Incomplete Creation
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NASB
Not good – God looked at His own work and decided it wasn’t good enough. Don’t you find that a bit surprising? Doesn’t God create perfectly? But here we have evidence that God doesn’t like the result. More is needed.
Terrence Fretheim has some interesting comments about this apparent anomaly:
Readers may well wonder why God would evaluate God’s own work; wouldn’t it be good just by being a creature of God’s own making? A clue to this evaluative process may be found in 2:18, where God observes what has been created and declares that ‘it is not good.’ That is, the creation of human being to this point does not fulfill the purpose God intends for them; further creative work is needed. This negative divine evaluation of God’s own work suggests that creation is conceived not in static terms but in terms of a process wherein the divine response to what has been created leads to further development of the creation and of intracreaturely relationships.[1]
‘Good’ does not mean perfect, despite the claims of some scholars that ‘perfection’ is an attribute of the ‘good’ creation. . . . if the creation was ‘perfect,’ how could anything ever go wrong?[2]
Human beings are not only created in the image of God (this is who they are); they are also created to be the image of God (this is their role in the world).[3]
Fretheim points out that it is Adam, not God, who notes that the creation, now complete with a woman, is finally good.
Consider the implications. First, of course, is the absolutely essential place of woman in creation. Frankly, there is no human world without her. No man can complete God’s creation without the involvement of woman. And any theology that diminishes her role and her status in creation isn’t biblical.
Second, Fretheim’s insight suggests that we are all part of the creative completion process. God isn’t finished because we must be involved. Today you and I will either add or subtract from the purposes of His creation. You matter—eternally! So be careful. The cosmos depends on what you do.
Topical Index: good, woman, creation, Genesis 2:18
[1] Terrence Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Abingdon Press, 2005), p. 40.
[2] Ibid., p. 41.
[3] Ibid., p. 49.
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.” John 13:19
I think that this account for the creation sounds like Yeshua´s words stated above…
HaShem has finished creating Adam & Eve and it is good… except that there is “one little thing” that He needs to tell us before it happens, so that when it does happen, we will believe that He is who He is…
Adam & Eve had to be separated to become two… in order to be reunited again and be one flesh… “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24
This is the very first hint of what would happen… creation would separate itself from its Creator… only to be reunited later to be one again… that is why through all the Bible, God will be telling us that He alone is a faitful husband and that we have become an unfaithful wife and need to return to Him… to be one with Him… just as it was intended to be in the first place…
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23
This interpretation of creation is totally dependent of which creation story you prefer, Gen. 1 or Gen. 2. Why do we have two creation stories? Gen. 2:7, 21-22 is preceded by Gen. 1:27 whereby man and woman are created coincidentally. I read some time ago an author saying this could be reconciled (if necessary) by the Eve from Adam’s rib having been created “one” as in conjoined twins with God separating them after creation. Hmmm. If the essence of creation of humanity has to be reconciled at all, this seems like a reasonable interpretation.
We know that gender is now established at the moment of creation, the fertilization of the egg by the sperm and it is a virtually 50/50 determination. Simple probability. If we need a Gen. 2 creation story it could be rationalized by two eggs being fertilized as conjoined twins separated by God after birth somewhat as it says, from Adam’s rib, the point of conjunction that requires healing after separation producing co-equal but mutually dependent humans as they were, as we are.
But Gen. 1:20-31 says ALL living things were created coincidentally (the sixth day). If the creation of mankind consists of the differentiation between a particular animal species, humans, and all the rest of the living species, then the creation of self awareness and contemplation in this particular species could well be called the creation of “man in His own image.” It does not require the convoluted Eve creation or explanation at all of Gen. 2.
Hi George. I wouldn’t be sure about preffering one or the other creation story…
Have you ever considered the first creation story as a summary of the whole biblical story? Just as a white paper has a summary and then the contents begin…
If that’s the case, the 7th day of that first creation account (God’s Shabbat) has not happened yet… This in turn would help us understand many passages concerning the Shabbat…
Alfredo, search type and antitype. The way the entire Hebrew economy was a picture of salvation (Yeshua being the manifestation of that antitype), etc. The Sabbath is a type; its antitype is much more than, as all antitypes are. The Bible itself gives us the clues because it refers to the types and antitypes we find in those pages.
Fascinating subject.
Hi Alfredo, I really meant this as a general post on the subject rather than a specific reply to your post but having said that, I don’t believe in either story as literal truth, I believe they are allegoric. I believe in an old, not young earth, Jonah did not spend three days in the belly of a whale, and God created man and the universe in His own “time” and wisdom. For me I don’t try to reconcile religion and science. LIVING the life He tells me to do is more important than comprehending the details of how I got here. I got all I can handle with that.
Hillel/Heschel said Torah is “love God with all your mind your soul and your heart and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The rest is all commentary” or words to that effect. I agree.
That reminds me of a phrase from the book “The Grammar of God, by Aviyah Kushner, she quotes the Genisis 1:1 as her bible said, “in the beginning of God’s creating.” Just to this k upon this has changed a large perspective of how I perceived what is being said about creation .
“Good” must be a description of a function, not a form, then. If Adam was not “good” in and of himself, then “good” must refer to something that happens in between things, or, forms. I notice that “good” refers to the relationship potential. “Alone” describes “not good”. Hmm. If the supposedly ‘perfect’ singular does not exist, then what in heaven and the universe(s) must “one” mean? Wait, the verse a little further down says that “good” did not happen until Adam and Eve were “one flesh”, and then Adam himself was able to tell that the circuit was working (sorry, still on that electricity kick).
The Bible tells us that God is “good”. Must mean that there is a working circuit IN BETWEEN. In between what (could be Whom)? Wouldn’t make sense that we were created IN His image but that we weren’t “good” until there was more than one; further, that that more-than-one became “one”. Lots of counting; but perhaps – in God’s universe, anyway – every “good” equation (like I think Robert said the other day when he said that 1+1=1) equals “one”.
Another good conversation. Skip keep us Sharp
Romans 8:28. As we all know (God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes) will usually stop there, but it continues to speak of for those who are called he also predestined. Which means whatever we’re going through God is in the details, we just need to keep looking. He is the finisher and the Perfecter of our faith. He is always perfecting our faith. His word is the promise. And your shua is the Fulfillment of that promise. We may not always see it in this life but if we hold on we will see him as he is to be seen. This is why you cannot and must not allow people to have cookie cutter Christians. We are not all the same we are all different but with the same purposes. It seems like it is coming to pass that there are a lot of Believers with Jewish upbringing are coming to the place where they are accepted in Messiah because we have things to share. Ephesians 2 18 and 19 and following, speaks of being joined together middle wall of partition coming down , that the two would become one. That we would be joint heirs with the household of Israel. Point to be made answering the question why with Israel? The question of the ages. If I’m correct in a loose interpretation of many shall be chosen but few shall be called. , called is one who shall hear and one who shall hear is one that shall obey. Examples in any kind of sport with the ball, wheather throwing or hitting or kicking , it is the follow through that is most important, without follow-through we miss the mark. Giving God the end result, we start he finishes. Galatians tells us that I am crucified with Christ yet it is Christ doing the work not me. Too much to be said bye for now, there may be a few corrections to come by you who are more scholarly than I.
God has bestowed upon his human creatures, many thoughts, insights and commands on how He intends us to live our lives. And I am most thankful to the Creator that He spoke these words, over His good creation: “It is not good for man to be alone.” For if ‘one is truly the loneliest number’, I am grateful that what was pronounced ‘good’ was not ‘perfect’ and hence an opening existed to continue the process for humanity’s growth. That humanity was never complete with Adam sans his Eve is obvious, for God was not truculent with His creation. Could one imagine Adam without the means to create ‘Adam Jr.’? Thankfully, God did not give to Adam any ability that I am aware of, for parthenogenesis, that is ‘virgin birth’, and so I am grateful not to have had a Komodo dragon in my family tree nor any number of annoying insects that are able to reproduce without a mate. Adam would have lived a drear life without connubial bliss and humanity might still be imprisoned in the Garden of Eden, which was never the Creator’s intention. Humanity was created to reflect God’s glory into all His good creation and to steward that creation allotted to man and woman, the good planet Earth. And planet Earth is far more than any garden in Eden. I don’t know if Adam was brilliant or a lunkhead, but I do know that he had the common sense to realize and state that the creation was now complete with the addition of the female gender. Every morning I glance to my left and gaze upon more than my ‘better half’, but one I call ‘beloved’, and so I am grateful over and over for God’s statement that “it is not good for man to be alone”.