One of the most intriguing questions we have on the creation of humanity, is why did God create Eve from Adam’s ribs? The Bible tells us that Adam was lonely and that God saw that it was not good for Him to be alone. So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs and created Eve, “took one of the man’s ribs and . . . made a woman” (Genesis 2:21–22).
Unlike the woman, God created Adam from the dust of the earth, and then He took a rib from Adam and formed his wife Eve (Genesis 2:18–24). She was called a “Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). Adam gave her the name “woman” because she was formed from man, the Hebrew word “ishshah”, “woman,” is formed of the word “ish”, “man,” with a feminine ending.
God created Eve from the rib from his side so that she would not be the head in the marriage but be a companion, standing side by side with Adam. He would love her and protect her as his own soul. God established the institution of marriage so that Eve would complement and complete Adam in the marriage. Both of them were worthy of the privileges of salvation and of God’s mercy. “There is neither . . . male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). They become “heirs . . . of the gracious gift of life” (1 Peter 3:7).
God created Eve from the rib of Adam so that she would be a “helper suitable” for him (Genesis 2:18) and for companionship. They were created perfectly in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). As Adam was the “son of God” (Luke 3:38), Eve was the daughter of God, and the marriage covenant was called the covenant of God (Prov. 2:17).
Both of them were created to complement each other and work together. Because God saw that it was “not good” for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18) because together they were strong. God blessed their union saying, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
We can see the same loving relationship existing between the Lord and His church “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25 also 5:32). Women have been commanded by the word of God to be submissive to their own husbands. “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (Ephesian 5:22,23).