2:19-20 — 19Now the Lord God had formed1 out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
[T - OL ]
Readers of Genesis tend to pass over this account too quickly, but it is an amazing account. Surely an all-wise and knowing God knew that none of the animals He had made would be a suitable companion for the man! So why did He bother with this apparently futile exercise? To appreciate the answer we need to understand something about what it means to name something.
It is a popularly held view that, in the Bible, to name something is to exercise authority over it. According to this view, in making the man name each of the animals Yahweh brings before him the man learns to exercise dominion over them. Such an explanation, however, forgets the present context, which is about finding a suitable help for the man. A comprehensive review of the data also shows that the idea of naming is to exercise authority is also specious. Naming is, first of all, an exercise in discernment. Good naming forces the person naming to think hard about what he sees and observes, and good names always say something perceptive about the object named. In naming each of the animal brought before him, Adam discerned what it was, and most importantly (those who think of their poodles as their children not withstanding), what it was not, i.e., none of them was a "suitable helper," "a helper fit for him" (ESV, RSV), "a helper comparable to him" (NKJ), "an help meet for him" (KJV). The exercise was not vain or futile: it helped Adam learn to discern things for himself what the animals were—they were just beasts—and, more importantly, what he was, a human. Only in this way was he prepared for understanding and appreciating what he would soon be gifted with. Such is the wisdom of God.2
At this point let me turn aside, as the author would later do in v24, and reflect on what this may mean for us. I suggest that here is a paradigm for parenting which we often forget. Parenting involves, at the most fundamental level, providing as well as we can—food and safety—for our children. Apart from this, we model God when we help our children to discover who they are—as God had done with Adam in the exercise with the animals—as well as to understand the horizons for discovering and appreciating what they are meant to be. Apart from the basic provisions, it is easy to tell how effective a person is as a parent: ask his early/mid teenage child what she wants to do with her life. To be sure, most of teenagers will not have made up their minds and would rattle off a number of "maybes." That is a sure indication that, if their view is not fixed yet (and should not be expected to) they are at least stretching up to see it. Those who have absolutely no clue, however, are red flags indicating a critical gap in parenting responsibility and/or competence. As a preacher we can do much to help. Casually survey the teenagers in your congregation to catch a glimpse of how deep the lack runs, and teach about it. Even a well-phrased passing remark can wake parents to the need that many are not aware of.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016