Expanded Context
This verse cannot be taken in isolation from those immediately around it. So let me quote Gen 2:20b-25 (KJV; slightly reformatted and some Hebrew words noted):
First, the previous three uses of the masculine noun בָּשָׂר (
bāśār, "flesh") are quite clear to be referring to the physical skin/meaty part of the human body, contrasting explicitly with the bone in v.23. This meaning then should be expected for the term in v.24 because of the use in the immediate context.
Second, Adam's statement is key to the meaning. He refers to this (זֹאת; feminine form of זֶה, "this [one]") female of his own kind (contrasted with the v.19-20 creatures) as
now (פַּ֫עַם) bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. The term פַּ֫עַם often has the idea of an occurrence of something, and thus the word used when speaking of repetitive occurrences, or X number of "times" of something, including a "once" time idea (e.g., Gen 18:32, Jud 16:28).1 Hence why the translation of "now" with respect to timing, but the word has the definite article on it in the text (הַפַּ֗עַם). The paring of the article with this word indicating time makes it most likely demonstrative,2 and v.23a can be rephrased like so:
What is Adam making this statement in reference to? It was in response to God having "brought her unto" him (v.22). Thus, while Eve was indeed literally taken from Adam's side (v.21), and so literally came
from his flesh and bones, it is
at the presentation of her to him by God as the companion "meet for him" (v.20b), or "comparable to him" (NKJV), that Adam acknowledges as the timing of when "this once"
she (as an
individual herself) is considered bone and flesh of his. So Adam is utilizing the literal facts of her creation as a foundation for making a figurative reference about their relationship now as two individuals, doing so as an acknowledgment of the unity of the companionship he was to have with her. They would function together as companions, but together as if they were one flesh, one being.
Third, v.24 is then an affirmation made that this
uniting of a man and a woman in
companionship together was to function the same for all generations of mankind, the two were to be as if they were one flesh, one being.
It is interesting that from the context it is difficult to determine for sure if v.24 is intended to convey:
- A continuation of Adam's statement, whereby as head of the race he is making a statement about how this marital companionship shall be construed later.
- A direct verbal response from God to Adam's statement, showing God's greater intent behind His statement about the need for a man to have a companion (v.18) that started the process of Eve's creation.
- A reflective comment of the author of Genesis (Moses, and by my view of how Scripture came about in inspiration, God through Moses).
Whatever the basis for the statement, Adam's reflection is used as the basis for the institution of marital companionship, the leaving of the ones who beget (the father and mother), and the uniting of the two that are intended to function as one on earth. The unity was in part to beget more people themselves (Gen 1:27-28a) and in part to achieve the dominion granted mankind over the earth and its creatures (Gen 1:26, 28b; one person could not properly oversee all the earth and its creatures alone), both of which are why the creatures of v.19-20 were unsuitable.
This is likely the intent of Moses for the phrasing of v.24, and God's point through Moses (and possibly Adam's point, if it is a continuation of his speech). So
how they become one flesh is by their union as companions meet for each other, a union that happens once as the man moves from the parent's familial authority to become his own family authority in union with that one woman who joins him at that time to do that with—i.e., marriage, including the physical (sexual) union intended to go with that. God's approval is on that union, whatever the cultural accouterments, assuming such a union is in fact a commitment of such companionship, and not merely a liaison of the flesh.4
לְבָשָׂ֥ר ("flesh")
Genesis 2:24 states that the man and women shall be/become one flesh (לְבָשָׂ֥ר). The root word בָּשָׂר (
basar) is used quite often in the Old Testament (270 times). It is usually translated as flesh, but occasionally body.
The key to understanding the word here is to notice that it is also used in Genesis 2:21 and 2:23:
The author of Genesis is making an analogy. The flesh (literally a rib) that was taken from Adam to create Eve is metaphorically "returned" to create a whole. Adam is missing apart of himself. He is literally and metaphorically incomplete without Eve. Likewise, a man is incomplete without a woman. The author is saying that man needs to be united with woman.
