Genesis 2:18 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 2:18-20

Here we have, I. An instance of the Creator's care of man and his fatherly concern for his comfort, Gen. 2:18. Though God had let him know that he was a subject, by giving him a command, (Gen. 2:16, 17), yet here he lets him know also, for his encouragement in his obedience, that he was a friend, and a favourite, and one whose satisfaction he was tender of. Observe, 1. How God graciously pitied his solitude: It is not good that man, this man, should be alone. Though there was an upper world of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:18

And the Lord God said ,.... Not at the same time he gave the above direction and instruction to man, how to behave according to his will, but before that, even at the time of the formation of Adam and which he said either to him, or with himself: it was a purpose or determination in his own mind, and may be rendered, as it is by many, he "had said" F2 ויאמר "dixerat", Vatablus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , on the sixth day, on which man was created: it is not... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 2:18

It is not good that the man should be alone - לבדו lebaddo ; only himself. I will make him a help meet for him; כנגדו עזר ezer kenegdo , a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 2:18

Verse 18 18.It is not good that the man should be alone (136) Moses now explains the design of God in creating the woman; namely, that there should be human beings on the earth who might cultivate mutual society between themselves. Yet a doubt may arise whether this design ought to be extended to progeny, for the words simply mean that since it was not expedient for man to be alone, a wife must be created, who might be his helper. I, however, take the meaning to be this, that God begins,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:18

In anticipation of the ensuing narrative of the temptation and the fall, the historian, having depicted man's settlement in Eden, advances to complete his dramatis personae by the introduction upon the scene of the animals and woman. In the preliminary creation record ( Genesis 1:7-27 ) it is simply stated that God created man, male and female; there is a complete absence of details as to the Divine modus operandi in the execution of these, his last and greatest works. It is one... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 2:18-25

The true life of man. The commencement of human society. First we see man surrounded by cattle, fowl, and beast of the field, which were brought to him by God as to their lord and ruler, that he might name them as from himself. "What he called every living creature was the name thereof." Nothing could better represent the organization of the earthly life upon the basis of man's supremacy. But there is no helpmeet for man ("as before him ," the reflection of himself) in all the lower... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 2:18

- XIII. The Naming of the AnimalsHere man’s intellectual faculties proceed from the passive and receptive to the active and communicative stage. This advance is made in the review and designation of the various species of animals that frequent the land and skies.A new and final need of man is stated in Genesis 2:18. The Creator himself, in whose image he was made, had revealed himself to him in language. This, among many other effects, awakened the social affection. This affection was the index... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 2:18

Genesis 2:18. God said Had said on the sixth day, when the woman was made. It is not good that man should be alone Though there was an upper world of angels and lower world of brutes, yet, there being none of the same rank of beings with himself, he might be truly said to be alone. It is not good: it was neither for man’s comfort, who was formed for society, and not for solitude nor for the accomplishment of God’s purpose in the increase of mankind. A help meet for him כנגדו , ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 2:4-25

2:4-4:26 EARLY HUMAN LIFELife in the Garden of Eden (2:4-25)From this point on, the story concentrates on the people God made, rather than on other features of the created universe. Again the Bible states that the world was not always as it is now, but was prepared stage by stage till it was suitable for human habitation. God created Adam (meaning ‘man’ or ‘mankind’) not out of nothing, but out of materials he had previously created. Like the other animals, Adam had his physical origins in the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 2:18

meet = as his counterpart. read more