The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:20-24
The word "rib" is tesla
in Hebrew, which means "from the side."
It's not so important that God took a
rib as it is that he took something from the side of the man. It was meant to indicate that woman would live
side-by-side with man.
If he took a piece of man's foot to
make a woman, God would be saying, "Man, stomp on the woman and make her
your slave." If he took a piece of
man's back or backside, God would be saying, "Man, make the woman follow
you and go wherever you go."
Instead, he intended woman to be a
suitable helper working side-by-side with man.
A companion, not a slave.
The image also seems to say that once a
man and a woman come together they become complete, which is why they stand
together at the altar during a wedding ceremony. The missing part of the man (the figurative “rib”)
reunites with him by his side and they become one.
A husband and wife are the completion
of their own missing pieces now fulfilled.
They in turn give birth to an incomplete son or daughter who must find
their own spouse to become complete.
A man grows up incomplete but thinks
this is the way he is always supposed to be.
Then a woman comes along and he gets a strange feeling. "Why does this woman make me feel
different?" The new feeling is
completeness. The missing parts are
coming together, making him whole.