….and He took one of his ribs….

The story of creation becomes more fascinating to me each time I read it.  I was thinking last night, trying to grasp why God would need an entire rib to create (eve).  If He gathered the dust of the ground together to create Adam, why was so much more required for (eve)?  What was it about her, about woman, that was so incredibly important?

Everything else God made, He created by speaking it into existence.  Then God said…. and it was so.  The earth, the sun, moon and stars, the firmament, the land and all that walked, crawled, flew above and swam under it.  He spoke, and it was so.

But not so with (eve).

God took adams rib.  This is the first recorded instance in the Bible, of something being required.  Up to this point, throughout all of creation, every creature, every bird, fish and beast that walked upon land, all of it came from nothing.

Adam – came from nothing.

But (eve) cost something.  There was something required for (eve).

Why a rib?  why not something more mundane?  I mean, if we believe the story of creation then we believe God is the creator of DNA, and we believe that if He created it, then He knows and understands it fully.  He didn’t need a rib, He could have taken one of adams hair follicles.  He could have simply gathered together more dust, and breathed into it as He did to create Adam.

But that wasnt the plan.  That wasnt what Adam needed to grasp.  I’m beginning to believe the creation of (eve) was less about the rib and more about what her creation needed to communicate to Adam.  Why did it cost?  Why was a rib needed?  Why did God take something so close to Adams heart, and in its place, give him (eve)?

Maybe it’s because God was trying to show Adam something….

God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion. God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh.  God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

God tells Adam it’s not good for him to be alone, and then proceeds to show Adam every single creature that walked the earth.  God was telling Adam something.  Something we’ve lost.  God was preparing Adam for a revelation, a revealing.

God was preparing Adam to see, to fully grasp and understand true beauty.

Think about it.  Adam had just seen every single creature on earth and no suitable match was found.  God knew that.  He wasnt surprised or caught off guard.  God didn’t forget to create (eve), He waited.  because Adam needed to be ready.  And it took Adam seeing every created being, every beast of the field and bird of the air for him to begin to understand the vastness of creation.

God was telling Adam something.

God was telling Adam that of all the millions of creatures that roamed the earth, none had been worth a cost, none had so much value or worth that it needed something for it to be created.

(Eve) was different.  and from the very moment she was created, God needed Adam to understand that.  God needed Adam to realize that she was the epitome of beauty, of value, of worth and that she was to be cherished, protected, honored, and loved.  God was showing Adam, as best as He possibly could, the true value of the beauty that existed in (eve).

God was showing adam what He saw in (eve).

And may I one day see the same.