Genesis 2:21-25 then describes how God makes this suitable “helper.” She is not created directly from the non-living material of the earth, as the animals and the male are (Genesis 2:7, 19). Her beginning is from the living material of the man. The literal meaning of the Hebrew verb is that God builds the woman from the man’s rib. When Adam awakens from the sleep of this operation, he immediately knows the meaning of this, saying,
This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man (Genesis 2:23).
While the woman is clearly an individual, she comes from his own bones and flesh. Even her name, “woman” means “from man.” (The Hebrew word for Man is Ish, and the word for Woman is Isshah.) She is the missing part of him. Without her he is lonely. Without her help, he is incomplete for all that God intends. Their oneness, the Author of Genesis comments, is to continue in the joining of marriage (Genesis 1:24-25 cf. Matthew 19:4-6). Thus, the apostle Paul argues that a man who loves his wife loves himself (Ephesians5:28). Why? She is one with him and therefore a vital part of himself.