God's Spousal Love

Stephen J Binz

• Publisher: Twenty-Third Publications/Bayard
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781627854092
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblische Studien

Because spousal love is the most intimate and sacrificial love known to human beings in the natural world, the biblical authors fill the pages of the Bible with its narrative and emotional power. Countless stories of human love, engagement and marriage, anticipation and passion, pregnancy and birth, infidelity and divorce, fill the biblical literature. God and his people are bound by ties of the heart, and they mutually long for the eternal fulfillment of their deepest longings. In fact, the Bible can be described as an undending love story, as the inspired writers use the images and vocabulary of marital love to express the love between God and God's people.

Lesson 1

Session 2

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. Gen 2:24

Woman Formed from the Side of the Man

Genesis 2:18–25 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.

21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

for out of Man this one was taken.”

24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

This narrative of humanity’s creation in paradise is told in figurative language and images to express the great truths about the human race. The man and woman are God’s ideal for humanity, created and desired by God, separate from the compromising reality of sin. So, after creating the various elements of the world, God declared that it is “good,” and after completing creation, God saw that it is “very good.” But then, in striking contrast, God recognized that it is “not good” that the man should be alone. After identifying this serious exception in God’s otherwise ideal environment, God declared that companionship is vital for human thriving.

After God formed the various animals and presented them to the man to examine and name, the man realized that no other creature in the garden fully shared his own nature. So God resolved to make “a helper as his partner” (verses 18, 20). The Hebrew word for “helper” refers to one who assists another. The need for a “helper” implies some type of limitation. It does not suggest that the helper is in any way inferior to the one needing help. In fact, often the helper is superior, as verified by multiple references in Scripture to God as the “helper” of Israel.

The kind of helper and partner needed by the man is one who is of the same essence as the man and who is on the same level. This helping partner will not only contribute distinctively to his life but also provide enriching companionship. God will provide for the man a partner on whom he can pour out the passion that God has put within his heart.

The narrative of woman’s creation states that “God caused a deep sleep to come upon the man,” and God took one of the ribs of the man and made it into a woman (verses 21–22). Then, like a father of the bride, God leads the woman to the man. The vocabulary stresses that the woman was made of the same substance as the man and according to the same model as the man. Thus, she forms his ideal helper, counterpart, and intimate companion.

The first human words spoken in the Bible are a poem in praise of “Woman” (verse 23). The man exclaims that she is of the same bone and flesh as himself. The lyrical verse speaks of that nearly universal human experience of finding another person with whom one shares such an intense intimacy that it feels as if a lost or unknown part of oneself is being discovered. Here is companionship without superior and inferior, partnership with mutual trust and respect for one another.

This act of creation, the writer explains, is why “a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife” (verse 24). This does not mean that a son no longer has responsibilities to his parents, but it means that he honors his wife, as the central person in his life, with a higher standing. The fact that the man “clings” to his wife does not suggest a suffocating kind of oneness between them or an ensnared unity. Rather, it emphasizes the enduring quality of their bond and their loyalty to each other. Within such a relationship, two partners are secure enough to be their best individual selves. They contribute considerably to each other’s life and so grow together as partners.

Likewise, their becoming “one flesh” refers to the kind of physical, social, and spiritual unity the partners achieve together. They become more closely bonded than any of their blood kinship. Marriage joins a man and woman in a covenant of mutual care, tenderness, and devoted love. Because of this faithful and trusting relationship, the two creatures belong together. Any spousal abuse or domination of the other denies the kind of mutuality and harmony that God intends.

This creation account of spousal commitment and unity is encountered in later Hebrew literature as exemplifying God’s covenanted love for the Israelites. In the gospels, Jesus refers to these verses when articulating his teaching on marital permanence and fidelity. John’s gospel shows that Christ’s church is generated from his side after he dies on the cross, just as Woman is created from the man’s side while he is in a “deep sleep.” The sanctifying water and redeeming blood that flowed from his side creates the sacramental church that becomes, in other New Testament texts, the bride of Christ.

Reflection and discussion

• What does the word “helper” imply about the relationship of spouses to one another?
• What are the truths and sentiments expressed in the lyrical poetry of verse 23?
• What does God’s creation of woman from the rib of the man symbolize about their relationship?
• What are the qualities of marriage expressed in this text? How does the reality of human sin flaw this ideal plan of God?

Prayer

Creator God, who made man and woman in your likeness, look upon our fragile, sin-infected humanity with your redeeming grace. Strengthen and preserve your gift of marriage from the effects of our indifferent mind-set and superficial culture. May it become the foundation of a new civilization of love.

Lesson 2

Session 2

Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Exod 24:8

Israel’s Marriage Covena...