The First Marriage

After the creation of Adam, “God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make a helper comparable to him.’” God gave Adam a companion fitted for him, who would be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from Adam’s side. She was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, loved and protected by him. She was his second self, showing the close union that should exist in this relationship. “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.” “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one” (Ephesians 5:29; Genesis 2:24).BOE 13.2

“Marriage is honorable” (Hebrews 13:4). It is one of the two institutions that, after the fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race and elevates the physical, intellectual, and moral nature.BOE 13.3

“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Trees of every variety were in this garden, many of them heavy with delicious fruit. There were lovely vines, growing upright, their branches drooping under their load of tempting fruit. It was the work of Adam and Eve to train the branches of the vine to form bowers, thus making a home for themselves from living trees covered with foliage and fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit had the power to sustain life forever.BOE 13.4

“The heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” “Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed it was very good.” No taint of sin or shadow of death marred the beautiful creation. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).BOE 13.5