us for eternity.
That is where God is most concerned. The only way we get to eternal Paradise is by correcting our spiritual condition.
- Admit that we have a sinful nature in which we disobey God.
- Believe that this can only be corrected by asking Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer.
- Confess God is our Sovereign Lord.
- Demonstrate our commitment to Him by submitting ourselves to obeying His laws and commandments.
Making the Connections #8
After the last devotion, my cousin emailed me with a thought that was, well, thought provoking. The woman was made from the man’s rib, not from the dust of the earth. “‘At last!’ the man exclaimed. ‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man’” (Gen. 2: 23 NLT).
Since she was bone and flesh, my cousin reminded me that the woman was made of all that the man was – breath of God and made in His image. That makes us men and women equal!
That was thought provoking because God’s Word says that God only took the man’s rib, not his flesh, too. “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” (Gen. 2: 21 NLT).
If God just took the rib, did He use dust to make the flesh and breathe into the woman, also?
I think we are back to the Who, not how. Anything more will have to go into the UNR book – understanding not required.
How Do We Apply This?
- Realize we can see the beauty in God’s creation without figuring out how He did it.
- Asleep or awake, God will take care of us.
- Accept the fact that God can shake up how He does things.
- Keep in our hearts how God sees humans.
- Understand the title of helper is one of honor that shows the goodness of the society.
- Search for God’s ways.
- Desire that God give the wife into the husband’s hand in your relationship.
- Be thankful for God’s blessings.
- Seek God in prayer.
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Father God. You have created us to be friends, family, and lovers. Thank You for providing us with that special someone. Amen.
What do you think?
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