Shalom and Gender

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” - Genesis 2:18

Note that was the original human - who, according to Genesis 1:27, was male and female - who received the command to rule over the earth, to be fruitful and multiply, and to name the animals. And it’s the original human - male and female together - who is said to be ‘not good’ alone. The differentiation of the original human into male and female humans later in Genesis 2 was God’s initial gift of community.

God designed us to be in community. Even in the first community - Adam and Eve in the garden - there was both similarity (‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!’) as well as difference (‘male and female he created them’). The challenge is to value the differences without creating divisions. We will unpack this more in the coming days.

So many of us are deeply experiencing our need for community these days. There’s something about the absence of gathering with friends and families that highlights how God designed us to be there for each other. Perhaps the sadness, loneliness, or even depression you’re feeling is in fact a helpful sign of a healthy desire? How might that help shift how you face your quarantine? What might it look like for you this week to embrace that “it is not good to be alone”? Are there any steps you might take to respond to what God is saying to you about community?