A few months ago, I started reading through the New Testament a chapter at a time. It’s been pretty slow going, but I really don’t mind. See, by taking it a chapter at a time, I have plenty of time to really reflect on the verses! And I have been getting so much more out of the Bible! It’s been… amazing.
Last weekend we went on a retreat with my cousins’ church. The speaker spent every session on the book of Joshua. And as I was sitting there, listening to all that he was pulling out of this overlooked book, I had a desire to read through the Old Testament and see what amazing things I can learn that I’ve overlooked so many times before! So, I’m doing that now too!
I’m only a few chapters into Genesis, but as I’m sure you’ve probably assumed, I’ve gotten something that I think is cool out of it! Hence this post!
I’ve heard how God made Eve out of Adam’s rib about a bajillion times. And… (I’m just gonna flat-out say it), I have always thought that the fact that Eve was made out of a rib was weird. I’ve also thought that the fact that this obviously left Adam one-rib-sort of a full person was a little unfortunate for him. I mean, honestly, how would you feel if one day you fell asleep and you woke up to find that you were not alone anymore! And this person sitting next to you was created from a piece of you... and now you lacked a piece of you.
And it’s not like you could see what you were lacking, it’s not like God chopped off Adam’s arm and handed it to Eve! God took a really intimate part of Adam. He took something from Adam’s very insides, and used it to create Eve… And when Adam woke up, he was not only lacking a bit of himself, but he was staring into the eyes of the person who now owned it.
Of course, someone could really make this an extremely sweet and mildly cheesy thought. Just throw in a couple of good-old Hallmark Card sayings, and boom. You’ve got a mushy love story.
But, think about the situation honestly! How weird would it be to be Adam? Or Eve?! Why didn’t God just make Eve out of dust too? Then no one would be missing a part of themselves! The situation would be weird enough on its own! Why throw in the rib part too?
The whole thing just never made sense to me, and I was content thinking that it was just a really strange part of creation.
But, in reading it for myself the other day, it fascinated me… the way the verses are set up. After God makes Eve out of Adam’s rib, and Adam rejoices at her existence, it says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24 ESV)
“One flesh”…
That phrase has always kind of confused me too. Obviously, they were two different people. Anytime people are married, they are two different people! Why the “one flesh” phrase? It doesn’t make sense.
Then my thoughts when back to that rib…
Adam really was not one whole entire person without his rib. He was missing something. He was missing something that in every practical sense made him a whole being. And Eve had exactly what he was missing! Adam was not a completely whole, one person, without Eve! On his own he was lacking… he was lacking what she had. He needed her to be a complete being. And she needed him too! Without him, she would be lacking a rib as well! Because of him, she was a whole, one person. But they had to have each other to become complete. Together, they were one.
Then it all clicked. The rib made sense! The phrase “one flesh” made sense too! And once it clicked, the picture of the rib was… beautiful. It was an extremely open, yet extraordinarily intimate picture of two people becoming one…
This is good. :)
ReplyDelete