Genesis 2:20, commentary and pictures

Adam gave names to every living creature brought before him, naming each from personal knowledge of its nature and habits. As he named them he saw that each had been given a companion, yet among them all there was none of his own nature to love and be loved and none suited to be his companion. Man was not made to dwell in solitude, for without human companionship even the beauty and work of Eden and even communion with angels could not give perfect happiness. God Himself met that lack by making Eve and giving her to Adam in the first marriage, which He instituted in Eden. That original order is the joining of one man to one wife, and when its divine principles are obeyed marriage guards purity and happiness, provides for man's social needs, and elevates his physical, intellectual, and moral nature.

Naming in Eden

Genesis 2:20 belongs to the history of humanity's first parents living in holy innocence and communion with God in their Eden home before they transgressed God's law and before sin entered the world. That Eden home at creation was made for happiness, an emblem of heaven and the love of God, with beautiful flowers showing loveliness and fragrance, precious fruit trees bearing treasures for man's good, and birds singing on every tree that Adam in untainted purity delighted to hear. After Adam was created every living creature was brought before him to receive its name, including cattle and fowl of the air and every beast of the field, and also plants, and he named every creature.

He named each living creature from personal familiarity with its nature and habits, extending from the mighty leviathan among the waters to the insect mote in the sunbeam. The naming reveals intellectual power little less than that of the angels, exercised as a student receiving direct instruction from the all-wise Creator with no obscuring veil between, holding converse with living things and learning the secrets of their life and the laws and operations of nature. This naming was done while innocent, and when he is restored to Paradise he will recognize the trees and flowers he had named there.

As he named them he saw that each creature had been given a companion, but among them there was none equal to man, none of the same nature to love and to be loved, and none that was a suitable companion for him. The verse means man was not made to dwell in solitude but to be a social being, and without human companionship even the beautiful scenes and delightful employments of Eden could not yield perfect happiness, and even communion with angels could not satisfy his desire for sympathy and companionship.

Marriage Provided by God

The lack found in Adam at the naming of the animals leads directly to the first marriage celebrated by God. God Himself instituted marriage when He made Eve to be Adam's companion and gave her to Adam, and Adam loved her deeply. The Sabbath and the family were both instituted in Eden and are joined in God's purpose. Marriage has for its originator the Creator of the universe, is honorable, was one of the first gifts of God to man, and is one of the two institutions brought beyond the gates of Paradise after the fall.

God's wise arrangement and order and law for marriage from the beginning is monogamy, that God gave to Adam one wife to be his help and one man is joined to one wife. Having a plurality of wives or polygamy is contrary to that original order. After the transgression and fall men followed their own carnal and sinful desires and changed God's order by multiplying wives to themselves. The more they did so the more they increased in wickedness and unhappiness, with rapidly increasing crime and wretchedness. God created the race male and female on the principle of a division of labor, with the sexes not equal in faculties, capacities, duties, and adaptations for duty, and not set as rivals in a common arena where both wrestle for the prizes of life in all business, pursuits, and professions.

Each sex is the complement of the other, and it takes both to complete either, with unlikeness as remarkable as likeness in body, mind, and heart. From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot every vital organ by form, locality, and function reveals which sex it belongs to, and mind and heart have corresponding differences in aesthetical and spiritual endowments. This created distinction requires a universal and unmistakable distinction in costume, which guards the wearer wherever she goes and restrains society from becoming a Sodom at large. Marriage is lawful and the fulfillment of duty, not sinful in itself, with all God's laws marvelously adapted to meet the nature of man. Sin comes not from marrying but from perverting what in itself is lawful by corrupting God's gifts to minister to selfish desires.

Marriage was designed by Heaven to bless humanity. When its divine principles are recognized and obeyed it is a blessing that guards the purity and happiness of the race, provides for man's social needs, and elevates the physical, intellectual, and moral nature. Marriage carries responsibilities beyond the couple's love for one another, including responsibility for the physical, mental, and moral well-being of their children and for the influence their family has on society. When entered without regard for its responsibilities and the welfare of children it can become a curse. Sin marred God's purpose for happiness and brought care and anguish that rends hearts, so it is not His order for people to be crowded into cities huddled in terraces and tenements.

The image of God is to be impressed upon souls again, angels are to fill human hearts with the peace of heaven, His people are to be a joyful people reposing in Him and realizing His goodness, mercy and love, rejoicing in the sights and sounds of beauty and loveliness and fragrance that God still wants men and women to enjoy, and sinners are to be converted, for God has not abandoned the earth. That transgression in the Eden home before Adam and Eve transgressed God's law must not be repeated, but answered with obedience to all of God's requirements. Overcoming as Christ overcame by perfect obedience to His Father's commandments brings back to the Eden home. Adam in Eden in his innocence had a human nature unweakened and undefiled by sin, and for the Son of God to take even that innocent nature would have been an almost infinite humiliation. Jesus instead took humanity as weakened and defiled by four thousand years of sin, accepting like every child of Adam the results of heredity as shown in His earthly ancestors, to share human sorrows and temptations and to give the example of a sinless life.