There is an odd little poem I read in a little book by the great Ivor Powell.
“In the garden was laid a most beautiful maid
As ever was seen in the morn;
She was made a wife the first day of her life,
And she died before she was born.”
I don’t know if I quite comprehend that last line unless the penman was making a reference to the omniscience of God and His knowing she and Adam would sin and die. Genesis 2:21-22 says, “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.”
The Making of the Wife. All was good with creation except one thing. The animals were all happy, the earth was producing its glorious foliage, and the seas teamed with fish. The sun, moon and stars were all in their places fulfilling God’s purposes. All was right except for one thing. 2:18 tells us the identity of that one thing. Adam needed a “help-meet.” God said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. Adam was incomplete. When God created the animals he created them in pairs, one male and one female. But Adam had no counterpart. He didn’t have a completer. The Lord, the great surgeon stilled all the sounds of creation and gave Adam a deep sleep. Once Adam was asleep the Lord God reached into his side and removed one rib from Adam’s side. Closed the incision allowing Adam to rest a bit. God then took that rib and fashioned it into the first woman, Eve. There are many people that do not believe that story literally. Well, this is one preacher that believes it literally. If you don’t get the first eleven chapters of Genesis right, you don’t have a Gospel to receive. A person may say, “That is not rational.” It is if God is in the mix.
The Marriage of the Wife. Adam had been living for a while before Eve was created. He was to tend and dress the garden. He was given the responsibility of naming the animals which still astounds me today. As he is performing the tasks given to him, he noticed every animal kind had pairs for pro-creation. Yet he had no “pair” for himself. The Lord is always giving to us what we need. After the rib removal surgery and the creation of Eve, the Lord brings her to him. I am reading between the lines here but I think he may have said something like “Hubba Bubba!” Adam had never seen anything like Eve. There wasn’t anything in the creation that compared with what he was looking at. Genesis 2:22 uses a word you need to know. The word is “brought.” God brought Eve to Adam. Why is this word “brought” important? It is the same word we use at weddings when the Father of the Bride brings his daughter and gives her to the Groom. Marriage was birthed in the heart of God and God himself performed the first wedding ceremony. The first gift God gave to Adam was woman, beautiful Eve. Adam’s vow is found in v.23. These are the first words spoken that we have a record of in the history of humanity. The great Matthew Henry was the first to say something that we ministers use in wedding ceremonies. I know I have used it often. To paraphrase MH, “God took a rib from Adam’s side showing that Eve should be by his side. God didn’t take a bone from his head for her to rule over him or a bone from his foot so he could tread over her, but from his side which was close to his heart.”
The Marks of a Wife. The honeymoon was over, the little home became a little bigger piece of Heaven and great joy was found in God’s creation. A home that has God as the center, along with two people that love and cherish each other is a little piece of heaven still today. Perhaps some Proverbs would be good at this point. Proverbs 18:22, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing.” Proverbs 31 is the classic chapter with the marks of a good wife. What are some of those marks? Trust. Her husband knows he can trust her. He doesn’t need to rely on others. She always does him good. She is a hard worker, industrious bargaining in the markets. She cooks and creates meals that seem to come from other countries and her family is blessed by them. She gets up before the sun and prepares the breakfast for her family. She has an eye for real-estate. Her perception is good when looking at the quality of a product. She helps the poor with compassion and bad weather doesn’t slow her down. Her husband and children dress nice. After they are tended, she dresses herself beautifully. Her husband is blessed and esteemed among others because of her. When she speaks, wisdom is known not gossip. Her words are kind and encouraging. The kids love their mother and are proud of her. What makes all this a part of her daily lifestyle? The fear of the Lord. Proverbs 31:30, “…but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” A NT verse that I love is I Corinthians 11:7, “… but the woman is the glory of the man.” A godly wife makes her husband and the Lord look good to others.
God’s first present to Adam was Eve. All the other 900 plus birthdays and Christmases were all downhill from this first gift. Cherish your wife or husband. We have many in our church family that wish they could but that wife or husband is now with the Lord.