Was Eve formed from Adam’s spare rib?
The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper who is equal to him” (Genesis 2:18).
In the beginning God spoke forth his origin myth onto the spool of time, creating the heavens and the earth and a garden named Eden in the east. Genesis (beginning, being born) contains this creation story. Myths are a genre of literature. They are sacred tales that embody a collective knowledge, based on tradition, that explains the world, the supernatural, and human experience. Myths are load-bearing walls that support societal norms. There are many variations in their telling, passed from generation to generation in oral form, stories elaborating on the creation of the world, the separation of land, sea and sky, the making of the first people, the coming of floods, the vengeance of gods and the adventures of heroes. They may seem incredible to us, conditioned as we are by materialism and scientific rationality, because the primary appeal of myth is to the imagination and human intuition. These stories are wisdom distilled, the essence of all that is important. Eventually the stories are coalesced, written down, and made permanent for all time. The Genesis myth began as an oral tradition at least a thousand years before it reached its recorded version as late as 400BC. When contemplating the place of myths, CS Lewis wrote that the Bible is “God’s true myth where the others are men’s myths. Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things'.“
Context: What did the original audience know and understand?
Creation myths were known in the Mesopotamian region before the first telling of the Genesis story. The Enuma Elish (When on High) was written down 1300 BC in ancient Babylon. It contains similarities to Genesis, but differs greatly on the how and why of humanity. The woman tames and civilizes the man in The Epic of Gilgamesh, written in Sumerian cuneiform approximately 2000BC. It also contains a detailed flood account similar to that of Noah. Genesis is unique in how it depicts the woman. “Whereas man was created in just one verse, it takes six verses (Gen 2:18-23) to describe the creation of a woman, suggesting that God took more care, time, and effort to bring her into existence. Furthermore, there is no other example in the ancient Near East of a creation story of a woman. This is an example of the high value placed on women in the Torah” (Nahum M Sarna). On the sixth day God declared all creation “good”, yet before the day ended he declared something “not good". “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is equal to him.” There is brilliant tension in this description of the woman’s relationship to her man: She is both his helper and his equal. “Helper” in no way implies an inferior role and “equal” suggests the woman helps her man by challenging him. Upon seeing her in all her glory, Adam bursts forth in doxology, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
Was Eve formed out of Adam’s rib? The ancient Hebrew word for rib (“tsela”) is historically translated “side” as in two sides of the same building. Scholars of ancient Semitic language affirm this is the correct interpretation. “Side” is what the original audience understood. Adam is placed in a deep trance (Gen 2:21) and separated into two sides; one side becomes the woman and the other remains the man. “Side” fits well with God’s declaration, “the two shall become one flesh.” It is through physical union that they can fulfill God’s mandate to produce life and fill the earth. A fragment of the myth is echoed in the ancient traditions of Hindu, Chinese and Greek cultures in the concepts of soulmate, Xinyang, and two flames.
Historical Progression: So where did the rib come from? Beginning in the 3rd century BC, Hebrew scholars translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, known as the Septuagint. For unknown reasons “rib” was used instead of “side” and subsequently found its way into future language translations including English. Matthew Henry poignantly wrote “The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” Unfortunately this elegant prose is not the only perception of the rib. Elsewhere the rib is expendable and an object of scorn. John Calvin said that woman was created after man to be an “inferior aid” and an “appendage.” This description diminishes her personhood, implying she is ontologically inferior. This perception is present throughout church history. Notably the Renaissance period stooped to a low point with the Hammer of Witches, declaring women easily deceived by the devil because they are, after all, made from “a bent rib.” The imposed idea of “rib” leads to confusion about the nature of women. Furthermore, it contributes to erroneous scriptural interpretations. Eve was not formed from Adam’s spare rib. She is not subordinate, she is far more consequential. Adam is “not good” without Eve. Untethered from the correct context the biblical interpretation is faulty. “Civilization hangs suspended from generation to generation, by the gossamer strand of memory. If only one cohort of mothers and fathers fails to convey to its children what it has learned from its parents, then the great chain of learning and wisdom snaps. If the guardians of human knowledge stumble only one time, in their fall collapses the whole edifice of knowledge and understanding” (Jacob Neusner).
Conclusion: It is difficult to communicate the significance of the Genesis myth. For millennia human beings sought to understand the reality of life. Where do we come from? What is life about? The grand narrative is compelling and intentionally symmetric with its two sides. The endless unspooling of time allowed each generation to add color to their strand of the story before it was made permanent. It is intrinsically intimate. Man is the source of woman and woman is the source of man ever after. The two sides must unite to perpetuate life and fulfill God’s mandate to fill the earth. In the beginning God gave man his equal, one who corresponds to him in every way. The woman is strong and able to rescue if need be. She completes the man. This unity is in focus when Jesus’ condemns divorce, “They are no longer two, but one flesh. What God has joined together let no man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6). I like to think a fragment of the ancient Semitic story is in view whenever a man introduces his woman as his better half, and vice versa.
Sources: The Rational Bible: Genesis, Dennis Prager; How God Sees Women, Terran Williams; Hard Sayings of the Bible, Walter C Kaiser Jr., Peter H Davids, FF Bruce, Manfred T Brauch; Journey to Reality, Zachary Porcu; Wisdom of the Ancients, Neil Oliver; https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/wholecounsel/genesis_28_25 ; https://margmowczko.com/misogynist-quotes-from-church-fathers/ ; https://weekly.israelbiblecenter.com/eve-come-adams-rib