NOTES for Gen 2:18-25

Let us try for a moment to set aside everything we already know. The world has only just been created, and something entirely new stands before us. We have read how the Lord created this world. Gradually, day by day, He made fish, animals, and birds. Then suddenly it became clear that one of His creatures was fundamentally different from all the others! Today this is obvious to us. But try to look at it from the outside, or at least recall the idea that humanity descended from apes. After all, a human being does indeed seem to be one of the animals. Yet among the animals there is none who could be a helper for the human being. Somehow it seems to me that when Adam named the animals, he was looking for someone like himself, while the Lord watched to see what conclusion he would reach. When Adam understood that he was truly alone in the created world, God gave him a gift by creating a partner for him. Why was a wife created separately precisely for the human being? It seems to me that the point is to emphasize the uniqueness of the human person and the distinction from animals, and also the uniqueness of man and woman and their distinction from one another.