“The Creation of Woman and the First Marriage”

Genesis 2:18-25

 

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

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.

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.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 

Other Scripture References:

1 Corinthians 11:8-9

 

Quotes:

“The woman would be a corresponding counterpart.  As a counterpart she would share in his nature.  Male and female were created in the image of God.  And as his matching opposite, she would supply what was lacking in him.” (Dr. R. Kent Hughes) 

“The woman makes it possible for the man to achieve the blessing that he otherwise could not do ‘alone.’  And, obviously, the woman cannot achieve it apart from the man.” (Dr. K. Mathews) 

“For since the woman should not have authority over the man it would not have been fitting for her to have been formed from his head, nor since she is not to be despised by the man, as if she were but his servile subject, would it have been fitting for her to be formed from his feet.” (Thomas Aquinas)