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The Watchtower
Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom
Vol. LXX
May 1, 1949
No. 9
WOMAN
"A gracious woman wins respect." -Prov. 11: 16, An Amer. Trans."
1 JEHOVAH God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:
and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." So reads the simple account of the creation of womankind, at Genesis 2:21, 22, American Standard Version. Jehovah made woman and gave her to man. She was out of the man, and she belonged to him. When se was introduced to man, he said: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman [Hebrew: Ishshah], because she was taken out of Man [Hebrew: Ish]." The man therefore accepted her as his wife and took her under his care, recognizing her as his own flesh and so giving her the same attention as his own flesh. -- Gen. 2: 23, 24.
2 The Creator knew the purpose for which he made woman, and this divine purpose determined the woman's relationship to the man. That man's appreciation of her might be full and proper, God let him know that man was alone of his kind and that he needed a counterpart, a helper. As the account says: "And Yahweh God said, It is not good that the man should remain alone, --I will make for him a helper as his counterpart. Now Yahweh God had formed from the ground every living thing of the field and every bird of the heavens, which he brought in unto the man, that he might see what he should call it, -- and whatsoever the man should call it -- any living soul, that should be the name thereof. So the man gave names to all the tame-beasts and to the birds of the heavens, and to all the wild-beasts of the field, --but for man had there not been found a helper as his counterpart." So the Creator made woman to fill a certain relationship to man. (Gen. 2: 18 - 22, Rotherham) To this end he built her a certain way. Her body structure in itself indicated how she was to serve as his counterpart, in a helpful way. Consequently God did not leave her alone, but he made the day of her creation her weeding day. She had been taken from man's side, and by man's side she belonged as his helper. Being built up from a rib under
his arm, she was a close helper for the stronger man to love, guide and care for as part of him.
3 God gave precedence to man by the time-order of his creation. The Jewish-Christian writer Paul gives due weight to this fact, saying: "For Adam was formed first, and then Eve." (1 Tim. 2: 13, An Amer. Trans.) The man already had responsibility toward the lower animals, but when God gave him a wife, an additional responsibility came upon the man, this time toward a creature like him, a woman. He could not shift the burden of this responsibility which the Creator had put upon him as the man of the married couple. No, he must answer to God as to how he took care of this responsibility. He must honor the position in which God placed him. Correspondingly, the woman was brought under and obligation when she was given to man. She could be a real assistant to him. As to how she met her obligation for which she had been created, she, too, must answer to God. "For," says Paul, "man was not made from woman, but woman from man, and man was not created for woman, but woman was for man." --1 Cor. 11: 8, 9, An Amer. Trans.
4 To have the divine approval, each of the couple must harmonize with the divine arrangement and do so gladly and with gratitude. Then there would be no friction between them, but joyous companionship. God did not create them for tension to exists between the as opposites. He made them to fit into each other's lives, for their mutual benefit and to the glory and pleasure of their Maker. That called for love between them. God made them to love each other and thus to serve each other, each one respecting the other's position. Together, they must love God, keeping his commands and fulfilling the divine mandate he gave them: "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the domestic animals, and all the living things that crawl on the earth!" --Gen. 1: 28, An Amer. Trans.
5 What would have resulted had that first human pair kept loving their Creator and loving each other? The divine mandate would by now be nearly fulfilled
