Genesis 2:18 - It is not good that the man should be alone

SCRIPTURE – Genesis 2:18
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

COMMENT
After each act of creation, God looked at what He had made and pronounced it “good”. To crown His work, God created man on the sixth day and gave him dominion over all the earth. Only then did God look at His work and declare it “very good”.

Adam lived in a world custom made for his pleasure, a world without sin, suffering, or disease – a world where work was always rewarding, a world that, Genesis tells us, was unstintingly good. Yet God Himself looked upon this situation and, for the first time in the Scriptures, pronounced that something was “not good”. He said “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen 2:18).

What a remarkable statement!

Remember, this took place before the Fall of humankind, before sin and disorder could enter creation. Adam lived in an earthly paradise as a child of God, made in God’s own image. Yet something was “not good”. Something was incomplete. The man was lonely.

Adam’s world seemed complete. He had a good job, a beautiful home, dutiful pets, and plenty to keep him busy. Yet he was incomplete. Even as the ‘image of God’. He was only complete when the woman, Eve, joined him in life. The man and his wife become “one flesh”.

For “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’ ”.
The image of God was made complete with the creation of the family. Only then was Eden truly paradise.


Source: Scott Hahn
Professor of Scripture and Theology at Franciscan University
Book and/or Audio Interview on: First Comes Love