Once More Around the Block
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Genesis 2:18 ESV
Alone – We have examined this verse intensely. We have pointed out its powerful implications for the role of the woman. We have spent effort investigating its impact on the question of identity. We have noticed with delight that human consciousness seems to be a matter of becoming rather than a state of being, that it depends on the presence of the other, not the individuality of the self. We have articulated the dynamic character of the Hebraic verb haya, not exactly the equivalent of our idea “to be.” But perhaps there is still gold to be mined here. Perhaps the elephant in the room is still camouflaged.
Don’t you find it a bit strange that God would even make this statement? Clearly Adam is not alone. How can a man be alone in the unsullied presence of God? Adam is without defilement. There is no sin in the world. God is with him in ways that we can barely imagine. How, then, is it possible for God to say, lo-tov heyot bad (“not good should be alone”)? Just for a moment put aside the automatic assumption that this statement is about human companionship or human self-consciousness. Imagine that this statement is about God. Imagine that this statement is God’s self-consciousness.
God
is unwilling to be alone,
and man
cannot forever remain impervious
to what He longs to show.
Those of us who cannot keep their striving back
find themselves at times
within the sight of the unseen
and become aglow with its rays
Some of us blush,
Others wear a mask.
Faith is a blush
in the presence of God.[1]
Genesis 2:18 is a two-edged sword. Slicing away human pretentiousness, it reveals the intrinsic need of communal consciousness at the root of self-identity. Cutting into the divine, it exposes the unwillingness of God to shelter holiness behind a fortress of self-determination. God declares Man in need of the other because God has decided not to be alone. What is good for God is also good for Man. Neither is to be satisfied without the other. We might think that Genesis 2:18 is the opening line in a story about the relationship between man and woman, but it is also the closing line in a story about God.
Topical Index: alone, bad, Genesis 2:18
[1] Abraham Heschel, I Asked for Wonder, pp. 23-24.
Shalom veUbraja Dr. Moen
Since the theme for Today’s Word I would like to suggest the reading of
“The Lonely Man of Faith”
by Joseph B. Soloveitchik
A great book. I read it some time ago and actually quoted from it in previous TWs
Please allow me to comment even though you don’t hear from me often, I am still reading your journey and feel a part of it.
The simplistic nature of my words are not an indication of being void of depth, rather to bring something of sacred significance into the light of purity and vulnerability.
Today I would like to throw something out there for you to consider about the “aloneness” of God.
These words are packed with such purpose from the Father and they are revealing the destiny of His Son and “His Bride”. When He said “It is not good that man should be alone”, He was speaking with creative intent to remedy the situation, setting in motion the fabric of lives woven through time declaring the end from the beginning and saying “it is good!” Eve was taken from Adam with the intent and purpose of becoming one with Him through intimacy, in like manner, we have come out of Christ with the intent and purpose of becoming one with Him through intimacy. (Is it the time for Love?) Separating the light from the darkness, the waters below from the waters above, All light is found in the temple with living water flowing with healing for the nations.
The Man and Woman becoming “one” is a picture of Christ in you the hope of glory! Marriage is worth the struggle and this is why. He is the Prize and He alone is Worthy. This is the desire of nations, it is the Love between Christ the risen King and His chosen Bride Prepared by Her Father and presented without spot or wrinkle to His Son-those wise virgins who were clothed and ready with oil in their lamps being invited in through the gate to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb-fathers and sons have to bow to one greater, the Love of the Bride and Her creator.
His kingdom is advancing and has no end through the multiplication of Divine union.
Skip, you have a much higher calling than you thought-
enjoy the river may it completely overtake you and complete the union!
Such lovely poetry! What an awe-inspiring subject!
“Cutting into the divine, it exposes the unwillingness of God to shelter holiness behind a fortress of self-determination.” Wow! This is an indictment of the entire tower of man-interpreted and invented understanding of holiness!
I was modeled the Three Monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I have noticed also that what I think of as the white occult does the same. Around these people, I am not allowed to talk about the problem There is no problem! The occult teaches you to hide your problems, for that is the very essence of the occult – to hide; to occlude, to separate from, to differentiate. Only when we are ‘pure’ are we going to be safe, and purity is achieved by separation from the impure. But I have noticed most of Christianity does no better. Jesus ‘makes’ me pure (no one can explain exactly HOW this is happening to them right now), I am somehow now ‘different than’ the world, and sin gets taken are of after I die. Somewhere in there, the problem gets solved, and perfection appears. We are holy now because we say so (self-determined).
So holiness, purity, set-apartness, now has the assignment to wade through the mess: to define itself and find itself in the mud of unholiness, impurity, and involvement. So the Holy One also became Emmanuel: God With Us, and “dwelt among us”. Unbelievable! And we are called to the same. I become holy not by getting out of the pigpen but by sanctifying all around me by bringing love into that place. Love that cannot conquer all is not love, after all. Whoo boy! Time to get started!
Jesus ‘makes’ me pure (no one can explain exactly HOW this is happening to them right now), I am somehow now ‘different than’ the world, and sin gets taken are of after I die. Somewhere in there, the problem gets solved, and perfection appears. We are holy now because we say so (self-determined).
Laurita, I’d like to attempt an explanation. How does Jesus “make me pure?” (or any man, for that matter).
It’s not about “me!”
This is sanctification. Holiness, (or set-apartness) is both imputed and imparted. Holiness starts at salvation, at the moment of the second birth, but continues as long as I continue to breathe.~ Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus ~ [Philippians 1.6) God finishes what He starts. Sanctification is a process. We are being conformed into the image (the likeness) of the Son. And btw, this process does involve both heat and pressure!! And, should we wander from the pathway that leads to life, chastisement, (not punishment!) will be forthcoming!
The keyword here is (absolutely) “relationship.” And this relationship begins with repentance, and continues with repentance! We come to the Father through Jesus the Son. He is the (only) Way. We look to Him (the Son) for salvation — [LORD, save me!] and for sanctification, for He —”ever lives to make intercession for us!” “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him..” “Peace, [Shalom!] be still..” Have faith in God. He ever loves and cares for His own.
I could not agree more, for sure, Carl, and great explanation, too, by the way, but I have had that expression “Jesus makes me pure” flung at me as a ‘reason’ why the person did not have to do anything, much less change: He does it, so I DON’T HAVE TO – but just because I know I can make nothing pure does not mean that I am not involved in the process! Sanctification (holiness-becoming) does not happen in our sleep, nor without our participation, which you know very well. I have seen people complacently resist the process their entire lives under the assumption that just because Jesus does the heavy lifting, He somehow does ALL the lifting. Trials succeed only when we decide to learn something from them.
Yes. This could be viewed as “His part and ours.” We absolutely “do” have a part to play in our growth. “Desire the sincere milk of the word, so that you may grow thereby,” does not, by any stretch of the imagination, translate to “sit on your keister while God does everything for you!” No, not at all. In any relationship, human or Divine, – “it takes to to tango.” We can’t do it without Him, – and (praise His Name), He won’t do it without us! No, we most certainly “active participants” in the growing process! Not only as Oswald Chambers might say, “My utmost for His highest, but His utmost for my highest as well! We are “laborers together!” – Amen. We are His body, tis true, but a body needs to move! Even His “go ye therefore” command implies (hello) movement on our part! As we have (hopefully) learned from skipmoen.com by now, “Love” is an action verb! Work-worship-love-serve the LORD? And… – action!!
And He said? “Be “doers” of the Word!!, not hearers only, -deceiving your own selves.
Whoever the new carl roberts is that has shown up, I like him! Bravo! Thank you. Reading your words, like all of us, trying to get a grip on this wonderful scripture, is enjoyable and helpful. Good thoughts. There is meat in value in this you’ve shared.
One huge reason I try to write and share thoughts is to help me think through what I read from Skip and others. Reading and letting it rumble around in my head and thoughts is one thing. It is quite another and quite the exercise to regurgitate new thoughts that are my own. I find when I actually go through the struggle of attempting to put in to words all the stuff I’m trying to learn and incorporate I either see that I understand something or don’t.
This community helps me do that by allowing me and us all to enter the arena of discussion and bat the issues around. Someone told me you don’t really understand something unless you do it. I think a further needed element to go along with that is you don’t really understand something until you try to teach it to someone else. I have found that true. Not necessarily teach it to someone else but at least make a true effort to explain it with your own words.
I, too, want to sift all I say through Scriptures as well. However, we are all on different parts of the path, some further along in various aspects. I am not sure any one person will get everything right in every category, however, in no way does that need us pause in trying to figure it out together. We need each others input, arguments, and efforts to understand. Community.
Again, thanks for your input in this regard.
Thank you, Carl, for sharing your thoughts, impressions, understanding of Scripture rather than just bullet points of quoted Scripture. I can read Scripture myself. It’s the sharing of each other’s thoughts and learnings and struggles to understand these Scriptures that assists and helps in that endeavor. Please, share more in this method.
As the LORD allows, I will, Michael. But always, I must filter everything, every thought, through the Scriptures first! There is already too many shcisms and “isms’ that should be “wasm’s” within the Body of Christ!! I value and appreciate your input and comments as well!
Yes, I agree with Michael, Carl. I understand very clearly what you shared today because you explained it well with Scripture. I appreciate the insight with scripture (similar to the way Skip shares.)
“This is sanctification. Holiness, (or set-apartness) is both imputed and imparted. Holiness starts at salvation, at the moment of the second birth, but continues as long as I continue to breathe.~ Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus ~ [Philippians 1.6) God finishes what He starts. Sanctification is a process. We are being conformed into the image (the likeness) of the Son. And btw, this process does involve both heat and pressure!! And, should we wander from the pathway that leads to life, chastisement, (not punishment!) will be forthcoming!”
“We have noticed with delight that human consciousness seems to be a matter of becoming rather than a state of being, that it depends on the presence of the other, not the individuality of the self.”
Thank you Skip! This struck me in a very dynamic way this morning. It touches places and questions that I’ve held in tension. What comes to the surface is becoming human is a communal experience. As such it would seem that each time a new member joins a community then both the individual and the community becomes a new homogeneous “person”. This implies continual transformation; a community transforming together, a relational transformation that collides with conversion and conformity. So thank you, this is like a large bucket to add to and hold even more questions.
Stephen, I put marbles in my bucket for my questions and thoughts.
Now wait just a minute! I’m only ‘nose deep’ in my first cup of coffee, yet I am ask to re-think what might be another interpretation of the, “It is not good for man to be alone” statement. I am up for it though, so I gladly jump into the ‘what if’ stream and stare in wonder at what could well be insight. The first thought that passes through my under caffeinated mind is the shredding of Trinitarian thinking about God, for that requires a sense of ‘community’ in the ‘oneness’ of God, i.e., the three persons of that oneness. But then, who said God was a Trinitarian? Is it possible that God is also in some state of ‘becoming’, as we are? Are we humans intended to be God’s companions in His creation, thereby satisfying a need in His “becoming’? And so to reflect that ‘need’, we required an ‘other’ to fulfil that companionship need, relative to our status as ‘image bearers’. Heady wine, for sure! Fresh eyes are so important as we examine the Scriptures. When you think you ‘have it all nailed’, you in fact have just thought you have become God. And that ‘becoming’, I’m quite sure, will never happen.
Is Eve the answer for man being alone or is the necessity that His word takes on flesh and abodes in us the true essence…
Paul states that it is better to remain single with an eternal promise… and only when we cannot control our lust to rather take a wife. A direct insult to the meaning or purpose to not be alone I would say… but that there. Or did Paul err when making this statement.
Another comment If the church today is the body / resurrected body of Christ. What is the gospel of a second coming all about… Should we not be satisfied with the teacher we choose to follow and if no longer satisfied separate paths as Abraham and Lot to seek a new lifestyle (soul food) as our life substance become to much to be appreciated by each other.
Or is it a community growing by feeding and nurturing each other to protect or cover the shortcomings of the other, rather than hi-lighting these shortcomings as the reason why things are experienced as being alone…
Seeker, I would point out that I wouldn’t think it is on equal terms to compare the loneliness of Adam to Paul’s statement regarding not being married. If we understand the beginning correctly, Adam was truly alone with no other human on the whole earth. Shaul’s audience was in a totally different social world than Adam. We have community available to join, Adam had no one else to consider until Chavah.
Just making a distinction.
Another thing to consider about Paul’s statement was the context of the times. My understanding was that when he wrote that letter, the persecution was intensifying, and, as Paul was prophetic, surely he looked forward to it getting even worse. Not good atmosphere for raising families or putting close family in danger because of what you stood for. I am sure he felt for his, as many times as he got arrested. Back then, if you happened to be in trouble, a lot of times, the rest of your family was, too.
Michael – May be true. Someone pointed out once that how will you know what you are missing if you have never experienced or tasted it. So how would Adam logically know he was alone…
Laurita – That may be the case…
YHVH set up a definitive environment for Adam to figure out there was something missing when the animal project began. Two of everything except nothing to fit him. So, yeah, Adam had some help figuring out that logic. Begin alone seems to be the lesson from the homework of naming, knowing the animals and all that entailed. Nothing like him. Alone.
I like that, Michael. Longing, then, is how we create the space for the other. Adam had to create that space so that Eve could fit. It is also how we create the space for YHVH to fit.
I had never thought of it in this way. It is beginning to sound like zimzum.
There you go again, Gayle. I had to go and look up zimzum!
Thank you Michael.