God Creates More “Man” (a woman)

March 6, 2026 By Joel Reads Bible

In this chapter, God makes Adam before day 3 (after making him on the 6th day in the previous chapter). He also tries to find him a helper among the animals, but when that doesn’t work, he makes a woman (which might come back to haunt Adam and the rest of humanity) out of his rib of all things.

More Like Genesis Number 2

The Prequel that Forgot it was a Sequel

Welcome back to the companion guide for Joel Reads Bible on YouTube! Make sure you watch the episode too—it’s a bit different than this article. Also, sorry for the shoddy video, it gets better in chapter 6.

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If you believe the creation account in Genesis 1 as literal, Genesis 2 is going to upset you. It’s literally different.

Omnipotent Beings Need Naps

Genesis 2:1–3

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Bible hasn’t told us that God is all-powerful yet. Who knows if it ever will, or if this just becomes something cult leaders reckon must be true later on. But it seems unlikely that an all-powerful being would need a break, or that he would consider anything “work”.

But maybe he’s doing this because he knows we’ll need a break. How sweet! But he made us in a specific way that we get drained, tired, exhausted. How mean! I don’t think I’d like to work constantly, but I don’t really enjoy being tired, either. This seems like an unnecessary feature of creation which was intended since the very beginning.

Think of the implications: our fallible bodies, which the cult usually claims fail due to enjoying a fruit salad, were always meant to feel fatigue. Maybe we weren’t perfect working machines before “the fall.”

Unless, of course, this bit of the creation account is just a way to explain the day off this culture was already taking.

The Re-Telling

It’s interesting that when you’ve read a bit of the Bible, some things jump out at you. Here, it’s the weird way the narrative pretends it’s about to move forward, but then just repeats itself. This is the storytelling equivalent of taking one step forward and two steps back. It’s not too bad here, but it gets VERY confusing in later chapters and books.

One of the ways it gets confusing is that it’s simply not the same story. As we see here:

Genesis 2:5

No shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up…

Apparently, there were no plants because there was no man to work the field (and get tired). But in chapter 1, plants are made on Day 3, which is way before man arrives on Day 6.

We run into a similar problem with animals.

Genesis 2:18–20

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

It appears he made the animals FOR the man in chapter 2, but he made the animals BEFORE the man in chapter 1.

More Surprises

Genesis 2:15

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

As I hinted at a few sentences ago, Adam was put in the garden to work. Why? Why would a perfect man in a perfect world need to exert himself (and get tired)? Did perfect weeds grow and perfect fruit rot? Did perfect soil need to be perfectly plowed? It shouldn’t have, because we see that toil becomes a punishment in chapter 3.

But there was work to do—enough work that God felt it was a privation of good (aka evil) that man should be alone. So, if you’re single, you’re an abomination. If you’re an incel, God hates you. All of this seems to crumble under the weight of the “perfect world turned topsy-turvy by a tasty treat” make-believe doctrine. It seems more like an explanation for children about why folks do farming.

There’s also a massive surprise where God goes through the motions with Adam to make him a helper… but fails. How did he not know that all the animals he made wouldn’t work as helpers? He’s omniscient, right?

Maybe secretly.

So, since none of the beasts were good enough, God created another man (a woman) out of his rib in a totally “this isn’t a myth, but a true story” sort of way.

God also takes the time to name all the animals. There was a parade of all of them—all options as helpers, all created by the good God, all perfect in their pre-fall form. Adam became familiar with all the millions of species on the planet in a day. We know it’s a day because in chapter 1, he made man and woman in the same sentence, and in this chapter, he made them before he took his nap. We haven’t even gotten to fitting them on a boat yet, but counting this many animals and naming them within 24 hours as one man is completely impossible.

We will talk more about it in chapter 3, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason for Adam to distrust any of the potential helpers among God’s perfect creation…

Again, this tale seems like a fun, creative way to explain human interactions with animals and our domination in the animal kingdom, but it certainly doesn’t make actual sense.

In the day…

In verse 17, God says about the magical knowledge fruit (not to be confused with the magical life fruit) that “in the day that you eat of it” they will surely die. Just note that.

Finally, the woman

The Bible is strikingly misogynistic, as it was shat out of a patriarchal culture.

The cult will try to sell you on the rib passage being an indicator of a sort of equality—that she was made from his side, meant to be by his side (not made from a bone in his foot or his cranium or his pants).

In the narrative, however, she is subordinate to him as his helper, and in the next chapter, she’s going to be made to be “ruled over” by the man. She’s also a complete afterthought, which God makes only when the other animals won’t fill the niche. How insulting to actual women to image them only existing because a capybara wouldn’t be very good at loading the dishwasher.

And this attitude towards women isn’t going to improve in the Old Testament, the New Testament, or within the cult as a whole. This inferiority, which starts here, will be internalized by little girls and, more dangerously, little boys in every culture the cult touches.

Public Nudity = Perfection

This part of the story—Adam and Eve being nude together and feeling no shame—is really nice, actually. It’s obviously meant to be an explanation of why we now wear clothes, but it’s kind of nice to think of a perfect world where we can all just walk around, comfortable in our own skin. How pleasant.

Conclusion

This chapter sets a lot up for the next chapter, but not as much as Christians think it does for the rest of humanity (certainly from the perspective of the Old Testament).

Thanks for reading! Please watch the episode and subscribe. I’ll have cheat sheets available of all the Biblical contradictions and hate towards women as I uncover these things!

Read Full Transcript

Preview and Intro “But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. I think that that was what happened. God was like, ‘Check out these animals. Can they help you? This is a spider monkey. Do you think it can help you?’ ‘Okay, it’s throwing its crap. All right, that’s not great.’ ‘Uh, how about this? It’s a sloth.’ You do not want the sloth; they are lazy. I don’t even know why I made them. That was a huge mistake.

Welcome to Joel Reads Bible. We are reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the whole thing in order. And we’re here on Genesis chapter 2. God has created everything on Earth. What could possibly happen next? We don’t know.

Genesis chapter 2: Verse 1 Thus the heavens and the Earth were completed in all their vast array. Verse 2 By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work.

He was tired. It hasn’t told us that God is all-powerful, all-loving, or all-knowing, so we could just surmise from this that God is someone that can get tired, and that—that’s fine. It sort of feels a little human.

Verse 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work creating that he had done. That’s not a stretch, right? My days off are holy too for me. You know what I mean? Like, these are my rest days. I love them; I respect them. This is a sacred day for me, so I get that.

Verse 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. Oh, I thought we just had that. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens and Verse 5 no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord had not yet sent the rain on the Earth.

By the way, I don’t want to do any foreshadowing, but the rain… I wish he had never sent that at all. We’re going to get to that. We’re going to get to that. We’re going to get to that.

And there was no man to work the ground, Verse 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Verse 7 The Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Okay, so I don’t want to go back because we’re moving forward here. I just wanted to remember that on the third day, God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place,’ and then he said, ‘Let us have all the vegetation, all the seed-bearing stuff, every—all the plants.’ But then just at the beginning of chapter 2 here, we see that God had made the heavens and the Earth and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up. That’s when he breathed life into man.

It just seems like God created man in chapter 1 on the sixth day, and then in chapter 2, it seems like he created man on the third day. So I’m not sure which one actually happened, but one of them 100% for sure probably actually happened. This is the infallible word of God, so this isn’t a mistake. It’s just something—it’s just a little like a trick of the mind somehow. I’m not connecting. I’m sure what’s going to happen is that the truth of this confusion will be revealed to me at some point. Maybe we just have to keep reading, or maybe just forget about it.

Verse 8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. Verse 9 And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

I love those types of trees. They look good and they have good food.

In the middle of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I don’t like the sound of that.

Verse 10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. Verse 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Treasure map, anyone? Want to go to Havilah with me? Let’s go get some gold.

Verse 12 The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.

Okay, so I don’t know why there’s not an Indiana Jones movie about this and this is actually where Havilah is, and then they go and they get the gold resin.

Verse 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.

Sounds like a weed thing, but whatever.

Verse 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. Ashur? I don’t even know her! And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

We still have the Euphrates. We might still have the Tigris; that sounds familiar. All of these rivers might still be there. I’m not a geometrist, but what I love about this is that God kind of made a natural aqueduct, you know? It’s kind of—and I think this was before Rome did it, because Rome wasn’t even around in Genesis.

Verse 15 So the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Verse 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.’ Okay, thanks! No, wait, whoa whoa whoa whoa. Verse 17 ‘But you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’

Die. When you eat of it, you shall surely die.

Verse 18 The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’

Now, that is a little hint at God’s objective morality. If you’re not for me, you’re against me. If it’s not good, it’s evil. ‘It’s not good for man to be alone’—it’s evil for man to be alone is what I’m getting from that.

Verse 19 Now the Lord God had formed 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.

At first, I thought he was bringing the animals to him to choose a helper. It’s like, ‘Do you want one of these goats to help? Do you want one of the lions to help?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, forget that thought that we need the helper.’ We’re moving on real quick just to talk about naming the animals.

And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. That makes sense; he’s the only guy there. Okay? It would be crazy if he was like, ‘That’s a lion,’ and then God’s like, ‘You can call it that, but just so you know, up here we’re calling it a mane cat.’

Verse 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field.

It’s redundant, but you know, at least what I love about it is it’s so specific. It’s just like, ‘We are not going to let you make any mistakes. We’re going to put every important detail and everything that you need to know into this book. No omissions.’ And that’s what makes it perfect.

But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. I think that that was what happened. God was like, ‘Check out these animals. Can they help you? This is a spider monkey—or at least, what do you call this? Oh, you’re calling it a spider monkey? Perfect. Do you think it can help you? Okay, it’s throwing its crap. All right, that’s not great. Uh, how about this? It’s a sloth. You do not want the sloth; they are lazy. I don’t even know why I made them. That was a huge mistake.’

Verse 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping—which is a great movie, While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock—he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

This is the first instance of plastic surgery, skin grafting.

Verse 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Verse 23 The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “wo-man.”’

Now, this is fun stuff that you can get into in the church. There’s a lot of ‘Wo-man!’ There’s a lot of fun jokes that you can do there. The first two things that I did were a little too cheeky.

‘For she was taken out of man.’ And from then on, he would be pulling out of her.

Verse 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

From one bone.

Verse 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Closing Thoughts So that’s a pretty good chapter. A lot happened. That Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is going to come back to haunt us. We don’t know for sure if this woman is going to come back to haunt us, but Adam doesn’t seem that excited about her to be honest. He’s like, ‘That’s a woman. All right. We’re naked, and it’s cool. You know, I’m cool with it.’ Of course you are! What are you talking about?

Anyway, let’s see what happens in chapter 3. Please subscribe. We are reading the whole entire Bible, so it’s going to be a long haul, but I think it’s going to be a fun long haul. See you next time.”