"Benah"...............

My husband, my son and I had a long post-dinner discussion about the word "Benah" used in Genesis....

Here is the word written in Hebrew ...בְּנָא.........it means "to build"......

The discussion originated from the intensive bible study my husband has been doing lately........

This discussion was specifically related to God's creation of woman, from the rib of man........

My husband surprisingly noted that in the beginning of Genesis, it references God's creation of man and woman.....It is not until the second chapter that it speaks of woman being created from one of man's ribs.......

This is where the word "Benah" comes in........my husband asks, "does it mean that God had already created woman and then "built" her up, fine tuning, perhaps, detailing her image?......Was she indeed, already created?".....

In all my own reading and all the bible studies I have attended, this question has never come up......

I don't wish to debate the explanation or my uneducated scriptural knowledge here on this page.....

What has stayed on my heart is the word and spirit of "Benah".........

........I read that God is dissatisfied and his plan is unfulfilled thus far as it related to a suitable helper for Adam.....therefore, Eve must have been so purposefully and so carefully created by God.....In my own small, human mind, I imagine God's hands, whittling away at Adam's rib......deep in thought, with a furrowed brow, planning every hair on her head, the length of her arms and the feminine beauty of her facial features.....Not surprising that she was created from a part of Adams body, so that Adam would feel a deep connection to her, a need for her......He used a rib.....she would be created at his side, near his heart to stand by him and love him.......that the connection they shared was so deep it was undeniably tangible.....that she was almost familiar to him.....she certainly felt " a part" of him.......like a "missing piece".......like without her, there was something incomplete........as though when she joined him, they became "one" ........whole.......conjoined........

It reminds me of how I feel about my husband......There was something almost familiar about him when we first met......I don't think we exchanged any words during that first encounter......but there was something almost tangible about him......I didn't even think he was a nice guy.....but something spoke to me that day, quietly, gently......like a whisper........

I forgot about him soon after that, confirming my initial impression......not a very nice guy......

Months later, I was handed the phone to pacify my friend.......I entertained this person on the other end of the receiver that night, until a few sentences into our conversation........then, the whisper stirred again......I hadn't heard it since that first meeting many months before....didnt even remember it until that moment......but there it was......strangely familiar to me.......strangely connected to me, drawing me closer........by the end of this phone conversation, I knew.......Here was the "not so nice guy" whom I never thought twice about, sealing my heart to his...... Right there....on the phone....that very night.....

Ever since.....