"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Gen 2:7a). We are dirt. No one can deny it. Even before the Fall, we were dry, lifeless, simple. Low, humble, nothing. But then..."[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen 2:7b). When God breathes into a man, he becomes full of life as God intended him to be. We cannot be men without God in us.
"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Gen 2:15). Ok, here we go. Start throwing stones and call me male chauvinist or primitive. But it's what the Bible says. Who was to work? Man. Woman wasn't even in the picture yet. Am I saying it is wrong for women to work? No. But is she to be the worker? No. Man is to be the "breadwinner." Get mad if you want. But God is establishing His proper order.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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" (Gen 2:16-17). Man had fellowship with God in the garden, and was allowed to eat of any tree, which included the tree of life. He could seek God, but was not allowed to seek knowledge. We too will die by seeking knowledge for knowledge's sake, and not the Lord. Communing with God must be our primary concern. As Leonard Ravenhill said, "do you go to church to meet God, or to hear a sermon about Him?"
"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen 2:18). This is the first time God, in our record, said "it is NOT good." Everything else in creation up to this point was good. But man should have something else besides himself or the rest of creation (Gen 2:19-20). Notice that scripture does not say it is not good for man to work alone, but it is not good for him to be alone. For a man to be a man, not only does he need the Breath of God, but at some level needs companionship with another. Specifically why, God does not say (or at least I'm not privy to it without inducing), we just know it's good in the sight of God. This is the primary purpose of marriage; to have companionship that is good in the sight of God. Kids come later and are a blessing of God in this relationship, but the realtionship itself is first. So what would constitute this companion? First of all, it would be a help. [More stones] Not someone to lead him or provide for him, but to help him be. The companion would also have to be meet for him, which carries a lot of meaning. A more literal translation (I take the word of saintly scholars here...I know nothing of Hebrew) is corresponding to. Not exactly like him, but in his likeness exactly opposite to him such that they match perfectly. Physically (including sexually...think about it...there's only one way for it to work), emotionally, relationally. In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons the divorce rate is over 50% and pornography is such a problem in this nation is because we have confused the roles of men and women. Thanks to the hippies and the feminist movement of the last 40 years, our culture has taught men to be women and women to be men. And until we rediscover God's proper order of things, don't expect much to change.
"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam 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" (Gen 2:21-23). Here is the next step in God's establishing order. God could have easily formed the woman out of the dust as He did the man. This would have made her separate and "equal" in all aspects (For clarification, I do not mean than men are somehow "superior" or more "evolved" than women, but that we are very different in our roles and responsibilities). But taking her from man's flesh and bone made her in his likeness, of him, as his perfect complement. God did what He said, and made "an help meet for him." This order and method sets God as man's head, and man as woman's head in God. Now don't get mad at me. This is how God did it and this pattern is consistent throughout scripture and taught explicitly by Paul in 1 Cor. 7, among other places.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Gen 2:24). Here we see it is the man who is to seek out a wife, not the other way around. The man, being the head and leader, must take this first step. In our culture today, women are more likely to seek men. Another recipe for failure. If a guy can't even step up and risk himself to seek a woman, how in the world is he going to be man enough to lead her in a relationship? Likewise, a female who seeks a male is likely far too "manly" to accept God's role for her in a relationship. In Scripture, when the woman is the one who "puts herself out there" without her covering (either her father or husband), she is considered a prostitute (at this point, I'm sure someone will pick out exceptions, but we must keep in mind, they are EXCEPTIONS, and often for good reason). Once again, we see the primary purpose of marriage; a cleaving to become one flesh. Once in marriage, he is no longer his own, but hers. And likewise, she is now his. All self-ambition and pride must dissolve for the sake of each other. If you get married for yourself, you can be sure it won't work out like you "planned." It can't be about me, it has to be about my wife, and me serving her.
