Eve is presented to Adam by God himself. And just in the same manner as the will of God is prepared to institute marriage, so Adam is prepared to receive Eve with all pleasure and holiness when brought unto him. So even now also the affection of the intended husband toward his betrothed spouse, is of a particular and elevated kind. It is, nevertheless, deeply contaminated with that leprous lust of the flesh which, in righteous Adam, had no existence. It is worthy of our greatest wonder and admiration, that Adam, the moment he glanced his eye on Eve, knew her to be a building formed out of himself. He immediately said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." These are not the words of an ignorant one, nor of one who was a sinner; nor of one who was ignorant of the works and of the creation of God. They are the words of one righteous and wise, and full of the Holy Spirit; of that Holy Spirit who reveals to the world, before ignorant of such high and holy wisdom, that God is the efficient cause of marriage and of man's taking to himself a wife, and that the final cause of marriage is that the wife might be unto her husband a civil, moral and domestic habitation, and cohabitation. This knowledge comes not from the five senses and reason merely. It is a revelation, as we here see, of the Holy Spirit. The expression HAPAAM, "now," "in this instance," or "at length," is by no means useless or superfluous as it may at first seem. That very word in this sentence, uttered by Adam, most beautifully expresses the glad surprise and exulting joy of a noble spirit which had been seeking this delightful meet companion of life and of bed; a companionship full, not only of love, but of holiness. As if Adam had said, I have seen all beasts; I have considered all the females among them given to them of God for the multiplication and preservation of their kind, but all these are nothing to me! This female however is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She is at length what and all I want. With her I desire to live, and with her to obey the will of God in the propagation of a posterity. This is the kind of overflowing feeling of joy and love which this particular word "HAPAAM," used by Adam, is intended to express. Now however this true purity, innocence and holiness are lost. There still remains indeed a feeling of joy and affection in the intended husband toward his spouse; but it is impure and corrupt, on account of sin. The affection of Adam however was most pure, most holy and most grateful to God, when under the excess of it, he said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." She is not made of stone, nor of wood, nor of a lump of earth, as I was. She is nearer to me than all this, for she is made of my own very bones and very flesh. V. 23b. _She shall be called Woman (man-formed), because she was taken out of Man._