The Woman
Last month we began discussing the creation of man and we looked specifically at Genesis 1:26-27. We learned that there are two different words used to describe the creation of man in these verses. Man is a three part being but he is also a two part being. Man is spirit, soul, and body but he also has an outward man and an inward man. Paul said, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Cor. 4:16) In Genesis 1:26 God (Elohim) said, "Let us make man in our image". All three members of the God head are speaking in this verse. The Hebrew word for "make" is "ASAH". This word means, "to make something out of something". In other words, in this verse God is referring to the creation of the body of man.
Man is a three part being but he is also a two part being.
Verse 26 continues, "and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image..." (v. 27) The Hebrew word for "created" is "BARA". It means "to make something out of nothing". This is referring to the spirit of man, the supernatural part of man. Man's spirit is also made in the image of God because God is spirit and whether that man is born again or not, he is still a spirit being. Man possesses eternal life, whether he is born again or not, but where he spends eternal life depends on whether or not he is born again. He can spend eternity in the presence of God or he can spend eternity in the presence of Satan himself. God gives us a free will in our decision.
Adam's spirit was created but his body was moulded out of the dust of the earth.
Look at Genesis 5:1-2. "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them and called their name Adam. " God named Adam, but Adam named every thing else. God gave Adam his name, but when He named "him", He named "them" Chapter 2, verse 7 describes the actual construction of man. In the previous chapter we found that God "made" (asah) man's body, and He created, (barah) his spirit.
Verse 7 says, "and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground . The Hebrew word for "formed" is the word "jatsar". "Jatsar" means "to form, or to mould, or to shape". This word is used throughout the Old Testament in reference to a potter moulding clay. God literally took the dust of the ground and
moulded Adam. What part of Adam was moulded? His body. Adam's spirit was created but his body was moulded out of the dust of the earth. The word "life" in verse 7 is plural and should actually be translated as "lives". On the day when God breathed into Adam, He didn't breathe into him the breath of "life", He breathed into him the breath of "lives". Eve was within Adam at the time. God breathed into him her life also. Woman's life is drawn from the man. She gives his life back to him. Notice the phrase "living soul" in Genesis 2:7, specifically the word "living". Often the question arises as to whether or not animals have souls. Animals do have souls but they are not "living souls". Man has a living soul because it is his spirit that causes his soul to live forever. The word "living" in this verse denotes eternal life. Everyone who owns a pet knows that animals have their own personalities. When an animal dies, their soul is gone. But, within man is the eternal element called the spirit, which keeps that soul alive forever and forever.
God took time with woman more than any other creature of the field
When you get to heaven you will still think, you will still have emotions, you will want to dance, you will want to praise the Lord, and you will want to rejoice in His presence. All these things are there because you are an eternal, living soul. God moulded man out of the dust of the ground but the Hebrew indicates that He really took time with the woman. She is something special. Here is the thing that separates man from all the other beasts of the field: the most beautiful creature among mankind is the woman. In nature it is the other way around.
Woman completes the man like nothing else in creation can.
In nature God created the male to be the more beautiful of the two. God has ordained that woman be the beautiful creature. Women should look nice. They should dress up in "purple and fine linen"'(Proverb 31). Women should do those things that the Word of God says about them... God took time with woman more than any other creature of the field, even more than the man himself. God took time with the woman to make her exquisite, and to make her look different than any other creature. Among animals there is no such thing as fornication, because no two animals complete each other, only man and woman complete one another. Animals do not have guilt after sex. Only man is capable of that because God ordained one woman for one man, period. Woman completes the man like nothing else in creation can. Animals can have mates everywhere, but with man, God has ordained one for one. Promiscuousness causes the soul and the body to enter into confusion and where there is confusion there is every evil work (James 3:16). In the book of Corinthians the Word says that every other sin is without the body, but sexual sin will affect you in your body. This includes adultery and fornication. God has ordained one woman to complete one man.
The Hebrew word for "ribs" in Genesis 2:21 is translated "ribs" throughout the Word of God. An interesting use of this Word is found in I Kings 7:3. The Hebrew word most commonly translated "ribs" in the Word of God is translated "beams". This is in reference to the temple that Solomon was building. Within the temple that Solomon built there were the beams that supported the building. It doesn't matter what a building looks like on the out side. It can look as solid and as strong as anything, but without the hidden beams that are on the inside, the building would collapse and fall. In the world people see a man's tough facade. They see a man's business exterior, the way he operates in the office, and the way he operates in the world. But only a man's wife is the hidden beam that knows the little boy on the inside of him. She knows what he's really like and she's the one who is the hidden strength of his life. The rib is the beam and the support. Without ribs the body would collapse. I think that the reason God took a rib from man is very significant. It is the support of the man. It is the hidden inward support without which he would fall apart. Notice in verse 22 that after woman was built and constructed, God brought her to the man. I imagine that the moment Adam woke up he felt different than he had ever felt before.
The rib is the beam and the support ... it is the support of the man.
Suddenly he felt an emptiness in him that he had never experienced before. He felt loneliness where he had never felt loneliness before. He felt incomplete where he had always seemed complete. When Adam woke up and opened his eyes he saw something standing in front of him that he had never seen before. When Adam opened his eyes he said, "This one is bone out of my bone and flesh out of my flesh. God literally took her from me and has returned her to me. The Hebrew words indicate that when God took the rib from Adam, it was taken quickly and violently. God reached in and He yanked her out and when God brought her back to Adam, the Hebrew indicates that it was just as dramatic a moment in his life. Adam opened his eyes suddenly everything in him felt different. But, when he looked up and saw her, it was just as dramatic as when God took the rib.
When man and woman meet and they know that they are right for each other, suddenly they possess each other's thoughts. They begin to think about each other from that moment and suddenly they can't escape each other. It is a very violent thing when a right man and a right woman get together: a very passionate thing. It seems to indicate in this verse that when Adam woke up and saw woman, suddenly something clicked inside and he didn't want anything to do with animals anymore. Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore, (or because Adam has found his woman), shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Leaving in laws was commanded before in-laws existed. Cutting the apron strings is important for parents. Meddling in-laws is ranked near the top as one of the main reasons for divorce today. Parents, cut the strings - turn your children loose. This is very important. The word "leave" in verse 24 doesn't mean to leave and never see them again. This word means to leave the authority of the parents. It's alright to see your children. Throughout the Word of God in-laws saw their children, but not to the extent of trying to meddle and run their children's lives. In I Corinthians 11:8-12, the importance of the relationship between the husband and the wife is discussed. Woman was taken from the man. God constructed her body from the man's body. He is the authority over the wife. God constructed woman's body. Her spirit was complete and was within Adam. Husbands are the authority and the head of a marriage in the natural. However, woman's spirit was built by God just as Adam's was. In the spirit, woman is directly responsible to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the natural, she is in submission to her husband. Verses 10-12 continue, "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. "
Husbands are the authority and the head of a marriage in the natural.
What is this portion of scripture saying? We now come to the importance of parents, training children, (especially mothers). Notice that the man originally came from God, but the woman was taken from him. Then, the children are taken from the woman. There is a chain of command established. The man is the head over the woman and the woman has authority over the children. The man originally came from God, the woman was taken from the man, and men are born in this earth from the woman.
Man learns authority by submission.
Man learns authority by submission. The best way to learn authority is by being in submission first. The best leaders start out as the best followers. How high do you want to go up? The answer is in how low you are willing to go. Jesus said if you'll humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt you in due time. It is important that parents train and raise up their child in the way that he should go. I'm specifically referring to male children. We'll discuss girls in more detail later. In the case of the male child, the first influence of a woman in his life is his mother. How he learns to treat her is how he will eventually treat his wife. It is important that mothers train their sons to become gentlemen. There will come a time when that son will be bigger and stronger than his mother, but if he is trained properly he will learn to channel his strength. Men, a woman is not looking for your muscles, or your car, or the way you dress, or even your position in society. Those things are fine, and they are important, but they're not highest in priority.
A woman is looking, first of all, for a gentleman. A gentleman knows how to treat a woman. The woman teaches her son how to be a gentleman and to show her respect as a woman. She teaches him to pull out a chair for a woman, to open a car door. Those are the types of things that will eventually cause her to highly respect you. Those are all external things. It is what's on the inside of you where you are a true gentleman. Through the training at home he receives from his mother, the son will eventually learn how to respect and treat other women. A boy not only needs to receive training at home from his mother, but he also needs to see what he is being taught put into action when his father comes home. His father may be a truck driver or he may load cartons and crates all day long and have huge muscles. The boy might watch his dad work out and see him press 200 or 250 pounds. He may even be confident that if his dad was ever in the middle of a fight, his dad would come out on top. But, the same boy needs to see his dad come home after work and put his arms around his mother. He needs to see his dad use the strength he has to protector.
When a boy sees a father come home and abuse and beat up a mother, bad-mouth her, and then turn to the boy and say, "Never trust a woman", he is instilling insecurity and confusion into that boy. He might get married, and if he does, he may constantly have affairs with other women, beat up his wife when he comes home, and train his child not to ever trust a woman. How important it is that we train and nurture our children in the way that they should go so that when he meets the woman for his life he will cut the apron strings. Everything that has been instilled into him by his mother and his father will cause him to have a successful marriage. So often we put all of our efforts into buying things for our kids. In essence we are trying to make a better world for our child. But, we cannot make a better world for our children - it's impossible. Jesus said that the world is going to get worse. What we really need to do is make better children for a worse world. In conclusion, Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This verse is talking about cutting the apron strings - leaving the authority of the father and the mother.
How important it is that we train and nurture our children in the way that they should go ...
I think that the translators didn't know what to do with the word, "cleave". In the Hebrew it's very blunt. It means "sex". This verse actually says, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall have sex with his wife. God ordained sex for marriage with one partner for life. God has established that a husband and wife be adhered to each other, glued to each other - "and they shall be one flesh".
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