Whereas Adam was formed “from the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7), the text describes Eve as being formed from “one of the man’s ribs.” Why this difference? Is there any significance to these two separate materials being used by God in the formation of the first human pair? If so, what is it? If not, why the distinction?
It has become customary for many in recent years to point to the Sumerian “Dilmun poem” as being the best way to explain this association of Eve with a rib. The Sumerian name for “rib” is téÆ (pronounced tee). But the Sumerian word ti also means “to make alive.” These two facts are necessary background information to understand the myth that was told in Sumer.
It happened that the Sumerian water-god, Enki, fell sick, with eight of his organs or bodily parts being affected. A fox promised, if properly rewarded, to bring back the great mother-goddess Ninhursag, who had disappeared after an argument with Enki. Upon her reappearance she brought into existence eight corresponding healing deities, and Enki was restored in time. In order to heal Enki’s rib the goddess created Nin-ti, “the lady of the rib,” which may also be translated as “the lady who makes alive.”
Now it is true that Adam called the woman that God had formed from his rib “Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Gen 3:20). Samuel Noah Kramer commented, “It was this, one of the most ancient of literary puns, which was carried over and perpetuated in the biblical paradise story, although here, of course, it loses its validity, since the Hebrew word for ‘rib’ [tseµlaµ>] and that for ‘who makes alive’ [hoveh] have nothing in common.”
The association of Eve with a “rib” and the “living” appear to be the common features in both the Sumerian and the biblical accounts. In that regard, the Sumerian myth may well be a garbled record of the same oral tradition about the inception of the human race. But the explanation in Sumer, of course, is set in an account with numerous deities and with petty quarrels and misadventures.
But no real explanation has been achieved as yet. It is not necessary to assume that the Hebrew wanted to promote the same pun that the Sumerian Dilmun poem did. The point of the Hebrew story actually takes off in another direction. In fact, Genesis 2:19 had just noted the animals had also been formed “out of the ground.” This only emphasized the fact that Adam lacked the kind of companion he needed.
In order to teach the close connection that woman has with man, the text does not say that God also created her from “the ground” or “the dust of the ground”; instead, she came from one of Adam’s ribs. Thus the phrase “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” pointed not only to the woman’s origin, but also to the closeness of her marriage relationship and the partnership she was to share with her mate.
It is not without significance that the Hebrew word for “rib” appears nowhere else with this meaning in the Hebrew Bible; its usual meaning is “side.” Thus, as some of the Reformers put it, woman was not taken from man’s feet, as if she were beneath him, or from his head, as if she were over him, but from his side, as an equal with him.
Some have tried to relate “rib” to the space or cavity of the body of Adam on the strange assumption that man was originally bisexual. The attempt is then made to substitute the word for female sex organs in place of “rib.” But this attempt is foiled from the start, for what will we make of “one of the man’s ribs”?
The point is that man and woman together share a commonality and partnership observed nowhere else in the created order. To emphasize this closeness, God actually took a real part from the side of the man as he brought to life for the first time this new creation called woman.
Kaiser, Walter C., et. al., Hard Sayings of the Bible, (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press) 1997.
It has become customary for many in recent years to point to the Sumerian “Dilmun poem” as being the best way to explain this association of Eve with a rib. The Sumerian name for “rib” is téÆ (pronounced tee). But the Sumerian word ti also means “to make alive.” These two facts are necessary background information to understand the myth that was told in Sumer.
It happened that the Sumerian water-god, Enki, fell sick, with eight of his organs or bodily parts being affected. A fox promised, if properly rewarded, to bring back the great mother-goddess Ninhursag, who had disappeared after an argument with Enki. Upon her reappearance she brought into existence eight corresponding healing deities, and Enki was restored in time. In order to heal Enki’s rib the goddess created Nin-ti, “the lady of the rib,” which may also be translated as “the lady who makes alive.”
Now it is true that Adam called the woman that God had formed from his rib “Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Gen 3:20). Samuel Noah Kramer commented, “It was this, one of the most ancient of literary puns, which was carried over and perpetuated in the biblical paradise story, although here, of course, it loses its validity, since the Hebrew word for ‘rib’ [tseµlaµ>] and that for ‘who makes alive’ [hoveh] have nothing in common.”
The association of Eve with a “rib” and the “living” appear to be the common features in both the Sumerian and the biblical accounts. In that regard, the Sumerian myth may well be a garbled record of the same oral tradition about the inception of the human race. But the explanation in Sumer, of course, is set in an account with numerous deities and with petty quarrels and misadventures.
But no real explanation has been achieved as yet. It is not necessary to assume that the Hebrew wanted to promote the same pun that the Sumerian Dilmun poem did. The point of the Hebrew story actually takes off in another direction. In fact, Genesis 2:19 had just noted the animals had also been formed “out of the ground.” This only emphasized the fact that Adam lacked the kind of companion he needed.
In order to teach the close connection that woman has with man, the text does not say that God also created her from “the ground” or “the dust of the ground”; instead, she came from one of Adam’s ribs. Thus the phrase “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” pointed not only to the woman’s origin, but also to the closeness of her marriage relationship and the partnership she was to share with her mate.
It is not without significance that the Hebrew word for “rib” appears nowhere else with this meaning in the Hebrew Bible; its usual meaning is “side.” Thus, as some of the Reformers put it, woman was not taken from man’s feet, as if she were beneath him, or from his head, as if she were over him, but from his side, as an equal with him.
Some have tried to relate “rib” to the space or cavity of the body of Adam on the strange assumption that man was originally bisexual. The attempt is then made to substitute the word for female sex organs in place of “rib.” But this attempt is foiled from the start, for what will we make of “one of the man’s ribs”?
The point is that man and woman together share a commonality and partnership observed nowhere else in the created order. To emphasize this closeness, God actually took a real part from the side of the man as he brought to life for the first time this new creation called woman.
Kaiser, Walter C., et. al., Hard Sayings of the Bible, (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press) 1997.
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