Male and Female He created them...

 

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” *19*Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens 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. *20*The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. *21*So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. *22*And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. *23*Then the man said, 

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; 

she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 

*24*Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. *25*And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 Genesis 2:18-25

Man and woman were made by God. At different times, but both hand-crafted by God for purpose. 

At the start of this passage, God recognises that man should not be alone. As humankind is created in the image of God, then we are created for community.  

We function best with others, ‘it is not good that the man should be alone’ is as true now as when it was written. Humans are social beings and should be around others for life to be ‘good’. Good because we can support and challenge one another, we can bring company, fun, love and kindness to each other. Of course, we can also wind each other up too, but since the beginning of creation it has been noted that man alone is not a good thing. So, if you find yourself alone, why is that, and is there anything you can do about it? Being in community with others is what you are created for, it is in those relationships that you can more truly reflect who God is.

This section of scripture gives us an insight into how important relationships are to God, especially the male/female relationships, and the significance of being a man or a woman. In today’s society, the distinction between male and female is being eroded away. That is no good thing, we are distinctly different created to be who we are in the body’s we are in. The Bible here begins to tell us what a woman and a man should be. 

The first thing we find out about a woman is that she was made as ‘a helper for for him’  as well as some company for him - the woman was created to help, assist and be a partner to the man.  Some people do not like that and see being a helper as a bad thing, but being a helper is not a lowly function. it is a powerful purpose. Man would not be man without woman helping him. Plus, the Holy Spirit is often described as a helper, so for those that consider being a helper a derogatory or demeaning term are completely wrong, God is a helper and there’s nothing lowly or demeaning in His character!