Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Amid all God’s good creation in Genesis 2:18, the Lord says there is something wrong. It isn’t good for the man to be alone. This matters, because God actually does care that all his creation should be without complaint. What can God do to correct the problem? He creates more animals and brings them to the man he has made so the man can name the animals of creation.
Many commentators find a deep significance in the naming. However we stack it, by the time the naming is done, the man knows the nature of the animals. Out of all the animals, there is not one which will be an adequate helper. The coorrespondence was not there. The man understood the lack by the time he had named all the creatures.
In the end, God makes a radical move. Out of all creation, the man was unique. He was the only one made from a substance. Eerything else was made from God’s command. Additionally, the man was the only one who received his breath from God. The others simply lived by being created. But now, God does the unthinkable. He takes the man, who is already special, and makes the woman from the living being.
The woman is very special indeed, and she is recognized immediately by the man. She is the right one for him. She is worthy of a special respect and regard, because she came from him. Humans are a unique part of God’s creation. It’s time we recognized this fact again. Let’s celebrate the way God has resolved the original complaint, by putting us in a special human community.
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