People picture Adam as a primitive man; but here he named every beast in the world. There is not a scientist anywhere in the world that could do that today.
We have all read that many times. In all of this, consider that the bride of Jesus Christ is to be a true help meet to Him, just as the wives that God has given to us are to be helpmeets to us. This is what the bride of Christ has to look forward to - to be a helpmeet to her husband-to-be.
In all this, consider that this is an extremely important aspect of marriage, with a far-reaching purpose that God had in mind. I hope this helps all of us to take our marriages more seriously and to consider the roles that we have. They do picture the future event of the church marrying Jesus Christ. That is what your marriage pictures. That is why God put it here.
God knew that it was not good for man to be alone. And we can see from the plan of God that God does not wish to be alone. Nor does His Son wish to be alone. You are part of the plan of God. He has a great future planned for you as the bride of Jesus Christ, with much to do. As we heard about in the sermonette this morning, it is just going to be wonderful.
Adam needed a mate, one with whom he might take sweet counsel. Here is one of the things you will do with Jesus Christ as your husband. God further tells us that He would make a helpmeet for Adam, not only one who would be able to respond to his feelings, but also take an intelligent and appropriate part in his active pursuits. In all that Jesus Christ does, the bride will help Him in it.
Among the animals there was not a helpmeet found for Adam. None of the animals could be equal, a companion - a sharer of man's thoughts, his observations, his purposes, his enterprises. So God would have to make someone very special for Adam, just as God has to make somebody very special for His Son, Jesus Christ - and that is you.
God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the ground, as He did Adam. But the Creator's design was to give Adam a helpmeet that would be intimately close with him in every way and who would be, in every sense, a real part of him. When Adam first saw Eve, (I could never picture Adam saying what he did. I always thought the response would be, Wow! but) Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. A more proper translation might be: This turn, or this one who passes in front of me, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Adam recognized that.
We have to understand that the creation of a helpmeet for a man is indeed one of the most wonderful gifts God could give men. And we must understand that the bride that Jesus Christ is going to marry is going to be a wonderful gift for Him as well.
We find that the very first act the newly-formed, created Adam did was in carrying out a responsibility toward animals. This was the first thing that he did.
This assignment from God was a way God showed Adam his dominion. The primary purpose of this was undoubtedly to show Adam that there was not one among the animals with whom he could be intimately at one with. But it also served to introduce to Adam his responsibility toward animals. It showed him that not only could he not be one with them, but it also showed him the vast difference between him and the other living creatures.
Now he alone, among all the created beings on earth, was intelligent. Therefore, it was his responsibility, in his dominion, to take care of them. The animals were dumb; that is, they could not communicate with him on his level, and they could not think spatially or invent things the way he could.
I think that God made it clear to Adam that his responsibility was to take care of them. And though Adam was monarch of everything that he surveyed, it was clear to him (because of the conclusion at the end of verse 20, the conclusion that Adam reached) that he was created as a social being. He was created for fellowship. He was created for service. He was not created for power. And he understood that he could have comradeship with the animals, but he could not have fellowship.
That is why it says there was no helper comparable to him. That is why Adam made the jubilant response that he did when Eve was created, in verse 23. He said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. He could see that this was somebody that he could fellowship with! This was somebody who was his equal. This was someone with whom there could be communication. He could be one with this person and he was jubilant about it.
God's bringing of the animals to Adam to see what he would name them also implies that Adam was to become acquainted with them. It says He brought them to see what he would name them. Now how would Adam do that? Did not Adam then have to use his intelligence? Did he not have to use his powers of observation? And from the personality or characteristics of the animals he was observing and that were passing before him, he then pronounced names upon them. The naming was the result of his observation of the characteristics of every beast.
This is very interesting in terms of people identifying as other things like fish or cattle or red fox or something. God did this purposely, bringing the animals before Adam so he could see that there was not anything else out there that was like him.
She had not been created yet. Here Adam was, a lone male among humanity. And all these animals were out there and nothing was like him. I am sure God even brought orangutans and gorillas and other monkeys, primates, and Adam could see that none of these were really like him either, even though they walked perhaps on their two legs and had opposable thumbs and all those things. They were still not human.
