Genesis 2:18–26

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

When Adam first sees Eve, he says, “At last!” That’s a Hebrew idiom for, “Now we’re talkin’!”

Just kidding. Adam is obviously pleased, but the lesson here is like some other recent lessons. God could have made Eve any way He wanted, but He made her this way—and told us about it—to make a point.

The point is, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” This jumps out because Adam doesn’t have a father and mother. The whole concept of childbirth and parenthood hasn’t even been introduced yet.

But God tells us that He made woman this way “therefore” marriage is a biological union.

This concept is part of the structure of our civilization.

A married couple is one person in the eyes of the law.

But the structure of our civilization is crumbling. People aren’t getting married. Even the word “married” has been watered down. It’s now little more than a box you check on your tax return.

We are slowly, relentlessly, being pulled away from a society of families into a society of individuals. The IRS may recognize families, but many parts of our society don’t.

This is, fundamentally, an attack on children. They are the most vulnerable, yet they will, in a generation, be running things. Ruin them and the downfall of the whole civilization is assured.

And sure enough, children are at the center of many battles. We see traditional parents—the ones who would lay down their lives for their kids—at war with people who want the parents to have less say in things.

And the number of people on the parents’ side is getting fewer every year.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Scripture taken from the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.