創世記2:18-25 Genesis 2:18-25,

Last Sunday, we learned about how God created the man, Adam. Today, we learn about the relationship between man and woman. As verse 18 states, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” What does this mean? “Helper” might sound like someone who assists with daily chores. For example, imagine being asked by your father or mother at home to “help with the cleaning” or “help with the cooking.” If you did so, they might say, “That’s a great help!” Does “helper” simply mean someone who assists in this way?

Earlier, in verse 27 of chapter 1, we learned about how we humans were created in God’s image. This image of God isn’t a physical likeness, but rather a state of heart. Humans were created with hearts capable of understanding God’s will. In other words, we were created to converse with God and know his heart. But does this mean that humans should only converse with God? God didn’t think so. God intended for humans to converse with one another, to understand each other’s hearts well, and to live encouraging one another. Therefore, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

God brought all living creatures to the man. The man observed them and gave them names. For instance, he called this one “ox,” this one “crow,” and this one “dog.” Yet verse 20 states: “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.” Why might that be? We know that even an animal can communicate with us, offering comfort and encouragement. So, couldn’t an animal also become a kind of “helper” for man? Certainly, that is true. But what God had in mind was a “helper” who could understand each other’s hearts as deeply as God and man could converse and understand each other.

So, God decided to create another human being, yet one who was slightly different. Verses 21 and 22 state: “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” It sounds rather like a science fiction film, doesn’t it? Of course, this is not to be taken literally. “The rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman,” signifies that a human being was created from another human being. Just as the man was a human being, so too was the woman created as a human being. The woman thus formed was slightly different. The difference lay in the woman possessing a body capable of bearing children. Hence, as verse 23 states, the biblical terms in original Hebrew text differ slightly: the woman is called “Ishā,” the man “Ish.”

Thus, the man was given a “helper” with whom he could converse, understand each other’s hearts well, and live encouraging one another. The phrase in verse 24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,” refers to the marriage of a man and a woman. People who do not know God think marriage is simply two people who like each other coming together. This would imply that if they stop liking each other, they can simply part ways. But that is not the true meaning of marriage. God established marriage so that a man and a woman could understand each other well and live encouraging one another.