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 the flesh at that place.
And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
And the man 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).
God's remedy for the one thing about His creation that was not good was to make a helper that was "suitable" to man. The Hebrew word that is translated "suitable" here is neged (neh'-ghed), which could have been translated "opposite part" or a "counterpart." To be a helpmate, the woman needed to be different from the man—not a difference that conflicted with him, but rather one that complimented him. She would have the part that he was missing. To be whole he needed her, and she needed him. It has been a primary strategy of the enemy to blur the distinctions between men and women and deceive them into thinking they do not need each other.
As soon as the man saw the woman, his heart leapt and he knew she was the one! The man looked at the woman and was charged, but it did not appear to have done the same for Eve. Men tend to be stimulated more by sight than women. Just looking at Eve was enough to convince Adam, but just looking at Adam probably did not do much for Eve. However, the words that Adam spoke probably did mean something to her.
God created romance and sex, and both are to be a wonderful and intimate expression of love between a man and woman. However, He created mankind to be body, soul, and spirit. Romance was created to be more than sex. It was to be a union of spirit, soul, and body, in that order. If the order is reversed so that the union of bodies is esteemed first, then it is unlikely that the union of spirit and soul will take place, and the loneliness will continue.
This is why the Lord created the institution of marriage, and sanctioned that sex outside of marriage is a sin against Him. It is a sin against the very nature of man that God created. Mankind was created to be creatures of lofty intelligence and spirituality. They were also physical creatures who were "wonderfully made." The Lord wanted the crown of His creation to be whole and fulfilled on all three levels, and if mankind started esteeming the physical above the others, a basic perversion of their nature would occur. Therefore, sex was to be an expression of the love and union of spirit and soul. Only as it was this expression of love and union, would it truly be fulfilling, and remain the high and lofty expression that it was intended to be. There is a spiritual sensuality that can be released through the love and union of spirit and soul that physical sensuality can never compare with.
In the first meeting of Adam and Eve, Adam was immediately convinced that they were right for each other. It appears that Eve may have taken a little more convincing. She was different, and probably needed to be touched more in her soul and spirit before she could be fully convinced. God made women this way to call men to higher levels of experience. Women do tend to be more spiritually oriented, and often interpreted as more emotional, because they tend to be more in touch with their spiritual senses.
Since the Fall, women have been blamed because Eve was deceived and offered the forbidden fruit to Adam. However, this implies that Adam was not deceived, and sinned even though he knew what he was doing. That is far more sinister. Why did Adam follow Eve that way? It was probably because she had been created to help call Adam to the higher realms of spirituality, and Adam had already learned to follow her in this. It is basic to the devil's strategy to turn our strengths into weaknesses, and use them against us. He seldom tries to stop someone from doing what they are called to do. He learned in the beginning that it is far more effective to get behind them and push them too far.
We will examine these issues in more depth later, but understanding the foundations of our nature, temptation, and the perversion of that nature is important for us to understand redemption and the process of restoration. When we are fully restored, the relationship between men and God, men and women, and men and women with the creation, will all be part of a glorious paradise again.
