Why does Adam still need a helper after God brings the animals to him?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Adam names the animals, but none is a helper like himself. God forms a woman from his rib, and Adam recognizes her as sharing his own bone and flesh.

Chapter breakdown

The heavens, earth, and everything in them are finished. God ends his work and rests on the seventh day, which he blesses and makes holy because his work is complete. Challoner explains that this rest means ceasing to make new kinds of things. God still preserves and governs what he has made and continues to create souls. The note therefore distinguishes completed creation from God’s continuing activity.

The account turns to the making of heaven and earth, and to plants before their growth on earth. There has been no rain and no man to cultivate the ground. A spring rises from the earth and waters its surface. The Lord God forms man from the slime of the earth, breathes life into his face, and man becomes a living soul.

God has planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning and places the man there. He brings forth trees that are fair to see and pleasant for food. The tree of life stands in its midst, along with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Challoner explains that eating from the tree of life would preserve constant health, vigour and strength and prevent death. He explains the name of the other tree by the serpent’s false claim that its fruit would impart superior knowledge.

A river comes out of the place of pleasure to water paradise and divides into four branches. Phison surrounds Hevilath, where the gold is very good and the materials called bdellium and onyx stone are found. Gehon surrounds Ethiopia. Tigris runs toward the Assyrians, and the fourth river is Euphrates.

The Lord God places the man in paradise to cultivate and keep it. He permits him to eat from every tree, but forbids him to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The warning attached to eating from it is death. The work assigned to the man and the limit on his food are both part of his life in paradise.

God says that it is not good for man to be alone and that he will make a helper like him. Having formed the beasts and birds from the ground, God brings them to Adam to see what he will call them. Their names are the names Adam gives. He names the beasts, birds and cattle, but no helper like himself is found for him.

God causes a deep sleep to fall on Adam. He takes one of Adam’s ribs, fills its place with flesh, builds the rib into a woman, and brings her to Adam. Adam calls her bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. He says that she shall be called woman because she was taken from man. The account then states that a man shall leave his father and mother and join his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. Adam and his wife are both naked and are not ashamed.

The story inside

The naming of the animals sets up a distinction. Adam can name the beasts and birds, yet naming them does not supply the helper God has said he needs. The next act answers that lack: God builds a woman from Adam’s rib and brings her to him. Adam’s words identify shared bone and flesh. The statement about a man leaving his parents, joining his wife, and becoming two in one flesh follows this recognition. The argument depends on the stated lack and its answer, not on imagined feelings during Adam’s search.

Lessons worth keeping

1
God’s rest is explained as completion, not abandonment. The seventh day is blessed because the work is finished. Challoner says God ceases making new kinds of things while continuing to preserve, govern, and create souls (2:1–3).
2
Work and a limit are both present in paradise. The man is placed there to cultivate and keep it, and receives permission to eat from its trees with one stated prohibition and a warning of death. The task and the restriction must both be kept in view (2:15–17).
3
The helper is distinguished from the animals. No animal is found to be a helper like Adam; the woman is formed from his rib and recognized as his bone and flesh. This sequence gives the immediate setting for the statement about husband and wife becoming one flesh (2:18–25).

Test your recall

Why does naming the animals leave Adam’s need unanswered, and how do the formation of the woman and Adam’s words answer it?

Show answer

Adam names the animals, but none is a helper like himself. God puts Adam into a deep sleep and forms the woman from his rib. Adam recognizes her as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. The chapter then describes a man leaving his parents, joining his wife, and the two becoming one flesh.

Quotes from Scripture

Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.

And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 329–331

And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.

Genesis 2:18 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 372–373

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 299–317
Genesis Chapter 2 God resteth on the seventh day and blesseth it. The earthly paradise, in which God placeth man. He commandeth him not to eat of the tree of knowledge. And formeth a woman of his rib. 2:1. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. 2:2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. He rested, etc.... That is, he ceased to make or create any new kinds of things. Though, as our Lord tells us, John 5.17, “He still worketh”, viz., by conserving and governing all things, and creating souls. 2:3. And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Lines 318–332
2:4. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth: 2:5. And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth. 2:6. But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth. 2:7. And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Lines 333–346
2:8. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. 2:9. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life.... So called because it had that quality, that by eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all. The tree of knowledge.... To which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge, beyond that which God was pleased to give.
Lines 347–361
2:10. And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads. 2:11. The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth. 2:12. And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone. 2:13. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia. 2:14. And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Lines 362–371
2:15. And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. 2:16. And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: 2:17. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.
Lines 372–383
2:18. And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. 2:19. And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name. 2:20. And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
Lines 384–399
2:21. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. 2:22. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. 2:23. And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 2:24. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. 2:25. And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.