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What’s the Alternative to Creating Eve from a Rib?
Hint: It’s not a common barbecue staple.
When God created Eve, many people found themselves asking why He specifically chose a rib. This divine surgery gives a glimpse into God’s thought process, but the rib seems to be an odd choice. Any other part of the body would have worked, so why this particular bone…if it was a bone at all?
Lizzie Berne Degar, a chaplain, teacher, and Bible scholar, raised an alternative to the rib theory. She thinks that, at one point, Adam had a uterus and it got lost in translation.
The Hebrew word tselas ( צַלְעָה) usually translates to “plank” or “ridge”, referring to something narrow and hard. Given that human ribs generally fit this description, one may rest their case for the rib there. However, it also translates to “side-chambers” or “cells”. Individually, ribs don’t fit this description. Rather, the uterus is closer to this description.
When finished with his surgery, God closed up the flesh underneath (tatennah תַּחַת) this chamber. Since the internal organs underneath the ribs are already closed, there isn’t any need to seal them off again. In other words, it makes more anatomical sense to close flesh underneath a uterus than it does to close flesh underneath a rib. External male genitalia are said to be signs of this…
