God’s Word for You
Genesis 2:23 Here she is at last!
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, September 1, 2026
23 Then the man said: “Here she is at last!
Bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
We would love to know what Eve thought in this first hour of her life, which was also her wedding day. She was brought by God to the first and finest man in the world, second only to Christ himself. But we are given only the sermon Adam preached, which was both a statement of faith and a declaration of love. Not many men have even attempted such a proclamation; no one has matched Adam’s beautiful words, his poetry, his precise theology, while never once setting aside the event or taking his eyes from his bride.
He exclaims: “Here she is at last!” In Hebrew, zot ha-pá’am. The noun pá’am can mean a foot (Psalm 58:10, English), or a step or stroke, the clatter of a turning chariot wheel (Judges 5:28), or even an anvil (Isaiah 41:7). As an idiom, it often means “at last,” as if the stroke or beat or footfall has finally arrived. This is the meaning here. Adam is delighted that the female (zot, “she”!), has arrived.
Next, Adam says, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” This is the usual Hebrew way of expressing a superlative, the “best” of something. Solomon calls his love song the “Song of Songs” (best of songs), and the Lamb of God is called “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Revelation 17:14). But here, Adam’s words do more than this. He is expressing the unity of their marriage. He and she are now one: One body, one flesh.
It is as if Adam is saying, “I have seen all the animals. I have carefully considered the females that God provided to produce young for each of their kinds, but they do not concern me at all. Here at last, here she is! Here at last is the woman who is a delight to me, and here at last is the woman who is part of me; we are one.
In his inspired words, we see an echo of God’s design for all mankind and our relationship with him. For God often links human marriage and the union of Christ and the church, even going so far as to compare idolatry with the sin of adultery (Jeremiah 3:6; Ezekiel 16:36-38; Hosea 4:15). Paul teaches this: “I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him” (2 Corinthians 11:2). And John saw this vision: “I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem (that is, the true Christian Church) coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). And so St. Ambrose said: “If the union of Adam and Eve is a great mystery in Christ and in the Church, it is certain that as Eve was bone of the bones of her husband and flesh of his flesh, we also are members of Christ’s body, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh” (“Letters to Laymen” 85).
Finally, Adam says, “She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Her noun, “woman,” in Hebrew is ishah, or more properly ishshah, which Adam himself explains as meaning “she was taken out of man.” For man is ish and woman ishshah. Luther makes the connection: “Adam says that Eve must be called ishshah, as though for ‘wife’ you would say ‘she-man’ from man, a heroic woman who performs manly acts.” Luther’s observation stands up in Hebrew and also in the Latin text his students followed, for in Latin the translation here has that she will be called ‘virago’ (heroic woman), for she was taken from ‘viro’ (hero). Without knowing this Latin detail, I remember translating the title for the wife in Proverbs 31 as “heroic wife” when working on that chapter.
Medieval law said, “The wife shines by reason of her husband’s rays,” which meant, “Whatever the husband has, this the wife has and possesses in its entirety.” They have a partnership in everything, for whatever he has, now she has, and so on. Their children are theirs, as are their other things: food, home and furnishings, bed and bedding, livestock, vehicle, bank account, books and bookcases—everything. She shares in his property, and he in hers, and they share their life together.
Adam’s joyful song exposes sin with its inspired definition of the union of husband and wife:
- Marriage must not be entered into lightly, without regard to faith or the consideration of one’s soul. An unbelieving spouse is a dangerous and spiritually deadly error.
- Each spouse must have the utmost respect for one another, holding each other up high in their hearts even above the place of their dear parents, as Jesus teaches quoting from this chapter of Genesis: “‘The two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one” (Matthew 19:5).
- Each spouse must seek out the other for their dearest and most intimate companionship, in body, heart, and mind. They must share more than their bed (and this must be kept pure) but also their most cherished thoughts and desires in life, so that they are truly one flesh in every way.
Spare us from these errors, O Lord! Forgive us our sins, our conceits, our neglectfulness, our selfishness, and, oh, forgive us our short tempers where compassion and understanding is needed! For to be a spouse and to be, God-willing, a parent, is also the greatest joy and gift God gives his people.
Pray that he blesses you with such fine gifts, the dearest path of the Christian on earth.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.