Musings on Scripture

Reading through Genesis 1 and 2 last night, I was reminded again about companionship and the innate human need for it. Creation, in fact, wasn’t complete until every bird, fish, and mammal had someone/thing to call its companion.

¹⁸ And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.¹⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.²⁰ And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. ~ Genesis 2:18-20

Adam was given the entire Garden of Eden, a special place that God built specifically for him. He was also given the job / honor of naming everything that God had just finished creating, every beast, fowl, and every living creature. It doesn’t say it here, but I also assume this included all the plants/trees/growing things as well. That’s my personal take on it, nothing in this passage to support that.

Through all of this though, meeting every living creature on earth, there was not a “help meet” found for Adam. Not a single creature (even dogs, man’s best friend) could be the companion that Adam needed. He found himself lonely, and I imagine that watching all the animal pairs, he realized that he was unique, but ultimately alone.

²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;²² And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.²³ And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ~ Genesis 2:21-23

This isn’t the particular point of this post, but I’m once again reminded by the analogy / meaning of taking the rib specifically. A place close to his heart, somewhere that is held close to the core of his person, the rib of Adam signifies a deep relationship with this companion. Adam, in his divinely-granted wisdom, understood the significance and says “flesh of my flesh”, which is exactly how companionship / marriage should work. In fact, the passage goes on here and talks about cleaving one to another and how they should be one moving forward as one person.

Getting back to my primary point, however, this time reading through I was struck by the timeline. For some reason, I always assumed that there was a significant time lapse between the creation of Adam and his loneliness. Without a specific time window in mind, I just assumed that there was some lapse where Adam’s pining grew to the point where God was prepared to give him a companion.

However, whilst reading this passage, I realized something about Genesis 2. This was a recap, with more detail, of the creation week… and that all of the events mentioned here through verses 18-23 (honestly, including 1-17) happened on Day 6 of creation week.

²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ~ Genesis 1:26-28

Back in chapter 1, specifically verse 27, it says that God created man in His own image… both male and female were created. In other words, within the space of one day, Adam saw all of Creation, named all the animals, and still had time to be lonely. He was alive and coherent for less than 24 hours, including a huge amount of creative work, and still found a deep need for companionship that God recognized and provided for.

This implies that somehow we, as humanity, are made by God to need companionship, to crave on a subconscious level a relationship with other humans around us. While I don’t believe that this “necessarily” needs to be a marital partner, it’s clear that strong, deep relationships were something God built into us from Day 6 of Creation. In fact, God clearly does not think that we are complete without a companionship, and so provided an intimate companion for Adam.

Not only is this powerful in its own right and really highlights the need for us to find like-minded people to build a community with, but it’s also an interesting look at a part of God’s character that perhaps isn’t brought up often. Since we are created in God’s image, this implies that God also craves companionship, people to share His creation with. God wants every single one of us to be His companion, to love Him, to be loved by Him, and to have a deep, mutually beneficial relationship with Him. We are incredibly important to Him and He is continuing to do everything that He can to pull us back into the fold of his companions.

If you ever doubt this? Spend a few days not talking to anyone… you will quickly realize that the need (yearning) for human companionship is hugely powerful. And how much more is God like that? He wants us to be His companions… now we just have to accept it.