Have you ever noticed God’s first recorded words to Adam and Eve, the newly created man and woman? There is, I think, a very important message here! These are not His first spoken words to them but the ones we first encounter as we read through the first two chapters of the Bible. Let’s read them in context.
First of all, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). This is, of course, a summary statement; Genesis chapter two gives more details about their creation as we will see in a moment.
In the very next verse (Genesis 1:28) God speaks directly to them His first recorded words spoken to this man and woman. “God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
Don’t miss those first words that God spoke to them! “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth …”! God declared in these words His intention for this man and woman, this first husband and wife, to have a family! They were to “multiply” – to have children who would also develop into families and have children, who would then marry and have children as they became families, and so on – until they filled the earth!
Thus, from God’s very first words to Adam and Eve, He spoke of family; He revealed His perfect plan for humanity to enjoy the blessings of marriage and families!
Then, in the second chapter, beginning in Genesis 2:7, we begin to get more details of God’s creation of this first man, Adam, and then later in the chapter, of His creation of Eve, the first woman! Notice that God did not simply speak Adam into existence; He took more time, being careful in this creation. “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (a living soul).”
There appear in this context words that God spoke to Adam before the creation of Eve (which is why I said earlier that the words in Genesis 1:28 were the first “recorded” words that God spoke to humans). Of course, nearly all of us remember this command, given after God placed him in the Garden of Eden and gave him his job description. Notice Genesis 2:15, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Then, the famous command of Genesis 2:16-17, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’” It seems that it would be Adam’s responsibility to pass that command on to Eve after God brought her to him.
However, before He created Eve, God made a profound statement (although it is common sense to most of us now); “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen 2:18)! God then stated His intention to “make him a helper suitable for him.” God helps Adam to also recognize his need for a helper by presenting all the animals to Adam (probably in pairs, male and female; I’m just guessing). God allows Adam to give names to the animals, but the conclusion is clear, “… but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him” (Gen 2:20). Ah, now Adam sees the need as well!
“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. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man” (Gen 2:21-22). The man then makes a poetic declaration,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen. 2:23)
(Adam may have won her heart right there; women love poetry! Just saying.)
Bringing this section of Scripture to a close, the concluding statement of the Scripture writer was certainly inspired by God (as was all other Scripture, of course). “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:24-25).
I find it interesting (and important!) that Jesus quoted these verses when asked about divorce in Matthew 19. He responded with a question, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6).
(Note: The reason for the capital letters in that quote are because the NASB writes Old Testament quotations in the New Testament with capital letters.)
According to the Scripture itself from Genesis and from the words of Jesus, we find that marriage consists of one man and one woman and that when God joins them together in holy matrimony, the two become one flesh! Thus began God’s plan for marriage and family! And I say, “Hooray!”
(I have more to say about that “oneness” but will save it for another blog.)
Everything is About God 