From His Side, Not His Rib: What The Hebrew Actually Says
A Corrective To a Bible Verse Weaponized Against Women
“So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs [ṣēlāʿ] and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made [bāná ] a woman from the rib [ṣēlāʿ] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”
Genesis 2:21–22, NIV
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The Miss: Sadly, our modern cultural and social context can tend to frame our understanding of words and verses. Today when we think of a “rib” we think of a part of the human body that is helpful but not necessary. It is very possible for someone to fracture, crack, or even break a rib and the pain is immense but it’s not necessarily life or death.
When we take that understanding and import it onto Genesis 2:21 the conclusion can be that woman is an important part of creation, but since she comes from Adam and his rib, she still comes in 2nd best. In other words, yea; it could be painful to lose her but its not life or death. She comes from “just a rib” after all. Right?
