Presently and always, One

“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.” (Ge 2:23 AV)

 

The obvious becomes profound.  When Adam made the statement that Eve was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, he meant that quite literally.  That is, because she was.  The LORD took a rib from Adam and fashioned Eve from that rib.  Eve literally came from the body of Adam.  But the profound nature of the statement is in the present tense of the statement.  Adam did not say that Eve was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.  Rather, he uses the present tense verb ‘is’.  In other words, Adam sees Eve as both an individual, but also, an extension of himself.  Adam sees the nature of this relationship as God declared it.  Two become one flesh.  In the case of Adam and Eve, one flesh became two and then became one again.  Adam looks at his wife, not as an individual who stands on her own.  Rather, he sees his wife and himself as one unit.  One relationship.  One inseparable partnership that cannot be separated.  The precedent of a biblical marriage laid down in Genesis has been lost over the years.  It is rare to find a couple who truly sees themselves so united to the other they are not a person without the other.  This is Adam’s intent here.

My wife and I are watching various cooking shows.  We watch several well-known chefs that go through their favorite recipes.  However, I enjoy the ones that explain the science behind cooking.  Why certain foods match well with others.  Why the chef would balance sweetness with acid.  How to cut ingredients so they cook uniformly.  What different ingredients do to the dish.  How adding baking soda and baking powder is important unless the chef is using yeast.  The correct way to dress meat before the chef prepares it is different based on the technique for cooking.  One of the skills often shared is deglazing.  That means once your frying is done, whether it be meat or vegetables, some or all of the ingredients are removed and an acid-based liquid is added.  Usually wine.  We use non-alcoholic grape juice or cooking wine.  The loosens all that has stuck to the pan.  Then the chef can add other ingredients like stock, cream, or more spices to make a sauce.  They would call it a complementary sauce.  But in reality, the dish would not be the dish without the sauce.  The chicken or pork would be bland and uninteresting.  It would taste like any other prepared meat of the same type.  What makes the dish is the sauce.  Once married, the dish becomes a single creation of different parts.  Alone and separate, the meat and sauce wouldn’t be worth the price you’d pay for it.  Together, they are irresistible.

Paul states, “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.” (1Co 11:11-12 AV)  The understanding of marriage has so changed we don’t even recognize what biblical marriage looks like.  Each spouse has their own set of friends, hobbies, ambitions, and values they seldom reflect one another as a cohesive unified entity.  Men think differently than women.  We know this.  Women are more emotional than men.  This is obvious.  However, these differences are meant to be complimentary.  Not competitive.  I can’t help but be impressed with Adam’s statement.  Again, he uses the present tense; ‘is now’.  Now ‘was once’.  Adam knew God put him to sleep and took a rib from his side.  When Adam awoke from his sleep, he did not see an object that was taken from him to be apart and different from him.  In his mind, little had changed.  Eve was Adam and Adam was Eve.  This is how Adam saw it.  The longer I am married to my lovely wife, Lisa, the more I appreciate this about marriage.  She is more than my wife, my best friend, my lover.  She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  An inseparable extension of myself who is such a part of me, to lose her would be like losing an appendage.  She is an individual.  But more than that, she is a part of me.  A part of me I cannot live without.