Genesis 2:18-24 (NRSV)
Read Genesis 2:18-24 on biblegateway.com
Verse 18Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." Verse 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, 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. Verse 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.
Verse 21So 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 its place with flesh. Verse 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Verse 23Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." Verse 24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Devotion
The creation of woman, of Eve, comes after all of the created animals of the field and forest are paraded before Adam, so that he might name them and find a helpmate among them. None of them are found to be suitable, which prompts God to put the man to sleep and again work the work of creation, cleaving a woman from his side, completing what had until then been incomplete. In response the man exclaims, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called woman…” (Gen 2:23). Eve is the climactic entry in the long parade of creatures into which God breathed life.
God wills life which is rich, involving relationships with others who are both like and unlike ourselves. Indeed, our richest experience of community is the experience of God’s own nature.
Prayer
Ground us in your own rich life, O God. Make us helpmates of one another. Amen.