The Difficulty
The Hebrew word tsela (צֵלָע) appears about 40 times in the Old Testament, and in every other instance it means “side” — the side of the Ark of the Covenant, the side-chambers of the Temple. The Vulgate’s costa (rib) established the English tradition, but many scholars argue the translation is wrong. This matters theologically: is woman made from one small bone, or from an entire side (half of the original human)?
Responses
Traditional Rib
Tradition: Traditional / Evangelical Summary: God literally removed one of Adam’s ribs; the specificity carries symbolic weight.
The traditional reading following the LXX and Vulgate. The rib is symbolically meaningful: not from the head (to rule) or the foot (to be trampled), but from the side (to be his companion), near the heart (to be loved). Matthew Henry’s famous formulation captures this.
Strengths
- Long tradition
- The symbolic reading preaches beautifully
Weaknesses
- Tsela never means “rib” anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible
Further Reading
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706), on Genesis 2:21–23
- Answers in Genesis, “How Was Eve Created?” (2022)
Side / Half (Equality Reading)
Tradition: Jewish / Academic Summary: God split the original human in two; woman is a full half of humanity.
Many Hebrew scholars and ancient Jewish interpreters (Rashi, the Midrash) note that tsela consistently means “side.” The gendered terms ish and ishah don’t appear until after the division in verse 23. This reading has parallels in Rabbinic traditions that the first human was “male and female” until God separated them.
Strengths
- Linguistically the strongest reading
- Supports full gender equality from the creation narrative
- Rich in Jewish tradition
Weaknesses
- The “closing up the flesh” language sounds surgical, fitting a rib extraction better
Further Reading
- Rashi on Genesis 2:21 — discusses tsela as “side”
- Genesis Rabbah 8:1 — the androgyne tradition
- Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Fortress, 1978), ch. 4
- Ziony Zevit, “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” BAR 41:5 (2015)
Theological-Symbolic
Tradition: Mainline / Pastoral Summary: The narrative is not teaching anatomy but theology — the deep unity and equality of man and woman.
The precise mechanism matters less than the theological claim: woman shares the same substance as man, woman is the climactic creation, and the two are made for partnership (ezer kenegdo, where ezer is the same word used of God as Israel’s helper).
Strengths
- Focuses on what the text is actually arguing
- Ezer as a term for God undercuts any reading of subordination
Weaknesses
- People want to know “but what does tsela mean?”
Further Reading
- Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Fortress, 1978)
- R. David Freedman, “Woman, A Power Equal to Man,” BAR 9:1 (1983)
- Victor Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17 (NICOT, 1990), on Gen 2:18–25