Smoodock's Blog

In Genesis 1:26-27 we are told God created man in his (i.e. God’s) own image. What does this mean? Well, from the very beginning God showed us what he is like. In Genesis chapter 1 he introduced himself as the Creator of all that is. However, in creating man in his own image, he is also describing himself to us in practical terms. Notice how the text describes this event in chapter two:

Genesis 2:7 KJV And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul…(18) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him… (21) 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; (22) And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. (emphasis mine)

When God formed man, the Scripture says that man was in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Therefore, for a period of time, whether hours, days months or years, the man (Adam) of Genesis 1:26-27 was alone. This does not mean God did not form the woman in his image. It means that the man and the woman – together – are the image of God. Think about this for a moment. The man, out of whom the female was later formed, was in the image of God. Therefore, whether together in one body or separate in two distinct bodies, male and female, together, compose the image of God. I am not trying to pass on some kind of mystery religion gobbledygook. This is what God’s word says. Adam was created before Eve (1Timothy 2:13). When Adam was created, was he in the image of God? Of course he was. The Bible says so. So, what happened in Genesis 2:21-22? First of all, in Genesis 1:31 God said that he looked back on all he created and said that it was “very good.” Yet, in Genesis 2:18 God said it was not good for the man to be alone. Why? If Adam was created in the image of God and pronounced “very good,” why was it suddenly “not good” for him to be alone? Someone may say that God didn’t say it was “very good” until he had made Eve. That might be a possibility if Eve were created on the 6th day, but Genesis 2:20 makes this an impossibility!. Notice what it says beginning in verse-19,

Genesis 2:19-20 ASV 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. (emphasis mine)

In the Scripture above we see that God brought all the species of animals before Adam so he might give them names. This task was not a menial one of picking a name out of a hat that had no meaning. Adam named the mammals and birds with descriptive names to illustrate what they are. This is what Adam’s purpose was when he gave his wife a name (Genesis 3:20). He called her Eve (life-spring) “because she was the mother of all living.” Adam observed the creatures God created and gave them names to reflect their nature. This had to have taken quite awhile. There are currently 4629 different species of mammals [Wilson, D.E., and D.M. Reeder (eds.). 1993. Mammal Species of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1206 pp]. This does not take into consideration the number of mammal species that have become extinct. It is only what can be currently seen. There may be more.

There are 1440 minutes in a single 24-hour day. Assuming Adam did not take a break to sleep or eat, he would have had to name an average of 3.2 mammals per minute. You may double that to 6.4 per minute, if you see Adam working from sunup to sundown (12-hour day), or increase it to 9.6, if Adam labored only 8 hours on the 6th day. The thought that Adam did this on the 6th day is simply ridiculous. It is inconceivable to believe that Adam could have intelligently named all the different species of mammals, including those that are now extinct in a single day. First, the animal behavior had to be seen and analyzed. Then Adam named each one according to their behavior. God could have done all this on the sixth day, but not man. The matter becomes even more ludicrous when one brings in the fact that it was not merely mammals that God brought to Adam, but birds, reptiles, fish and possibly insects. This was a monumental task, even if one reduces the number of named species by saying that variety could occur later through breeding etc. To say that it was done in a single day, however, would be to raise man to the level of God, giving him divine like intelligence and swiftness.

Therefore if this logic seems true, Eve had to have been formed sometime after the sixth day, but notice what Genesis 1:26-28 says:

Genesis 1:26-28 KJ2000 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he [him]; male and female created he [them]. (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (bold and brackets are mine for emphasis)

I wish to make a point about the plural pronouns in the above Scripture. When God spoke of himself, he used the plural pronouns us and our in the bold text above. The translator supplied the words in brackets. They are not in the Hebrew text. Therefore, in verse-27 he and them are supplied by the translator for clarity. Ordinarily this is very helpful, but if Eve was indeed formed after the sixth day, then “male and female” had to have been incorporated into the one being that God created in his own image. In verse-28 “God blessed them and said unto them…” If Eve was formed after the sixth day, the plural pronoun used to refer to Adam must imply a plurality within man that reflects the plurality of our Creator God. I don’t mean to suggest that Eve was an afterthought that God brought into his creation later. This is far from the truth. God ended his work on the sixth day by resting (stopping) on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). In other words, all that would be Eve was present in Adam from the very beginning. Masculine and feminine characteristics were present in one being, Adam (Genesis 1:27), just as feminine characteristics are a part of God (Matthew 23:37; where Jesus compares his sense of love and protectiveness for the Jews to that of a mother hen; see also Deuteronomy 32:10-12).

If this is so, Genesis 2:19-20 may be implying that God was teaching Adam something about his humanity and his place in God’s creation. Adam was perfectly created but was not growing or maturing perfectly. God is perfect in plurality expressed in unity, but Adam seemed to be missing something. Every creature that God created had its compliment, but Adam seemed to have been emphasizing singularity in his being. According to Genesis 1:27, Adam was both masculine and feminine in unity. This was not expressed in his walk before God. To continue this way was not satisfactory (Genesis 2:18), because Adam was not living out the purpose of his being created in the image of God. Therefore, God took a rib from Adam and formed Eve into Adam’s counterpart. Forming Eve, forced Adam to address the plurality of his humanity.

The Hebrew word for rib (Genesis 2:21-22) is used to describe part of the Temple of God in 1Kings 6:5 and is there translated into the word chamber. Whatever God took out of Adam, I don’t know. It could have been a literal rib as the translators say, but it could also have been something that we just cannot describe adequately. In any case God formed a female being out of whatever he took from Adam. Notice how Adam described Eve:

Genesis 2:23-24 KJV 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. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (emphasis mine)

The Hebrew word for “bone” can also mean essence or substance. Eleven times this word is translated into selfsame (day) in the Old Testament. Another six times it is translated into the word same, and in Job 7:15 it is translated into the word life. Therefore, Adam was saying that Eve was not only the same body (species) as he was, but also equal in essence. She was the selfsame being (life) as Adam – equal in every respect. Adam or God went on to say that the husband and wife will be one flesh. “They (plural) shall be one (singular) flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Thus they shall be in the image of God, plurality expressed in unity.