Man did I get all fouled up in my thinking when I was a kid. I listened to way too much radio. I think I was 14 and working as a car hop at Tiner’s Drive Inn at 44th and Dodge in Omaha. Does anyone remember that place? It was geared toward teenagers, and they always had the radio playing so the couples in the cars could hear it. It was tuned of course to the rock station, KOIL. Gene McDaniels had a major hit with his song, “A hundred pounds of clay.” Here are the bulk of the lyrics of that song. “He took a hundred pounds of clay And then He said “Hey, listen” “I’m gonna fix this-a world today” “Because I know what’s missin’ ” Then He rolled his big sleeves up  And a brand-new world began He created a woman and-a lots of lovin’ for a man Whoa-oh-oh, yes he did With just a hundred pounds of clay He made my life worth livin’ And I will thank Him every day For every kiss you’re givin’ And I’ll thank Him every night For the arms that are holdin’ me tight And He did it all with just a hundred pounds of clay Yes he did, whoa-oh, yes He did…” Well, Gene I have to say “whoa-oh, No He didn’t.”

He might have taken 170 pounds of clay and molded Adam, but that’s not how he made women. Who writes these songs, anyway? After God administered a heavy dose of anesthetic to Adam (He caused him to fall into a deep sleep), God removed a rib and from it he made a woman! Genesis 2:22 says, “And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” It’s just as miraculous that God made the woman from part of the man than if he had made her from the mud, maybe even more so. Now, “Bible students have long seen symbolic truth in this rib imagery. Woman was taken from under man’s arm to symbolize his protection of her. She was taken from near his heart that he might love and cherish her. She was not made from a head bone to rule over man, nor from his foot to be trampled on and degraded. Like the man, she reflects God’s image. Together they formed the blessed pair needed to replenish and subdue the earth.”[1]

How great the power of God, the master craftsman, making a likeness of those limbs (of a complete woman) from that tiny part (of a man), creating such wonderful senses, and preparing a creature complete, entire and perfect, capable both of speaking and of providing much comfort to man by a sharing of her being. For it was for the consolation of this man that this woman was created. Hence Paul also said, ‘Man was not created for woman, but woman for man.’  Do you see how everything is made for him? I mean, after the act of creation, after the brute beasts were brought forth, some suited for eating and some capable of assisting with man’s service, (122b) the human being that had been formed stood in need of someone to talk to and able to offer him much comfort by a sharing of her being. So, from man’s rib God creates this rational being, and in his inventive wisdom he makes it complete and perfect, like man in every detail—rational, capable of rendering him what would be of assistance in times of need and the pressing necessities of life.”[2] God formed, shaped, and fashioned the woman to be the perfect mate for Adam. He will comment on this in Genesis 2:23.

[1] Youngblood, Ronald F., F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds. 1995. In Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

[2] John Chrysostom. 1986. Homilies on Genesis 1–17. Edited by Thomas P. Halton. Translated by Robert C. Hill. Vol. 74. The Fathers of the Church. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.