Genesis 2: The Creation of Woman

From Genesis 2 (read the full chapter here):

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

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Women were not in the original plan?

It sounds like it was not the plan to create woman from the beginning, but she was created for the man because he was lonely. The thought is interesting symbolically, men and women belonging together, formed to be perfect companions, but taken literally, it just doesn’t make sense.

All of the other animals were created in male and female pairs. They had to be, otherwise they couldn’t reproduce, and before man was created, God already told the animals to “Be fruitful and increase in number.” (See Genesis 1) So female animals must have already existed. But when God created a male human, he created him without a female partner? Would that mean that man was formed with reproductive organs (just like the other animals) but that those organs served no purpose? Or would it mean that man was originally created without reproductive organs even though all of the other animals had them? I just don’t buy it :/

Women Created as Men’s Helpers

I hesitate to bring up issues relating to feminism because I don’t necessarily want to start that type of conversation here, but the story of Eve’s creation bothers me a little more each time I read it. Eve is created for Adam. Woman is created for man. Man is alone, and Woman is created as his perfect helper.

This traditional model was so deeply ingrained in me growing up that it wasn’t until recently that I’ve been able to see how this sets us up for such unhealthy dynamics between men and women, with men being the key players, and women being the sidekick. It suggests that if women get too much power or authority, it’s against God’s plan – men are created as leaders, and women need to respect their authority in return for love, and keep their mouths shut.

I think my takeaway here is that when you try to take the story literally and try to force logic into it, it is absurd. Symbolically, it is in some ways meaningful, and in some ways concerning. Either way, it definitely doesn’t strike me as the Word of God.