The Order of Celebrating Matrimony recommends nine different Old Testament readings for the marriage liturgy. Second on the list and one of the most chosen texts by wedding couples is the creation of woman, Genesis 2:18-24. It employs rich, descriptive imagery that illustrates God’s plan for the right relationship between a wife and a husband.
Together, not alone. God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gn 2:18a). God created a complementary partner, woman, so man and woman could walk the journey of life together as companions in love and mutual support.
Flesh, not dust. God is all-powerful and can create anything out of nothing. After the Lord God created the earth, the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground (Gn 2:7). Then, out of the ground or the dust, God made every tree (Gn 2:9), all the wild animals and the birds of the air (Gn 2:19). When it came to the creation of woman, if God were to proceed in like manner, God would have created woman out of the dust of the ground. But in a striking departure from prior practice, God created woman from the rib or flesh of the man (Gn 2:21). This makes a profound statement. Woman and man are made of the same substance, and if they are composed of the same substance, of one flesh, they are on par with each other and equal.
Rib, not head or foot. God could have taken the bone and flesh from anywhere in the man’s body, but God chose to take one of the man’s ribs (Gn 2:21b). The choice was deliberate and conveys a message. God could have chosen pieces of bone from the skull or the cranium, the upper part of the body, to indicate that the woman is above or superior to the man. God could have taken pieces of bone from the ankle or the foot, to indicate that the woman is below or inferior to the man. But God chose a rib from the man’s midsection to state that neither woman nor man is above or below, neither superior nor inferior to the other, but rather on the same level and equal.
The heart, not the lungs or the stomach. God could have chosen one of the upper ribs near the lungs, or God could have chosen one of the lower ribs near the stomach. But God chose one of the middle ribs near the heart. The heart represents love, and the message is unmistakable. A wife is to love her husband with all her heart and a husband is to love his wife with all his heart.
Equal partner, not second tier. The Revised New American Bible says that the wife is to be the husband’s “helper suited to him” (Gn 2:18b). Old translations used the word “helpmate” which gave the impression that the woman is somehow subservient to the man, and from her lower place she is supposed to serve and obey him. “Helpmate” is a corruption of the archaic Old English word “helpmeet.” The Anchor Bible says that the original Hebrew is better rendered “alongside him” or “corresponding to him.” The New Revised Standard Version translation is “a helper as his partner” and explains that “helper is not a relationship of subordination but of mutuality and interdependence.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church further explains, she is “his companion, his equal … given to him as a ‘helpmate’; she thus represents God from whom comes our help” (No. 1605). The wife and husband are equal partners who help each other.
Father Van Sloun is the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of marriage.
