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.
19. And out of the ground ] The animals also (LXX adds ; so also Sam.) are “formed,” or “moulded,” out of the ground, like man: see Gen 2:7. They are brought into man’s presence to see whether they could be the needed help to him. Only the beasts of the field and the birds are mentioned in this account.
to see what he would call them ] The names which man will give them will determine their use and position in reference to man’s own nature. Their names would reflect the impression produced on the man’s mind. A “name,” in the estimation of the Hebrew, conveyed the idea of personality and character. It was more than a mere label. The animals, in this account, are created after man, and in definite relation to him; an entirely different representation from that in ch. 1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Here, as in several previous instances Gen 1:5; Gen 2:4, Gen 2:8-9, the narrative reverts to the earlier part of the sixth day. This is, therefore, another example of the connection according to thought overruling that according to time. The order of time, however, is restored, when we take in a sufficient portion of the narrative. We refer, therefore, to the fifth verse, which is the regulative sentence of the present passage. The second clause in the verse, however, which in the present case completes the thought in the mind of the writer, brings up the narrative to a point subsequent to that closing the preceding verse. The first two clauses, therefore, are to be combined into one; and when this is done, the order of time is observed.
Man has already become acquainted with his Maker. He has opened his eyes upon the trees of the garden, and learned to distinguish at least two of them by name. He is now to be introduced to the animal kingdom, with which he is connected by his physical nature, and of which he is the constituted lord. Not many hours or minutes before have they been called into existence. They are not yet, therefore, multiplied or scattered over the earth, and so do not require to be gathered for the purpose. The end of this introduction is said to be to see what he would call them. To name is to distinguish the nature of anything and do denote the thing by a sound bearing some analogy to its nature. To name is also the prerogative of the owner, superior, or head. Doubtless the animals instinctively distinguished man as their lord paramount, so far as his person and eye came within their actual observation. God had given man his first lesson in speech, when he caused him to hear and understand the spoken command. He now places him in a condition to put forth his naming power, and thereby go through the second lesson.
With the infant, the acquisition of language must be a gradual process, inasmuch as the vast multitude of words which constitute its vocabulary has to be heard one by one and noted in the memory. The infant is thus the passive recipient of a fully formed and long-established medium of converse. The first man, on the other hand, having received the conception of language, became himself the free and active inventor of the greatest part of its words. He accordingly discerns the kinds of animals, and gives each its appropriate name. The highly-excited powers of imagination and analogy break forth into utterance, even before he has anyone to hear and understand his words but the Creator himself.
This indicates to us a twofold use of language. First, it serves to register things and events in the apprehension and the memory. Man has a singular power of conferring with himself. This he carries on by means of language, in some form or other. He bears some resemblance to his Maker even in the complexity of his spiritual nature. He is at once speaker and hearer, and yet at the same time he is consciously one. Secondly, it is a medium of intelligent communication between spirits who cannot read anothers thoughts by immediate intuition. The first of these uses seems to have preceded the second in the case of Adam, who was the former of the first language. The reflecting reader can tell what varied powers of reason are involved in the use of language, and to what an extent the mind of man was developed, when he proceeded to name the several classes of birds and beasts. He was evidently suited for the highest enjoyments of social contact.
Among the trees in the garden God took the initiative, named the two that were conspicuous and essential to mans well being, and uttered the primeval command. Adam has now made acquaintance with the animal world, and, profiting by the lesson of the garden, proceeds himself to exercise the naming power. The names he gives are thenceforth the permanent designations of the different species of living creatures that appeared before him. These names being derived from some prominent quality, were suited to be specific, or common to the class, and not special to the individual.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 2:19
That was the name thereof
The naming of the animals by Adam
1.
The man was thus to be made conscious of his lordship over the animal tribes.
2. In token of his relations to them, respectively, he was to give them their respective names.
3. His knowledge of animal nature, (in which he had been created), is at once to be developed, under the special teaching of God.
4. His organs of speech are to be put in exercise.
5. His knowledge of language (Divinely imparted), is to be developed in the use of terms for naming the several classes–under the Divine instruction and guidance.
6. It would seem, from the connection, that the man was to be made sensible of his social need as he should see the animals passing before him in pairs. (M. W. Jacobus.)
Language a Divine gift
The man was created in knowledge, after the Divine image, and thus was endowed with powers of perception and discrimination, by which he could know the habits, characters, and uses of the several species, both of animals and of fowls, yet not without Divine teaching in the matter, and in the use of terms. The names which he gave them were appointed to be their names by which they should be known–and they were, doubtless, significant–as was the name of Eve, (Gen 2:23), Gen 3:20. Language itself could not so early have been a human invention, but a revelation. (M. W. Jacobus.)
Observations
I. GODS MERCIES ARE, OR SHOULD BE, PRECIOUS UNTO US WHEN WE CAN NEITHER BE WITHOUT THEM, NOR HAVE THEM FROM ANY OTHER BUT FROM HIMSELF. That the necessity of creating a woman to be Adams helper might be the more clearly discovered unto him, He brings before him the creatures, that out of his own judgment himself might conclude how unit any of them were to be his companions or helpers.
II. WE MUST KNOW THE UNSERVICEABLENESS OF OTHER THINGS, THAT WE MAY KNOW AND APPROVE THE PROFITABLENESS OF THAT WHICH IS TRULY GOOD.
III. GOD CAN ORDER AND DISPOSE OF THE CREATURES TO DO WHAT, AND TO BE WHERE HE APPOINTS THEM.
IV. MAN MAY LAWFULLY USE THAT POWER OVER THE CREATURES WHICH GOD HIMSELF HATH PUT INTO HIS HAND.
V. GOD IS PLEASED TO HONOUR MEN SO FAR AS TO EMPLOY THEM IN MANY THINGS WHICH OF RIGHT BELONG UNTO AND MIGHT BE DONE BY HIMSELF ALONE.
1. To encourage men to His service in honouring them so far as to make them His fellow workers.
2. To unite men the more in love, one to another.
3. To increase their reward hereafter, by the faithful employment of their talents for the advantage of their Master from whom they received them, Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23. (J. White, M. A.)
Intuition
God now proceeds to show man the exact point where the void lay. Adam had been made to feel that void, but Gods object is to place him in circumstances such as shall lead him step by step to the seat of the unsatisfied longing within. Accordingly, God brings before him all the creatures which He had made, that Adam, in his choice, may have the whole range of creation. Adam surveys them all. He sees by instinctive wisdom the nature and properties of each, so that he can affix names to all in turn. His knowledge is large and full; it has come direct from God, just as his own being had come. It is not discovery, it is not learning, it is not experience, it is not memory, it is intuition. By intuition he knew what the wisest king in after ages only knew by searching. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The first act of mans sovereignty over the animals
Man was certainly the superior master of nature. This is evident from the next feature which our text mentions. God brought the animals which He had created to man, to see what he would call them; and the names chosen by man were to remain to them forever. This is the first act by which man exercised his sovereignty; and although his intellect was not yet roused, he was sufficiently endowed for that task; for he had been capable of understanding the Divine command and of representing to himself death. In the first cosmogony, God Himself fixed the names of the objects which He had called into existence; He determined the appellations of day and night, of heaven, and sea, and dry land. Here He cedes this right to man, whom He has ordained to have dominion over all the earth. The name was, according to Hebrew and Eastern writers in general, an integral part of the object itself; it was not deemed indifferent; it was no conventional sign; it was an essential attribute. When God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, the latter hastened to inquire under what name He wished to be announced to the Israelites. When a crisis in the life of an individual was imminent, or had been successfully overcome, his name was changed into another one expressive of that event. Kings, at their elevation to the throne, assumed another name. To know the name of God was identical with knowing His internal nature, and even with piously walking in His precepts. The right, therefore, of determining the names includes authority and dominion; but man did not perform this act of his own accord; he did not yet feel his exalted rank; but God, by inviting him to perform it, made him governor over the works of His hands, and placed all under his feet Psa 8:7). It has been frequently observed, that our text explains the origin of language, and attributes its invention solely to man. Language is, indeed, a spontaneous emanation of the human mind; it is implanted in its nature; in furnishing man, besides his external organization, with reason and imagination, God bestowed upon him the principal elements for communication by speech; it is as natural a function of his intellect as reflection; intelligent speech is one of the chief characteristics of man; hence the ancient Greek poets call men simply the speech-gifted; the germ was bestowed by God; man had to do no more than to cultivate it. But our author does not enter upon this abstruse question at all; it is of no practical importance for religious truth; it must have appeared superfluous to one who knows God as the Creator and Framer of all, as the Bestower of every gift, as Him who has made mans mouth, and who maketh dumb Exo 4:11). Pythagoras, and other ancient philosophers, justly considered the invention of names for objects an act of the highest human wisdom; and the Chinese ascribed it to their first and most honoured sovereign Fo-hi, who performed this task so well, that by naming the things their very nature was made known. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
The origin of language
Was it an invention? So some have taught. Was it the issue of a convention? So some have taught. Was it an imitation of the sounds of nature? So some have taught. Was it a direct gift from heaven? So some have taught. Most erudite men have pondered the problem; and yet all speculation here is quite afloat. And so we fall back on the childlike, pictorial language of times most hoary archive: Jehovah God formed out of the soil every beast of the field and every fowl of the heavens: and He brought them to the man to see what he would call them: and whatever the man should call every living being, that should be the name thereof; and the man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field. It was mans first recorded act. Observe: it was an act of perception, discrimination, description. The animals were arrayed before him; and animals suggest all the phenomena of life. And the vision of moving life stirred up within him the latent capacity of speech. In brief, it was the origin of humanitys vocabulary. As such, it is a profoundly philosophical account. For nouns, i.e., names, are the rudiments of language, the very A B Cs of speech. Such is the theory of the genesis of language according to Moses. Can your Max Mullers and Wedgwoods and Whitneys give a more philosophical theory? (G. D.Boardman.)
Two-fold use of language
This indicates to us a two-fold use of language. First, it serves to register things and events in the apprehension and the memory. Man has a singular power of conferring with himself. This he carries on by means of language in some form or other. He bears some resemblance to his Maker even in the complexity of his spiritual nature. He is at once speaker and hearer, and yet at the same time he is consciously one. Secondly, it is a medium of intelligent communication between spirits, who cannot read one anothers thoughts by immediate intuition. The first of these uses seems to have preceded the second in the case of Adam, who was the former of the first language. The reflecting reader can tell what varied powers of reason are involved in the use of language, and to what an extent the mind of man was developed, when he proceeded to name the several classes of birds and beasts. He was evidently fitted for the highest enjoyments of social intercourse. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Out of the ground, &c.] Concerning the formation of the different kinds of animals, see the preceding chapter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Brought them unto Adam, either by winds, or angels, or by their own secret instinct, by which storks, and cranes, and swallows change their places with the season; partly to own their subjection to him; partly that man, being re-created with their prospect, might adore and praise the Maker of them, and withal be sensible of his want of a meet companion, and so the better prepared to receive Gods mercy therein; and partly for the reason here following.
To see, or, make a discovery; not to God, who knew it already, but to all future generations, who would hereby understand the deep wisdom and knowledge of their first parent.
That was the name thereof, to wit, in the primitive or Hebrew language. And this was done for the manifestation both of mans dominion over the creatures, and of the largeness of his understanding; it being an act of authority to give names, and an effect of vast knowledge to give convenient names to all the creatures, which supposeth an exact acquaintance with their natures.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. God brought unto Adamnotall the animals in existence, but those chiefly in his immediateneighborhood to be subservient to his use.
whatsoever Adam called everyliving creature, that was the name thereofHis powers ofperception and intelligence were supernaturally enlarged to know thecharacters, habits, and uses of each species that was brought to him.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air,…. Or “had formed them” e on the fifth and sixth days; and these were formed two and two, male and female, in order to continue their species; whereas man was made single, and had no companion of the same nature with him: and while in these circumstances, God
brought them unto Adam; or “to the man” f; either by the ministry of angels, or by a kind of instinct or impulse, which brought them to him of their own accord, as to the lord and proprietor of them, who, as soon as he was made, had the dominion of all the creatures given him; just as the creatures at the flood went in unto Noah in the ark; and as then, so now, all creatures, fowl and cattle, came, all but the fishes of the sea: and this was done
to see what he would call them; what names he would give to them; which as it was a trial of the wisdom of man, so a token of his dominion over the creatures, it being an instance of great knowledge of them to give them apt and suitable names, so as to distinguish one from another, and point at something in them that was natural to them, and made them different from each other; for this does not suppose any want of knowledge in God, as if he did this to know what man would do, he knew what names man would give them before he did; but that it might appear he had made one superior to them all in wisdom and power, and for his pleasure, use, and service; and therefore brings them to him, to put them into his hands, and give him authority over them; and being his own, to call them by what names he pleased:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof; it was always afterwards called by it, by him and his posterity, until the confusion of languages, and then every nation called them as they thought proper, everyone in their own language: and as there is a good deal of reason to believe, that the Hebrew language was the first and original language; or however that eastern language, of which the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, are so many dialects; it was this that he spoke, and in it gave names to the creatures suitable to their nature, or agreeable to some property or other observed in them: and Bochart g has given us many instances of creatures in the Hebrew tongue, whose names answer to some character or another in them: some think this was done by inspiration; and Plato says, that it seemed to him that that nature was superior to human, that gave names to things; and that this was not the work of vain and foolish man, but the first names were appointed by the gods h; and so Cicero i asks, who was the first, which with Pythagoras was the highest wisdom, who imposed names on all things?
e “finxerat”, Drusius. f “ad ipsum hominem”, Pagninus, Montanus. g Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 9. p. 59, &c. h In Cratylo, apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 11. c. 6. p. 515. i Tusculan. Quaest. l. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. And out of the ground the Lord God formed, etc (144) This is a more ample exposition of the preceding sentence, for he says that, of all the animals, when they had been placed in order, not one was found which might be conferred upon and adapted to Adam; nor was there such affinity of nature, that Adam could choose for himself a companion for life out of any one species. Nor did this occur through ignorance, for each species had passed in review before Adam, and he had imposed names upon them, not rashly but from certain knowledge; yet there was no just proportion between him and them. Therefore, unless a wife had been given him of the same kind with himself, he would have remained destitute of a suitable and proper help. Moreover, what is here said of God’s bringing the animals to Adam (145) signifies nothing else than that he endued them with the disposition to obedience, so that they would voluntarily offer themselves to the man, in order that he, having closely inspected them, might distinguish them by appropriate names, agreeing with the nature of each. This gentleness towards man would have remained also in wild beasts, if Adam, by his defection from God, had not lost the authority he had before received. But now, from the time in which he began to be rebellious against God, he experienced the ferocity of brute animals against himself; for some are tamed with difficulty, others always remain unsubdued, and some, even of their own accord, inspire us with terror by their fierceness. Yet some remains of their former subjection continue to the present time, as we shall see in the second verse of the ninth chapter (Gen 9:2.) Besides, it is to be remarked that Moses speaks only of those animals which approach the nearest to man, for the fishes live as in another world. As to the names which Adam imposed, I do not doubt that each of them was founded on the best reason; but their use, with many other good things, has become obsolete.
(144) “ Formaverat autem Deus,” — “God had formed,” plainly referring to what had already taken place. The Hebrew language has not the same distinction of times in its verbs which is common to more modern tongues.” — Ed.
(145) “ Porro istud adducere Dei.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Out of the ground.The admh; thus the physical constituents of the animals are the same as those of the body of man. Much curious speculation has arisen from the mistaken idea that the order here is chronological, and that the animals were created subsequently to man, and that it was only upon their failing one and all to supply Adams need of a companion that woman was called into being. The real point of the narrative is the insight it gives us into Adams intellectual condition, his study of the animal creation, and the nature of the employment in which he spent his time. Then finally, at the end of Gen. 2:20, after numerous animals had passed before him, comes the assertion, with cumulative force, that woman alone is a meet companion for man.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Every beast of the field That is, representative animals of the garden; not, as some would understand, (and thence erect a skeptical objection to the history,) all the genera, species, and individuals of the animal creation of all climates throughout the world . The apparent design of the writer in introducing here this statement of the animals of Paradise was to show that among all these lower orders of animal life there was no proper companion for the man. He gave these several creatures names according to their natures; but for Adam was not found a helper corresponding to him (Gen 2:20) among them all. It required no very long time for God to cause the animals of Paradise to pass before Adam and receive their names from him. This was a very proper prelude to the formation of the woman, for it served to awaken in the man a consciousness of his need of a companion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 2:19. And out of the ground God formed, &c. Had formed beast and fowl; see remarks on Gen 2:20; Gen 2:1 : It seems probable that this account of the review of the creatures taken by Adam, was appointed by God, among many other reasons, for the end of shewing him, that there was among them none which could be a proper mate or co-relative to himself, and consequently that he must owe the production of such a being to the still increasing beneficence of that Creator from whom he received every thing: the clause at the end of the 20th verse, corresponding to that at the end of the 18th, seems to confirm this opinion. Other wise and good ends, no doubt, were designed by this review, which acquainted Adam at once with the nature of the several creatures, and his dominion over them; a knowledge highly necessary, and which doth not seem easy to have been attained by any other method than this which the Creator took, of causing the several species of animals to pass before Adam. In which there appears neither difficulty nor absurdity: for certainly it could be no difficulty for him who created them, to cause every species of animals to pass along in any order he should choose: nor is it at all absurd to suppose, that he would present these works of his hand to the view of that superior creature, to whom he had given the dominion over them. If two of each species only were at first created, those two only might pass before Adam; or if more were at first created, even in that case two of each species were quite sufficient for the end designed. And if by any means the Lord made Adam acquainted with the nature of the several creatures, he would doubtless give them names agreeable thereto in that language which was the primaeval one, and with the power of speaking, which we must necessarily suppose him endued with at the beginning. For, as created in a state of perfection, he must have been capable of conversing and communicating his ideas: and there appears no more difficulty in believing this, than in believing what we see every day, that the brute animals are born with their several distinct voices, and modes of expressing their ideas, how few or many soever they have. Man, therefore, may easily be imagined, as endued with superior faculties, to have been formed capable of expressing his ideas in regular language: a power wherewith God can endue his creatures, as was abundantly proved on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples of our Lord received the gift of tongues, and were enabled to speak in languages to which before they were utter strangers.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 2:19 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.
Ver. 19. To see what he would call them. ] If he had been permitted to name himself, it should have been, probably, the son of God, as he is called by Luke, Luk 3:38 in regard of his creation. But God, to humble him, calls him, first, Adam, and after the fall, Enosh, that is, frail, sorry man, a mass of mortality, a mass of misery.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ground: giving the details of Gen 1:24.
creature = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. See Gen 1:20 and App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And out: Gen 1:20-25
brought: Gen 2:22, Gen 2:23, Gen 1:26, Gen 1:28, Gen 6:20, Gen 9:2, Psa 8:4-8
Adam: or, the man, Gen 2:15
Reciprocal: Gen 1:25 – General Gen 7:9 – General Psa 50:10 – every
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Adam and Eve
Gen 2:19-25
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Genesis is the Book of beginnings. The only thing, so far as man is concerned, before Genesis, is God. Revelation is the Book of the beginning again. We might call it Palingenesis.
In the Book of Genesis, God creates the heaven and the earth. In the Book of Revelation we discover the new heavens and the new earth. In order to understand the whole story of the heaven and earth, we must, of course, read the Bible between Genesis and Revelation. This will be the case also in every other comparison.
In Genesis, darkness is upon the face of the deep; in Revelation darkness is forever gone, and the light of God forever shines-there will be no night there. In Genesis, we read of the waters being gathered together, and called seas; in Revelation, we read, “And there was no more sea.” In Genesis, the sun and the moon are placed in the firmament; in Revelation, there will be no need of the sun, nor of the moon to lighten the Holy City, for the Lord God giveth it light, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
In Genesis, we read of the tree of life, which was placed in the midst of the Garden; in the Book of Revelation, we read, “In the midst * * was there the tree of life.” In Genesis, there is a river, which went out of Eden to water the Garden; in Revelation, there is the “river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
In Genesis, we read of the gold of the land, and of the bdellium and the onyx stone; in Revelation, the City is paved with pure gold, and precious stones are in the walls thereof.
In Genesis, we have the story of Eve presented unto Adam; in Revelation, we have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; and the New Jerusalem is described as the Lamb’s Wife.
In Genesis, Satan enters in; in Revelation, Satan passes out, for he is cast into the lake of fire.
In Genesis, the curse is pronounced, and death, and sorrow, and sighing, enter in; in Revelation, there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain.
In Genesis, thorns and thistles become a part of the curse; in Revelation, these have passed, and the fruit trees which bear twelve manner of fruit, and yield their fruit every month, are growing on either side of the river.
In Genesis, we read how man should eat his bread in the sweat of his face; in Revelation, God wipes all tears from off all faces.
In Genesis, God drives man out of the Garden of Eden, and the cherubims guard the way of the tree of life; in Revelation, it is written, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.”
It will be noted that the contrasts and comparisons just given are all taken from the first three chapters of Genesis, and from the last three chapters of Revelation.
I. ADAM’S LONELINESS (Gen 2:19-20)
1. Adam’s wisdom. In verse nineteen, we read of how 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. Adam certainly was not some primeval man with the marks of the jungles still clinging to him. It was no small task to name every beast and every bird, particularly when every name portrayed the character of the thing named.
2. God’s interest in Adam’s appelations. We read that God was there “To see what he would call them.” Why was God so interested in Adam’s naming of the creatures? Certainly, He was observing whether Adam would call any of them “companion,” or, “helpmeet,” or “wife.” The result of God’s listening ear is plainly stated in Gen 2:20,-“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.”
The living creatures were interesting to say the least. Many of them, no doubt, could have afforded Adam much pleasure and even some comradeship, but in all of God’s creation there was a definite lack so far as Adam was concerned. “It is not good that the man be alone.”
3. A sublime conclusion. Marriage is honorable in all. We do not marvel that Christ Jesus graced a marriage in Cana of Galilee with His presence. We do not marvel that the Holy Spirit has used the marriage bond, as an emblem endeared and indissoluble which exists between Christ and the Church. The relation between husband and wife is the sweetest and holiest of any relationship upon earth.
II. THE CREATION OF EVE (Gen 2:21-24)
1. Adam put to sleep. The Lord God was about to supply the need which He had discerned in Adam. Adam may not have known his need for a woman and a wife, but God knew. Thus it was that Adam’s side was opened and a rib was taken out. The flesh was closed up instead thereof. Then the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman.
2. The woman brought to Adam. After Adam had been awakened, the Lord God presented unto him his wife. That must have been a happy moment with Adam. All other creation paled before this supreme gift from God.
3. Adam’s statement. When Adam beheld the woman, he 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.” The expression which fell from Adam’s lips portrays the unique oneness which exists between husband and wife. Between man and all living creatures, there was an impassable gulf, a chasm which no fellowship could breach. Man holds unspeakable superiority to the beasts of the field, to the fowl of the air, and to the cattle on a thousand hills.
Between man and woman there was an intimacy of relationship and fellowship, because the one was bone of bone, and flesh of flesh, with the other. In the light of this, how sacred does the marriage bond become, and how far from God’s purpose and plan does divorce appear! What wreckage sin has wrought!
4. Adam’s conclusion. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,” said Adam, “and shall cleave unto his wife.” Some may argue that Gen 2:24 was God’s conclusion, and not Adam’s. Perhaps so. Nevertheless, the eternal truth stands the same. Husband and wife are one flesh in the purpose of God until death do them part.
III. THE CREATION OF THE CHURCH (Eph 5:27; Eph 5:30-32)
1. There was a longing in the heart of Christ. The creation included not only the Heaven and the earth, and all things therein, but God’s greater creation included angel and archangel, cherubims and seraphims. However, in all of these there was found no helpmeet for Christ Christ Jesus holds a superiority to all things which He created both in Heaven and upon earth.
2. The Lord God put Christ to sleep upon the Cross. In Adam’s open side, there is a distinct forecast of the open side of Christ, when the Roman soldier thrust in his spear. All believers know that the life is in the Blood. He died that we might live.
3. From the riven side of our Lord, His Bride is being formed. Adam said, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Our key verse from Ephesians quotes Adam’s very words, in speaking of the Church and adds: “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”
4. The unity between Christ and the Church. Christ prayed that they might be one as He and the Father were one. Adam and Eve were one flesh. This is the statement of Gen 2:24. In the quotation of this passage in Eph 5:31, Eph 5:33, the Spirit says,-‘”They two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”
IV. DIVINE CONCLUSIONS (Eph 5:22-27)
We have seen the parallelism between the creation of Eve, and that of the Church. We now understand why God did not simultaneously create Adam and Eve, Why God put Adam to sleep, why his side was opened, why the woman was formed and brought unto the man. God in the creation of Eve was writing, in beautiful and unmistakable symbolism, the story of the creation of the Church. Let us enlarge upon the deeper significance of the relationship between Christ and the Church.
1. Submission and its message. Eph 5:22 tells us that wives should submit themselves unto their own husbands as unto the Lord. Eph 5:24 tells us that the Church is subject unto Christ. The Church dare not step out from under the authority of the Lord Jesus, for He is the Head of the Church as well as the Saviour of the body.
2. Love and its voice. Eph 5:25 tells us that husbands should love their wives, as Christ also loved the Church. The proof of Christ’s love is stated in the fact that He gave Himself for the Church. When love reigns in the place where authority reigns, the best interest of the beloved will always be safeguarded. The Church need not fear to follow Christ, for Christ is always working out its good.
3. The presentation and its glory. The marriage day is the day of adornment. The bride is robed in the very best that she can procure. So, also, will the Church be robed-a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
V. THE GLORIOUS PRESENTATION (Gen 2:22 l.c; Eph 5:27)
1. The Lord God brought the woman unto the man. This was an epochal experience. Before Adam, stood the woman who was to share with him all his wealth of environment and glory of achievement. Together, they were to meet the issues of life. It would no longer be the man apart from the woman, nor the woman without the man. Marriage is the hour when two lives are made one.
There is a little story of the tribute money, in which Christ said to Peter, “Cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money.” Then said the Lord, “That take, and give unto them for Me and thee.” We call your attention to the union herein expressed between Christ and Peter. Christ was saying, “The piece of money which you will find in the mouth of the fish is for Me and thee.” In other words, “We will share our resources.” Christ, also, was saying, “You have a difficulty in meeting your taxes. We will face this difficulty together,-Me and thee for it.”
This is true of married life. Each is for the other, though both be for God. The possessions of the one belong to the other. The obligations of the one, are shared by the other.
2. The Lord God will present the Church to Christ. We cannot doubt the reality of the marriage of the Lamb. God likens it unto “a king who made a marriage for his son.” We cannot conceive the absence of the father in that nuptial hour.
John wrote, “Blessed are they which are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.” These are the true sayings of God. To the wife it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
From the day of the marriage in the skies, it shall be each for the other, together will we meet our future, together will we enjoy the indescribable riches of our Heavenly Bridegroom.
VI. THE GREAT CALL (Gen 2:24)
1. A profound pronouncement. Adam foresaw the breaking of home ties in order to establish another and a newer home. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Each individual family has been builded, so to speak, upon the wreckage of a prior family.
Even the eagle understands this law of God. For when its young grow up and have wings of their own with which to fly, the mother bird “stirs up her nest.” She wrecks her home, so that the eaglets may learn to fly for themselves. At first her young may be filled with fear, as they behold, the one who has always fed and fostered them, tearing up her nest. Yet the mother bird swoops down, bears them aloft on her wings, then lets them fall again, and so on, until they have learned to trust their own wings.
2. A pictorial pronouncement. Jesus Christ said, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Again He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
When God called Abraham, He said unto him,-“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house.” This is still God’s call. We leave one home to form another. The first fades away, that the second may be established. In all things the new affections must superabound over the old. Christ must be first. He must hold the center of our heart’s love. He must rule in an unbroken headship.
VII. THE BRIDE’S HOME (Gen 2:15)
1. The Garden of Eden. Eden was filled with all the benefactions that a beneficent God could devise. We have seen many a garden of fragrance and beauty, but we have never seen anything that could approach the glory of Eden. Adam and Eve dwelt mid an environment that delighted the eyes, and satisfied every longing of the physical.
2. The New Jerusalem. This is the City and the Abode of the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. How marvelous will be the City that shall descend out of Heaven from God! Its streets are of fine gold; it will have the glory of God. Its light will be like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, pure as crystal. Its wall will be great and high: its gates will be twelve, and each one will be one pearl. The walls of the City will be of jasper, and the City will be of pure gold, as transparent glass. The foundations of the wall will be garnished with all precious stones: the jasper, the sapphire, the chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolyte, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth, and amethyst.
The glory of God will lighten the City, and the Lamb will be the Light thereof. A river clear as crystal will course through the City; on either side of the City will be the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, and yielding its fruit every month. Such is the description, as God gives the glory of our Heavenly Home.
AN ILLUSTRATION
LOOK UP
We may not have a Garden of Eden, but we can “Look Up.” “The Word so beautifully says, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’ In the sad, silent midnight watches they see God, and mid sorrow and death they look above and see the Lord. I recently read an incident that illustrates this beautifully. At a recent church conference, Dr. Horton told the story of a professor who invariably prefaced his lectures with this remark: ‘When I was walking in my garden, I thought.’ He then would frequently bring forth such beautiful thoughts that his students began to think their master’s garden must be very fine to inspire such splendid thoughts. One day one of the students went to see the garden and found it to be a little narrow back yard. ‘Your garden!’ he exclaimed. ‘How narrow! How secluded and how poor!’ ‘Ah!’ answered the professor, ‘but see how high it is. It reaches to the heavens.’
“So, look up; look to the eternal hills, to God on His throne. Look upon Him and by so doing, you can conquer all of life’s problems and difficulties.”-A. C. S.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Gen 2:19. God brought all the beasts to Adam Either by the ministry of angels, or by a special instinct, that he might name them, and so might give a proof of his knowledge, the names he gave them being perfectly descriptive of their inmost nature.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto {n} Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof.
(n) By moving them to come and submit themselves to Adam.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The text does not mean that Adam named every individual animal. He apparently gave names to the different kinds God brought before him. This exercise demonstrated Adam’s authority over the animals and the dissimilarity between humans and animals. He became aware of his own need for a companion as he named the animals.
"Adam" comes from the Hebrew word for "earth" (adamah). "Adam" means "one that is red," like the earth. [Note: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 1:1:2.] Likewise the names of the animals probably expressed the nature of each animal. Names of humans in Old Testament times usually reflected the nature of the persons who bore them. This indicates that Adam must have had great intelligence and wisdom to be able to identify and label the various types of animals according to their natures.
Man is not like the other animals. Adam could find no suitable partner among them. God graciously provided for his need by creating Eve.