Woman, the Glory of Man… Genesis 2:15-25

Icebreaker:  How did you meet your spouse?

Read:  Genesis 2:15-25

Genesis 2:15-25

American Standard Version (ASV)

 ¹⁵ And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

¹⁶ And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

¹⁸ And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone **; I will make him a help meet for him ***.

¹⁹ And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.  *

²⁰ And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a help meet for him.

²¹ And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:

²² and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

²³ And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

²⁴ Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.****

²⁵ And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

*1)  It almost sounds as though, God tried the animals as a helper to man first, but decided that the animals were not up to the  task.  Since God knows the beginning from the end, we know that God foreknew that He would make woman.  Perhaps He demonstrated this first option so that Adam would be aware of his need for a companion. So He had to make a helper that measured up to man, could think and communicate on the same level, and could bear fruit from their relationship.

2)God created woman

a) so that man would not be alone **

b) to be a suitable helper for man ***

c) for family and companionship ****

3) Woman is the only creation made from used parts.

Q:  Why do you think God chose to use Adam’s rib to create Eve?

Possible answers:

• So that Adam would remember his emptiness before he had Eve
• To remember that Eve was his partner, to be beside him, not underneath him as with the rest of creation.
• To create a sense of connectedness.

4)  The word helper – to help, to aid.  It means to give support, to give material or non material encouragement to a person.  It describes helping each other to accomplish goals.

At this point Adam had the huge job of naming the animals.  Eve was called to help him in the endeavor, whether by taking care of his other needs, (gathering food etc.) or in the actual naming of the animals.  Naming all of the animals was a very creative job.  They were literally creating language.

Q:  What are some ways you help your husband?

Read I Corinthians 11:8-12

⁷For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory *of the man.

⁸ For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man:

⁹ for neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man:

¹⁰ for this cause ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹ Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord.

¹² For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.

*Glory from Strong’s Concordance:

1) opinion, judgment, view

2) opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone

a) in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory

3) splendour, brightness

a) of the moon, sun, stars

b) magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace

c) majesty

4) First of all this passage again shows are interconnectedness.  Although the first woman came from man, every man since then has come from woman.  We need each other for our very existence.

Secondly, I found it interesting that one of the meanings of the word glory is opinion of.

If you’ve ever seen the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you’ll remember this scene:

Women are influencers, all of us, whether for good and for bad.  That’s the way God made us.  Eve ended up being a bad influence on Adam.  Be careful what you are influencing your husband toward.  Is your influence encouraging him upward and onward, or away from God?

One last thought about the part about the word glory.  One of the definitions is being opinion of.

I think an application could very well be that when people see us as wives, they form an opinion of our husbands from our behavior.  This interpretation seems viable since this passage is speaking of what the current behaviors expected in order to bring honor to the husband.

Q:  How does your behavior bring glory to your husband?  What kind of opinions about your husband can be formed based on your behavior?  In other words, how well do you represent him?

Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.

One of the ways we please God is to be the glory of our husbands.  We shine the light of His glory when we do this.

We should be the moon, the sun and the stars to our husbands…

Do you see yourself as here to help your husband fulfill his agenda here on earth, or to fulfill yours?

God doesn’t have things in this order because we are less than man, but because he wants us to depend on one another.  If we are always off doing our own thing, we have lost the “oneness” God desires.

Jesus did this.  He put aside His agenda, for God’s.  This is seen in the Lord’s prayer and in Philippians.

Philippians 2:5-8

⁵Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

⁶ who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,

⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;

⁸ and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

Jesus brought much glory to God by letting go of what seemed good for Him, and doing what seemed good for the Father.  We are all called to let go of ourselves and to become servants.

Q:  How are you doing at helping your husband fulfill his task from God?