The second chapter in Genesis runs together with the first almost seamlessly, yet they are different stories by different writers. You can see that in the name that the writers are using for God. In the first chapter of Genesis the world is created by "God" but in Genesis 2:5 the name suddenly changes to "the Lord God" in the NRSV or GOD in The Message.
The difference between God and GOD (or the Lord God) doesn't seem like a big deal in English but in Hebrew these are two different names. "God" is Elohim while the "Lord God" or "GOD" is a translation of Yahweh. The different names were used in different times and places in the history of Israel.
Things happen in a different order in the two stories. In Genesis 1 first God creates plants, then animals, then people, both male and female. In Genesis 2, first the Lord God creates a man, then plants, then animals and finally a woman. If the Genesis story was meant to be taken literally, these contradictions would be a real problem. Fortunately, this isn't a literal story. Like Genesis 1, it is a parable meant teach us something about the nature of God and people.
What we learn about the Lord God is that he cares for the people he creates. We tend to focus on the forbidden fruit and the punishment, but the Lord provides a lot more. The man is given work to do (tilling the earth), permission (you can eat any of the fruit), and one rule (don't eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge). The Garden of Eden is a good place. The man is at harmony with God and creation and life is full of blessings.
The greatest blessing in the story is to come. God doesn't want the man to be alone and creates the ideal helper and partner for him. The Lord God causes the man to fall asleep, takes out one of his ribs, and uses it to make a woman. The man is delighted with his new companion and we get a beautiful poetic response that you often hear read at weddings.
23-25 The Man said,
"Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man."
Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
It's a beautiful story but it's one that comes with some baggage, mostly because of all the interpretations people have added over the years. Some see here support for their idea that men are superior to woman and others for the idea that gay marriage is against God's purposes.
Let's take these one at a time:
The idea that this story shows that men are superior to women actually comes up in the Bible in 1 Timothy 2:13-15. Paul (though it might not actually be Paul) points to the fact that man was created first and that only the woman was deceived by the serpent.
We'll deal with this more in depth when I blog about the Pastoral Epistles. For now I'll just say three things: First, we should renenber that women appear to be fully equal in the Genesis 1 story. Second, neither of these stories is meant to be understood as literal. They are parables, and it's important not to read extra meaning into a parable. Finally, while Paul (or Deutero-Paul) may see this as proof that women are inferior, that's clearly not the point the author is trying to make. The story is a celebration of woman as the perfect companion to man, and a picture of how wonderful life can be when woman and man live in harmony.
The idea that this story condemns homosexuality, and especially gay marriage is a very modern interpretation. It seems to date back to the 1970's and can be summarized by the slogan, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." More recently, Conservative Christian pundits have refined this and claim that the story of Adam and Eve shows us that the God's plan is one man + one woman = one marriage.
While this story clearly celebrates the idea of man and woman living in harmony, that's really all it says. It doesn't say that gay marriage is wrong, that polygamous marriages are wrong, or that celibacy is wrong. Celebrating one kind of relationship does not imply that different kinds of relationships or approaches are automatically wrong.
I almost wish that the story of Adam and Eve did offer a biblical model of marriage, not because of gay marriage, but because of polygamy. Gay marriage is a loving and equal union between two adults where there is as much protection from abuse as there is in heterosexual marriage. Polygamy is a system in which woman are considered inferior. Men are the absolute rulers of their households and women are treated like property. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse are serious problems in these cultures and women don't have any place they can go for justice.
What is perhaps even worse is that many polygamous cultures allow forcing young girls into marriage and early sexual activity, which can cause profound physical and emotional damage.
I wish that the story of Adam and Eve was had been written as a condemnation of polygamy, but it wasn't. We can see that in the fact that polygamy and concubinage are common in the Bible. Abraham had one wife (Sarah) and one concubine (Hagar). Jacob had two wives (Rachel and Leah) and also had children by their handmaidens (Bilhah and Zilpah). According to 1 Chronicles 3, King David had 7 wives and an unstated number of concubines. Solomon takes the prize with 700 wives and 300 concubines.
The sad truth is that there's no place in the Bible where anyone points to the story of Adam and Eve and uses it to say that polygamy is wrong. Like slavery, polygamy is one of those moral evils that were accepted by ancient peoples. It would be nice to pretend that the story of Adam and Eve condemned this practice but it would be dishonest. It is just as dishonest to pretend that it condemns gay unions.
The truth is that a loving and faithful monogamous marriage is a modern idea. It's a wonderful institution, and mainly a Christian idea, but it's not biblical. That's not to say that that modern married couples can't draw inspiration from the beautiful verses in Genesis 2. For that matter, the idea of living in harmony with God, with each other, and with the created world is something that everyone, married or single, straight or gay, can learn from.
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