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more or less "in the image of God";
neither change makes for superior or
inferior.
All ch a nges only accent the
uniqueness of God's image:
man–
kind!
All changes only make possible
the reproduction of God's image in
infinite var iety for a possibility of un–
ending generations. All changcs pro–
vide for absolute compatibility, de–
mand interdependence, produce a
strong desire
for
the opposite sex.
Along Came Eve
God says the difference of scx is
"very good." "And God saw
every
thing
that he had made, and, behold,
it
was very good"!
(Gen. 1:3
1.)
In
the detailed record of what God
made on that sixth day of creation,
preserved for us in Genesis 2, God
expla ins to Adam:
" lt
is
not
good
that the man should be alone;
1
will
make him an help meet for him."
"Meet" is an old English word mean–
ing "suitable, fit, proper." The whole
ftavor of the word "meet" is to fit,
join, combine, agree, be in union, be
together. Only antagonism of spirit
and mind cause a " meeting" to have
the spark of hostility.
God created, out of the ground be–
fore Adam, the land animals and the
bi rds-each of which was obviously
not
"meet" for Adam, and it was still
"not
good," because Adam was still
"alone." This exercise also made it
clear for a ll time that one made in
the image of God should not cohabi t
with one
not
made in the image of
God.
Then carne Eve!
God didn ' t permit Adam to see
Eve being created. He put Adam into
a deep sleep, made him unconscious,
while He performed a most loving
and thoughtful predesigned act of
creation. Beginning with a part of
Ad am himself-flesh , bone and
blood-God " built" the first woman.
l ' m sure you've heard the expression
"well -buil t woman." Well, believe it
or not , that is lhe precise term the
Bible uses.
Bullt for a Purpose
When Adam was created, God began
with a clump of clay, dirt, earth. And
lhe word in Hebrew used for the verb
"formed" is the common word for lhc
38
shaping and molding of pottery. But
the Hebrew verb used in reference to
God's creation of Eve is different.
Unfortunately, the translators of the
King James Version ignored lhe dif–
ference and used the commonplace
and unspecific, as well as unimagina–
tive, word "made" lo refer to the
Lord God's act of finishing half of
His c reation of mankind "in bis
image."
God inspired the word "built"
--or "builded" as the margin of your
Bible may indicate. The same word
is used to refer to the building
of houses, temples, ci ties. Surely,
from the hand of God Himself, Eve
must have been the best-"built"
woman! But more important lhan the
inlerest or humor involved in this
word "built" is the overall mean–
ing.
You do not "build" by mistake.
You conceive, plan, blueprint, calcu–
late and finally produce the finished
product of somelhing you build.
Things are built for a purpose. Rea–
son and forethought are integral and
necessary elements of building .
Building doesn't just happen. Wom–
an was the delibera tely designed clí–
max of creation, the purposeful fin–
ishing touch, the last half, fift y per–
cent of the creation of the "image of
God."
When Adam was revived and pre–
sented with this crowning achieve–
ment of God's creation, he was in no
way disappointed. "Now this is just
right; she is
just like me!"
Adam
happily declared . Wh o knows–
maybe he said, "Wow!" At any rate,
what we are told he
did
say is most
important.
One Creation
Earlier called on to name other cre–
ations of God, Adam had an immedi–
ate name for what Eve obviously was.
Not her given name, Eve, but what
KIND of creature she was. Hebrew is
s impler t han English, and more
plainly explains exact ly what a wom–
an is:
ish
is Hebrew for
man.
Adam
said, "Now here is bone exactly like
my bone, and ftesh exactly like my
fles h; because she was built from
what was taken from me,
1
will call
her
isha:
a female man"! (Gen. 2:23,
paraphrased.)
Adam merely added a single letter
to the word which stood for himself
to define the quality of difference:
sex. And God confirmed Adam's un–
derstanding that they were both
ex–
actly a/ike
despite the obvious out–
ward differences: " In the day that
God created man, in the li keness of
God made he him;
maJe and female
created he them;
and blessed them,
and called THEIR name ADAM, in the
day when they were created" (Gen.
5:1-2). To both God and Adam, it
was
one
creation "in the image of
God."
l sh. l sha.
Male. Female. Both
Adam. Both mankind. Both "in the
image of God" ! "And God saw
every
thing
thal he had made, and, behold,
it was very good"!
Still no evil in
Eden. Nothing bad yet a llowed- and
one more good thing happened before
any record of evil is entered. "And
they were both naked, the
man and
his wife,
and were nol ashamed"
(Gen. 2:25}.
Once the physical creation was
complete, what more joyous occasion
could there be than a wedding? The
very first social ceremony of newly
creatcd
mankind
was the one which
united them as
one
ftesh. No inequal–
ity evcn considered. No superiority,
inferiority alluded lo. No hinl of sec–
ond-class creation. And above all,
no
sin.
God "blessed" lhis union of
lsh
and
lsha,
this
one
creation He called
Adam. God discreetly withdrcw after
the ceremony of wedding (which
means joining together) and not only
allowed, but encouraged, the con–
summa tion of that marriage with a
direct command. Before God said
that everything He had created was
very good, we are told His instruction
to that firsl pair of newlyweds: " Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
lhe earth"!
Now, you know, and 1 know, and
Adam knew, and Eve knew,
and God
knew
lhat there is no way you can
"mulliply" and "be fruitful " without
engaging in sexual intercourse. This,
God made possible by the very design
of His creat ion. Th is, God com–
manded to be performed. This, God
bJessed- ANO TH IS WAS "VERY
cooo"! And in addition to that, God
knew ahead of time, Adam and Eve
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1979