FREE ESSAY ON THE CREATION OF WOMAN

THE CREATION OF WOMAN

Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a
helper as his partner." So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the
field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call
them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave
names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field; but
for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 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 its
place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a
woman and brought her to man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken."
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become
one flesh.
Genesis in the Old Testament is a book of new beginnings. Each story tells something new
that has yet to be told because the world was in a state of infancy. When God created
man, woman, and all living things, He did so to what he created pleased him. The creation
of woman was brought upon so that man would not be alone; woman was man's partner for a
lifetime in God's perspective.
Verses 18-24 discuss the creation of woman. Upon doing any research and reading the
passage, there were two puzzling thoughts that came to mind. Verse 22, "And the rib that
the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man," how
did God take a simple rib bone and make a complete human being out of it? When thinking
to myself about the complexity of the human structure, the systems of the human body, and
the miniscule details that the human form demands, how can such intricate workings all
come from a single rib bone? It is astonishing to think how this miracle was made. Verse
24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they
become one flesh," is the second of my puzzling thoughts. Genesis being the first book of
the entire Bible, man and woman have just been created why is there talk about a father
and a mother? If man and woman were the two sole existing humans, who are each of their
fathers and mothers? The only thing that came to mind when contemplating over this
thought was that it is the foreshadowing of how future relationships would work and how
they are expected to work.
In reading this passage, it was my understanding that woman was created as an equal to
man. She was his partner, "I will make him a helper as his partner" (Genesis 2: 18). I
took the meaning of partner as something/someone just as important as the existence of
man. When God created "every animal of the field and every bird of the air" (Gen.2: 19),
He made a second form - a female form - as the partner to assist throughout the scheme of
life. Creating a partner for all living things shows that God did not hold one above the
other. Each partner has its own uniqueness and responsibilities; man and woman were
created as equals.
The J writer (Yahwist) wrote this particular passage. According to the Yahwist, the
motive for creation was it was not good for the human to be alone. Since this passage was
written in the tenth century before Christ, the perspective of what a woman's place
should be was influenced by the current time period. A woman's position was one of
support to her husband (The Collegeville..). Woman is intended to be one in whom man
finds support and strength (The Collegeville..). This suggests that the woman also stands
for the institute of marriage. The passage written later than when it actually happened,
was influenced by the current time period's ideas. Also, the J writer shows that when man
named the animals, he had control over them. God creating woman and presenting her to man
shows equality; "but woman's existence, psychologically and in the social order, is
dependent on man" (The Jerome..). Woman is dependent on man because she was taken from
his rib bone. This passage has often been used to substantiate the view that woman is
inferior to man. This is certainly not the intent of the author (The Collegeville..).
This creation is one of the most puzzling aspects of this passage. In the Sumerian
language, "rib" and "life" are the same word (The Collegeville..). This information
suggests how the woman and the rib are relatively connected. The actual "act of creation
is a divine mystery" (The Collegeville..) that remains unsolved.
I am in complete agreeance with the author's opinion that woman is created as an equal
partner. I think that the way she was presented to man as a helper and having a name
already given to her from God, shows she is just as important. Although the fact remains
that she is dependent on the man for her existence because she was taken from him. I pass
this off as being a minor detail, though, at least for her equality to man, not in her
creation and existence. This passage also makes me think about how things would have been
different if Adam and Eve would not have been banished from the Garden of Eden. Would in
today's society woman be seen as equals? Would woman have had to have fought through the
late 1800's until the present for such simple rights as to vote? I believe if woman was
thought of as an equal in the beginning when God created man and woman, that they should
both still be equal partners as God intended.
Bibliography
1. The Collegeville Bible Commentary. Pages 41-42.
2. The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Page 12.