design before destruction

Hey neighbor,

Yesterday, I asked: What changes if we reframe “the Fall” as “the Attack”?

Today, let’s go back to the beginning to see what was happening before everything got twisted.

🌿 In the beginning...there was harmony.

Genesis 1 and 2 set the stage:

God is bursting with creative energy and execution is flowing. This Creator has created the earth and a whole solar system, separated water from dry land, spoken oodles of animals, plants, sea creatures and birds into existence.

Somewhere in there, both man and woman are made in the image of God, together:

“So God created man in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.” (Genesis 1:27, CSB)

No ranking or subordination language.
Same likeness. Same image-bearing. Same source.

And here's the thing that's crucial to understand: God gave them equal authority and responsibility from the very beginning.

Before there's any mention of gardens or individual creation stories, God says:

"Let us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth."

Notice that? Not "he will rule and she will help." Not "he will rule and she will submit."
Not even "he will rule and she'll clean up the kitchen so he can rest."

THEY. Together. Joint authority. Joint responsibility. Co-missioned over all of creation.

And then God blesses them—both of them—saying:

"Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth."

This isn't a command given to Adam that Eve gets to overhear. This is God speaking directly to both of them. Equal partners in the biggest job description in history: co-ruling creation itself.

But Adam comes on the scene first...formed from the dust of the ground and breathed into life by the very breath of God.
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And God places Adam in a gorgeous garden with the job to tend and care for it. To work in it.

Then God gives him one rule: "Every tree is yours to eat from. Except that one in the middle- the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat from that one is the day you die."

Because...boundaries.

And then God says something super curious: "It's not good for the man to be alone. I'll make an ally that corresponds to him. "

Now, God could have spoken and made a woman appear right then. But instead, the Creator proceeds to parade every wild animal, every bird, every creature out of the ground past Adam, telling him to name them.

So, Adam's naming them all—lions, eagles, deer, rabbits. And with each one, an awareness has to be growing in his heart: none of these correspond rightly to me.

Every single creature has its match, its mate, its companion.

But not Adam.

No companion of a similar nature to him was found.

So God, intentional and tender and mysterious as can be, puts Adam into a deep sleep. What's coming is sacred.

Then God takes part of Adam's very self, a bone from his side, and carefully, lovingly, strategically, forms a woman.

Then God wakes Adam up and presents this new being to him.

Imagine that moment.

Adam's eyes open....and there. she. is.

The moment Adam sees her, something in his chest explodes. It's not just attraction— it's recognition. This is what was missing. Who has been missing.

This is the one he's been hoping to see looking back at him in the face of every. single. creature. in the entire. world. that has been paraded by him.

He breaks into poetry. Beautiful, gratitude-soaked words pour out of him—the first love poem in history:

"This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken from man" (Genesis 2:23, CSB)

Not a servant. Not a subordinate. Not a sidekick.
His equal. His ally. His ezer kenegdo. His strong and powerful companion.
A side by side understanding, not a top over bottom situation.

He's not claiming ownership or superiority. He's expressing belonging.

'We're made of the same stuff. We match. We fit. You're the same kind of different as me!'

And I wonder how she felt, laying eyes on him for the first time?

Was there an unspoken knowing between them?

Did she already have a sense of him ...having come from him?

Did she match his energy?

Did time seem to stand still?

After all, she didn’t have the experience of naming all the creatures and slowly realizing everyone else had a counterpart—but her. She was born into belonging. She received the gift of life, and there he already was.

And now here they were.

Two humans living with full agency, empowered in their individual personhood, naked and unashamed, relating in unbroken communion with God and in a shared reality with one another.

Walking in the cool of the evening, frolicking in the flowers, dirt under their fingernails and the smell of the outdoors enveloping them as they co-rule together, empowered by the love of their Creator.

Life itself was poetry in motion.

Basking in the bliss,

Camille

ps: All Scriptures are from Genesis 1–2 (CSB). Tickle your imagination further by exploring the story in its fullness.
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