18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him (or, corresponding to him) ” 19-20 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam (or, the man) there was not found a helper fit for him. 

21-22 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made (built) into a woman and brought her to the man.  23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24-25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:18-25 From the English Standard Version)

As I mentioned in an earlier post on Genesis, the Bible is not without difficulties. Can you see a big one in vs 19-20?

Doesn’t this contradict Chapter 1? No. Moses isn't saying animals were created after man, he’s highlighting the fact that man was unique from the animals. None of the other creatures God made would be the sort of helper man would need in life. A bigger problem for me is that of God bringing every beast and bird for the man to see what he would call them. That would seem to have been a 'mammoth' task!

Many people solve the problem for themselves by saying Genesis must not be taken literally. Yet when Jesus was challenged about divorce issues He said to the Pharisees: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4-5) Jesus took Genesis in the way Moses wrote it seriously.

My own understanding is God brought creatures to Adam to name, and it was the start of a process that would continue over time. Moses didn’t give the name ‘dinosaur’ to any of the creatures, but he may’ve been the first one to use the name Leviathan for what appears to have been a dinosaur like creature.

The biggest problem in today's part of Genesis for unbelievers in the 21st century would be that they see it as something written by a male to make men dominant over women. That Moses should even compare woman to the other creatures is outrageous to them! But what do these words actually say and teach us?

Firstly, woman wasn't created simply for man to mate with. She was not to be a sexual object, she was to be man's helper in carrying out God's will for mankind in the world. Secondly, like man, she was created in a very special way. In the case of the other creatures God simply spoke a word to bring them to existence. But God 'formed' man from the dust, and 'built' woman from Adam's rib. Thirdly, the woman was to have a place even closer than that of a father and mother. Man would leave his parents to cleave to his wife. The woman was not an afterthought on God's part, nor is she a second class citizen. The New Testament commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the people He died for and saved. The Bible does not teach men to exploit women, and certainly not to abuse and harm them.

We see that at the start there was a lovely innocence in the hearts of Adam and Eve. Naturalists (nudists) today only fool themselves when they claim a similar 'innocence' to their activities. But they are only rejecting any sense of shame that sin brought into the world. Yet lust is something we should be ashamed of. The apostle Peter said that men must show honour to women. (1 Peter 3:7) May that be the aim of all men who love the Lord Jesus Christ.