Moreover, not only did God create this perfect environment and the perfect man to live in this environment, but also He gave this man in this perfect environment perfect work to do. We sometimes think in our fallen state that bliss should involve no work. In the earlier part of this century, there was a song that Burl Ives made popular called, “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” It’s a description of Utopia, at least as perceived by the earlier songwriter, and he talks about being able to lie around all day with no work to do. He sings, “There’s a lake filled with whisky, too, and you can paddle around in a big canoe, in the Big Rock Candy Mountain.” The writer of that song thought that bliss was paddling around in a canoe with nothing to do and plenty of whisky to drink. Apparently, he just couldn’t think of anything better than that. But you know I see a lot of people that hang around here on the streets with nothing to do and it seems to me that they are far from being in paradise.
This is not the kind of paradise that God gave Adam. God gave Adam a paradise in which he had useful, meaningful work to do. God could have done without Adam of course. He did not need Adam to bring the universe into existence, nor did God need Adam to do anything once God’s work of creation had been completed. But when God created Adam He understood that part of Adam’s wellbeing had to do with significant work. And so He gave him a job of management; he was to manage the world, ruling the fish of the sea and the animals on the land, and the birds of the air, having dominion over all of these things for God. And he was given what we would call a job of research. He was to give names to every living creature. Now in order to do that Adam had to observe the creation, that is, he had to look at each creature and name it based on what he had noticed about it. Thus, in naming it he was describing what it was. This was important work God had given Adam to do.
Not only had God created a perfect place and a perfect man and perfect work for him to do, but God also gave that perfect man a perfect companion to help him do the work; and that was Eve. The key term that describes her is a companion perfectly suited for the man. It’s interesting how God brought that about. God knew that Adam needed Eve, and before He created her from Adam himself, God had all the animals walk by for Adam to look upon and name. In doing this, Adam would have noticed that all the other creatures had suitable companions except for him. Then upon seeing her, Adam no doubt concluded that she was the ideal companion for him, just as all the other creatures whom God had made had been given.
Arnold Toynbee at one point talks about the wonderful kind of companionship that a man can have with a dog. A dog can be a wonderful companion for a man, and they can spend many happy hours together. But as Toynbee points out, the fellowship has to be on the dog’s level. And I suppose as Adam looked at those animals said, “Yes, I can have fun with that one, I can pass many happy hours with that one,” but he realized that not one of them was on his level. So God made the woman and he made her perfectly suited to the man. And when Adam woke up and saw that woman, he burst into the first poetry of the Bible. And no wonder!
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
