Eve and Adam

Eve and Adam
By Else Berg

“When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.”
Genesis 5:1-2

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Beloved 17th century Bible commentator Matthew Henry pointed out that the two ordinances that God established at the outset of creation were the Sabbath and marriage, “the latter for the preservation of the world of mankind.” God created Adam and Eve as companions for each other. Their relationship was intended to be one of true and equal partnership, “joined” in the Lord’s command as “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “From the Garden of Eden onward, marriage was intended to mean the complete merger of a man and a woman—their hearts, hopes, lives, love, family, future, everything. Adam said of Eve that she was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.” This is our Heavenly Father’s vision of companionship: partnership and mutual strength.

The 6th century text The Book of Adam and Eve contains a poignant, if apocryphal, illustration of this dynamic. In its telling, after being cast out of Eden, Adam and Eve dwelt in a cave where, as night fell, they were left in complete darkness for the first time. “Then Adam wept, in deep affliction, and smote upon his breast; and he arose and said to Eve, ‘Where art thou?’ And she said unto him, ‘Lo, I am standing in this darkness.’” Adam then recalls the beauty and splendor of the Garden of Eden, and compares it to the cave where they are surrounded by seemingly permanent darkness and “can no longer see each other; and all the pleasure of this life has come to an end.” Despondent, Adam collapses “from bitter grief, and because of the darkness, and lay there as dead.” Then Eve, hearing him fall, “felt about for him with her hands … and remained by him” until morning. In their fear and sorrow, with everything about them completely obscured, they found peace and comfort from being together, hanging on to each other until the light again returned.

As equal partners, they began the human story—falling, learning, repenting, and growing side by side. Their unity points us toward the kind of love and loyalty God intends for us all, especially in our darkest and more confusing times. Pope Francis taught, “Marriage is an act of faith between a man and woman who are both fragile and limited, but courageous enough to follow Christ and seek to love each other as He loves them.” In the words of Sheri Dew, “They counseled with one another, lifted burdens neither could have lifted alone, and then faced the wilderness, with all of its uncertainty, together. This is the Lord’s pattern for righteous men and women.” In marriage, we are called to be helpmeets: to reach for one another in the dark, to stay near, to wait for the light together. And it will come—because God is faithful, and His light never fails.

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