Friday 18 March 2011

not good...

Genesis 2

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

***

And here we have the opposite of that line we heard so often in Genesis 1.  Here, God sees and says 'It is not good'. After an array of positive statements, here is a real negative. The creation is made of good stuff, we've been shown this.  But it lacks something.  Something is missing.  The man, the adam that has been made, is alone.  And this is a bad thing.  

The animals and birds had been made previously and now they are brought to Adam to see what he would name them.  God did the naming in Genesis 1, now this new human being is delegated the task of naming the animals.  It's a thorough process, including all the livestock, the wild animals and the birds.

But in spite of all the variety, all the creative ingenuity shown in the making of the other creatures, still there is lack.  Still, there is no one suitable.

Adam is alone; creation is incomplete.


2 comments:

KeyReed said...

Can't help thinking of the joke I tell friends of mine to include in their wedding speeches. (None have)
'Before a man is married he is incomplete; once he is married he is finished.'

Lucy Mills said...

Hmmm....!!