Genesis 2:21

The Bible says in Genesis 2:21-22, “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; And the rib, which the Lord God has taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” The fact that the woman was made from the side of the man is an emphasis on the equality of man and woman. She was not taken from his head to rule over him, nor was she taken from his feet to be trodden upon. She was taken from his side. She would be man’s companion, walking side-by-side with him as a co-equal.

It is important to notice the last phrase of Genesis 2:22. It says that God “brought her unto the man.” If God wants you to get married, He will lead you to the person with whom you will share your life. You must pray that God will give you wisdom in making the right choice. And you must have your will surrendered to His will, His leading, and His choice. A decision made with selfish motives will not be the right decision. Remember that God loves you and He knows what is best for you. God has given you life. There is one other person in this world who has also been given life so that both of you can share your lives together.

The Bible says in Genesis 2:23, “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.” God made the woman to be an equal with man, but it was also important that the man receive the woman as an equal. We know that Adam did this because of what he said. He called her “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Adam also gave a name for her: a name that also emphasizes equality. The word for man in Hebrew is “ish.” Adam took the same word and simply added a feminine ending to it: “isha.” Even her name points to the fact that she is equal to man: a feminine version of the same thing.

When Adam called her “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” he emphasized equality; and he also emphasized unity. This unity between husband and wife should be the closest of all relationships. The two shall be one. They should view themselves as one couple instead of as two individuals. Another thing that should be remembered about this unity between husband and wife is that God created it in order to be symbolic of the unity between Christ and His believers. One of the New Testament passages about the husband-wife relationship and how it relates to the Lord Jesus Christ and His relationship with His believers is found in Ephesians 5:21-33. It says in Ephesians 5:24-28, “Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love you wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”

The Bible says in Genesis 2:24, “Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” The best situation for a man or woman’s life would include the following: a boy or a girl grows up in the family of their parents in preparation for the day when they leave their parents, get married, and live the rest of their lives with their spouse. That is the way life should be for most people. Problems often arise when people do not follow the example that is given in Genesis 2:24. Some people never properly “leave” mother and father. The closest human relationship should be that of husband and wife. Once you become an adult, your relationship with your parents should change. You are no longer under their authority. You should no longer be dependent upon them. Your relationship with them is no longer your closest human relationship.

Some people have the opposite problem. They go away from their parents, but not to find their spouse. These are people who try to live an unmarried lifestyle when God has not given them the gift of being celibate. For whatever reason, they get involved in a relationship that’s only meant for marriage. They are attracted to the opposite sex, but they are not searching for the person God wants them to marry. They are in a dangerous situation. They are in the place of temptation. They are putting self-will and their own desires above seeking, obeying or doing God’s will. We know that God has given human beings a sexual drive because the Lord said, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” Genesis 2:24 says of a husband and a wife: “They shall be one flesh.” But there is a very serious warning from the Judge of the whole earth to have sex only in marriage. One of the Ten Commandments is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It says in Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

Concerning a man and a woman being together in marriage, the Bible says in Genesis 2:25, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” The beauty of the human body should be shared between husband and wife only. That is what the beauty was designed for. Later in the book of Genesis the Bible tells us that God put clothing upon man. God wants man to be properly clothed. The Bible says in First Timothy 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” Of course, Genesis 2:25 also speaks of the innocence of Adam an Eve. Sadly the innocence did not last long.

The loss of innocence and the entrance of sin into the world is described in Genesis chapter 3. The Bible says in Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of the tree of the garden?” In these words of the devil we see one of the methods that the devil has used to ruin mankind during the entire history of the human race. The devil brings doubt against the Word of God. The devil attacks the Word of God. The devil tries to get human beings to doubt the Word of God. One of the devil’s goals is to get people to sin. The Word of God will lead us into the paths of righteousness. The Bible says in Psalms 119:9, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” It also says in Psalms 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” The Christian life is a life of faith in Christ and in His Word. If someone teaches against the truthfulness or authority of the Word, they can harm the faith of some. In these last days in which we live there are many people doing the work of the devil by spreading false teachings. Some of the worst false teachings are attacks against the Word of God, such as denying that the Bible is without error or denying that the Bible is the authority for all things in faith and practice. These false teachers are doing the exact same thing that the devil was doing back in the Garden of Eden.

When the devil succeeds in causing a man or a woman to choose to sin, it appears that the devil has taken one more step in causing the destruction of the human race because sin is destructive. But thank God that there is a Savior for mankind. It says in First John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

The Bible says in Genesis 3:2-3, “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Why did Adam and Eve sin? Why did they give in to temptation? If we know the answer to this question, then we will know better how to avoid failure ourselves. Eve knew the Word of God. Knowing the commandment of God was not enough. The thing that is most obvious about the verses that follow Genesis 3:1 is that Adam and Eve stayed in the place of temptation when they should have left it as soon as possible. The best way to avoid falling into temptation is to avoid the place of temptation. Jesus said that we should pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We cannot do it on our own. We need God’s help, and we need to get out of the place of temptation as soon as we can.

Eve did not leave the place of temptation, and thus she was tempted further. The Bible says in Genesis 3:4, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” In Genesis 3:1 the devil cast doubt on the word of God because the devil is a deceiver. In Genesis 3:4 the devil openly refutes the Word of God. The devil lies. God tells the truth, and the devil lies to mankind. Jesus said concerning the devil in John 8:44, “There is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” The devil has many ways in which he lies to the human race. The devil lies through false religion. The devil lies through many of the entertainments of the world that draw man’s attention away from God. The devil lies by saying that bad consequences will not happen as a result of sin. Sometimes people do not understand the true consequences of their actions. They have been lied to concerning the results. If only they thought about the true consequences, they would more likely have the better behavior. An obvious example is sex outside of marriage. The devil lies through the institutions of the world and says that sex outside of marriage is a desirable thing to do. In reality sex outside of marriage has the following negative consequences: venereal disease, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, divorce, jealousy, anger, murder, guilt, and separation from God. Do not believe the lies of the devil. Believe the Word of God. It says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

The devil said in Genesis 3:5, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” As well as lying again, this time the devil appealed to their pride. “Pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction.” The pride of man takes over when a human being puts their own interests and desires above the will of God. We are God’s creatures, and the most important thing for every one of God’s creatures is the will of God. Your pride will keep you from doing God’s will. The devil will appeal to your pride just as he did in his conversation with Eve in order to get you to depart from God’s will. The Bible says in First John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

The devil told Eve that she would know “good and evil,” and that she would be better off for it. What a lie! To know evil is a terrible thing. So many human beings have fallen for the same offer. They go out to know evil and to experience it, and they lose so much because they come to know evil. Goodness will bring happiness. But evil will only bring sorrow and regret and loss. All of Satan’s apples have worms. “Be not deceived: God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall a man also reap.”

Adam and Eve sinned. They violated the commandment that God had given to them. It says in Genesis 3:6, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” First Eve sinned, and then she gave to Adam and he sinned. Eve not only sinned by listening to the lies of the devil, but then she actually assisted the devil in getting Adam to sin. It is a terrible thing when one human being introduces another to sin. It seems that the guilty one always wants to corrupt the innocent one. Jesus said in Matthew 18:6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” To offend means “cause to stumble.” Those who cause others to stumble are doing the work of the devil. Thank God that Jesus destroyed the work of the devil, so that all who believe in Jesus can be forgiven of their sins, even their pernicious sins.

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