Adam names all the living creatures, but a suitable helper was not found for him. God made woman from Adam’s rib and she became his wife.
In this passage Adam names the animals. Throughout the Bible, giving names to things (people, places, etc.) is often tied to giving a blessing.
We see this later on in Genesis when Jacob demands a blessing from an Angel after wrestling with him:
“So he said to [Jacob], ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him and said, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And he blessed him there.”
(Genesis 32:27-29)
Naming people and things also shows authority. When parents name their children it’s a way of showing that the parents have claimed them as their own and have authority over them. In the first two chapters we see this when God gave names to the day and night, to the heavens, to the earth, and to the sea. But Adam was to name the beasts and fowls. Adam noticed that God made animals in swarms (fishes) or in pairs (the birds and beasts). Man, however, was made as an individual. But God knew that he needed companionship. Of course, Adam had fellowship with God, but he was alone in the fact that there was no one like him. The woman would be made to be man’s co-partner and companion. God made her to be a helper (“ezer”) for Adam (“man”).
This demonstrates that the woman’s design and assigned role is a high and lofty calling, that is part of God’s image. God is often described as a help or helper (“ezer,” Hosea 13:9). Most of the time when “ezer” is used in the Old Testament, it refers to the character of God. Therefore, to demean women in their natural design is to denigrate God.
God instituted the first marriage covenant when He brought the woman to Adam. Adam named her Eve and they came together to unify the relationship and she became his wife. Together they became one flesh. In the New Testament, Paul explains this idea of marriage being a union of two people into one:
“So, husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church.”
(Ephesians 5:28-29)
As we see in this passage from Ephesians, Adam and Eve’s relationship is an example of the relationship between Jesus and the Church. The first Adam is a symbol of the second Adam (Christ) and the way Adam is supposed to love his wife is a symbol of the love Christ has for His bride, the church.
Biblical Text
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man 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.” 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
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