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"So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He HIM; male
and female He THEM" (Gen. 1: 27).
This important fact is mentioned again in the genealogy of Gen. 5::
"This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the
likeness of God made He HIM, male and female created He THEM; and blessed them,
and called THEIR name Adam, in the day when they were created" (Gen. 5: 1, 2).
The conjectures of those who consider that man was originally hermaphrodite in
constitution are quite uncalled for, for the inspired Scriptures definitely affirm:
"Adam was first formed, then Eve" (I Tim. 2: 13).
"The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman; but the woman for the man" (I Cor. 11: 8, 9).
Adam was permitted to feel his need before the woman was made and presented to
him:
"For Adam there was not found a help meet for him" (Gen. 2: 20).
"I will make a help meet for him" (Gen. 2: 18).
The actual process of the formation of the woman is described as follows:
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept; and He took
one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man" (Gen. 2: 21, 22).
Sleep is a recognized symbol of death, both in the Old Testament and in the New. In
Psalm 13: we read: "Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Psa. 13: 3),
and in the only reference to "sleep" in Ephesians (5: 14) it is again used as a symbol of
death.
The Hebrew word translated "rib" in this passage is never so translated again in the
A.V. although the word (tsela) occurs 42 times. It is mostly translated "side" (19 times)
and "side chamber" (9 times). There are ten occurrences in Ezekiel, of which nine are
rendered "side chamber", and one "one over another" (literally, "side chamber over side
chamber"). It would appear that from Adam was taken a "side chamber" or "cell", the
process of procreation being miraculously carried through without human intervention,
just as, in the Gospels, we have the miraculous turning of water into wine.
When the woman was presented to Adam he exclaimed:
"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2: 23),
and to this Moses adds the inspired comment:
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:
and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. 2: 24).