NOTES for Gen 2:18-25
Let us try to set aside for a moment everything we already know. The world has only just been created, and before us is something completely new. We have read about how the Lord created this world. Gradually, day by day, He created fish, animals, and birds. And suddenly it turns out that one of His creatures is fundamentally different from the others. Now this is obvious to us. But try to look at it from the outside. At least remember the idea of human descent from apes. After all, it really does look as if the human being is one of the animals. And yet among the animals there is no one who could become a helper for the human being. For some reason it seems to me that when Adam named the animals, he was looking for someone like himself, while the Lord was watching to see what conclusion he would draw. And when Adam understood that in the created world he really was alone, then 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 here it is important to emphasize the uniqueness of the human being and his difference from animals, and also the uniqueness of man and woman and their difference from each other.