“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:26-27, 31).
So Adam was created first and later Eve on the sixth day. After Adam was acting creative, like God, by naming all the animals, “there was not found an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:20). This shows that Adam was made to be a sociable person. One reason why God gave the animals to Adam to name them all was to show him that no created animal could be a suitable companion for him. While each class of animals had its mate of the same inward nature, outward form and habits, only he had no companion. The word for “help meet” means “aid” so God designed two human beings to work and fit together not just physically but in every way.
So God took the action again and “caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof” (Genesis 2:21). This was the first anaesthetic and it was not a light but a deep sleep so that he would not know anything about the operation. In v23 Adam showed that he knew that Eve was, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore God could have given him a vision while He effortlessly but interestedly He performed the “operation”. God “made it a deep sleep, that so the opening of his side might be no grievance to him: while he knows no sin, God will take care he shall feel no pain.’ (Wesley)
The Hebrew word “tsela, a rib (as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, i.e. leaf); hence, a side, literally (of a person) …” (Strong’s Concordance) ‘And he took one of his ribs] It is immaterial whether we render elu tsela a rib, or a part of his side, for it may mean either: some part of man was to be used on the occasion, whether bone or flesh it matters not; though it is likely, from verse Genesis 2:23, that a part of both was taken; for Adam, knowing how the woman was formed, said, This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone. God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the earth, as he had formed the man; but had He done so, she must have appeared in his eyes as a distinct being, to whom he had no natural relation. But as God formed her out of a part of the man himself, he saw she was of the same nature, the same identical flesh and blood, and of the same constitution in all respects, and consequently having equal … rights. This at once ensured his affection, and excited his esteem.’ (Adam Clarke)
God did not form Eve out of the ground, as He had done with Adam, but out of Adam’s rib, or part of his side, with the flesh on it (see 2:23). God used Adam’s rib to form Eve to show that they were actually the same created being. Eve was not made out of his head to be greater than him, nor from his feet so she could be trampled on, but from his side i.e. near his heart so as to be dear to him and treated with moderation, respect, and affection. Genesis 2:22, “the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man”. Therefore God framed the woman, in a most comely way, a little distance from Adam, to whom He first presented her for their mutual blessing. Eve was brought into being to strengthen and be a real help to Adam. She was made from the same bodily materials as him and she was in every part as perfect a creation as the man and every way made according to God’s image and likeness. Whatever “loss” that rib caused to Adam, God was more than able to make up for it afterwards but we are not told how He did so.
This bringing together (2:24) is the first picture of marriage in the Bible.