Bone of My Bone and Flesh of My Flesh

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. (Genesis 2:20)

 

In all of creation, there was no living thing which was equal to stand by man's side.  While Genesis puts this in a context that makes it sound as if God was experimenting and created woman when all else failed, we know through a careful and prayerful reading of the text that this was God's plan all of the time. Neither the Book of Moses nor the Book of Abraham present this in such an "oh, by the way" manner.

 

What all three of the accounts have in common are the following facts:

• The Gods caused Adam to fall asleep
• While Adam slept, the Gods took a rib from his side and then closed his side back up.
• From that rib, they created a woman.

Adam, according to scripture, called her Woman for she was taken "out of man" and was "bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh."  Whether or not God literally created Eve from Adam's rib is, to me, a moot point.  What is more to point is that Adam could not progress from a state of eternal innocence by himself and the whole purpose of Creation would be thwarted.  It is also important to me that Eve was not taken from his head to rule over him nor from his feet to be trodden upon.  She was taken from his side, the "other side" of man; the yin and the yang; equal in value to God as His sons and daughters are equal.  Equal, but different. 

 

The story of the creation of Eve is the perfect genesis for the term "one flesh" and underscores Gods' affirmation of marriage:

 

And Adam said: This was bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; now she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man; Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.  (Abraham 5: 15-18)

 

 

During Jesus' ministry, a group of his critics challenged him on the bill of divorcement allowed by the Law of Moses.  Jesus taught them that this was the lesser law, given to them because of the hardness of their hearts.  Then he went on to reaffirm the sanctity of marriage by quoting from this scripture:

 

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mark 10: 6-9)

 

In Hebrew, Adam means man.  In the Creation account, we are told that Eve was called Woman because she was taken from man.  However, modern-day revelation teaches us that the woman's name, Eve in Hebrew means mother.  Once Gods' creations were finished and Adam and Eve were married by God in the Garden, the next part of the plan was ready to go forward as planned.