But maybe Adam isn’t us. Perhaps he represents God in the story, and it’s a story of God making something specifically for Himself.
We are the suitable helper.
It feels like an echo of Genesis 1 when God created humanity. Perhaps Genesis 2 tells us how He felt about us in the words of Adam when he sees the woman.
So the woman is made just like the man to be suitable for him as well. Equal.
Some of our Christian theologies argue that nothing “not good” could have existed before the fall. But here, the text points out that the man was alone, and that being alone was “not good.”
But also, Gen 1 says it was dark and chaotic. God made that, too.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18 (NIV)
Some of our Christian theological perspectives are broken.
The text says God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1, but God also created the chaos and the darkness in Genesis 1:2. Fortunately, He brings light and order in Genesis 1:3. That’s the correct framework.
Some of our theologies teach “God made it good, but we broke it with sin, so now we have to repent in order to be forgiven,” but this idea doesn’t flow from Genesis. I don’t think this teaching is correct.
Believing that God will heal us and bring us light is the good news.
And Genesis 2 can be read like this: “the kingdom of heaven is also like this…”
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Genesis 2:4 (NIV)
God did everything, and then God rested.
God did everything, so we can rest.
Authority to rule the animals, but not to rule or have dominion over other humans.
Ruling over one another is not the image.
I don’t have a particular theological point for this, other than it happens to be my favorite color, and it makes me think of life.
And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground –everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Genesis 1:30 (NIV)
The foundation goes down first. That’s why we must study Genesis 1. EVERYTHING builds on it.