Thursday 2nd February
Read Genesis 2:21-25
“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. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he 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”,
for she was taken out of man.’
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Man is no longer complete without woman. He is incomplete without her. That is part of the intent of the author in this beautiful passage in which we hear the first human words. And they are an ode of praise to woman. They arise the moment there is someone else to speak to. It is no coincidence that song is used at the very beginning to express beautiful truth for in music and song truth is allowed to burrow down into the heart.
Man, and animals, are made of earth and water, crafted by their Maker. In contrast, woman is made from man, and ‘built’ by Him with love and care to fill the gap in what is ‘good’ in creation. Perhaps that is what Paul means when he describes ‘woman as the glory of man’ in his Corinthian correspondence (cf 1 Corinthians 11:7)? Paul reflects on this interdependence of man and woman and is drawn to reflect on God’s great gift. “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” (1 Corinthians 11:11-12) (NIVUK). This gift of grace and love by God is evident even in the language used. Like a father walking a bride down the aisle to present her to the husband, so the Lord ‘brought her to the man’ (v22c).
However, the most beautiful thought I have come across is that of Matthew Henry in his magisterial commentary on the whole bible. On this passage he reflects that woman was …“Not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved”. Would that it were so everywhere. Pray that the Lord would return to set things right soon.
