Flesh and Bone

In college, I sang in a quartet. One of the songs we sang was a Michael Card song called Flesh of His Flesh. The chorus goes like this:

We are flesh of His flesh
Bone of His bone
His Spirit has brought us
Together as one
Though we may be separate
We're one perfect whole
For we are His body
And He is our soul

The song combines elements of Romans 12:5 and Genesis 2:23.

I was reading some commentary a few days ago on Genesis 2:23 and I discovered something interesting. This phrase "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" may mean more than one thinks. Victor Hamilton suggests that "flesh" often symbolizes weakness in the Old Testament. "Bone," on the other hand, may be seen as a symbol of strength. The phrase "my/your bone and flesh" also connotes relationship. Walter Brueggemann argues that this phrase is used as a covenental formula--a pledge of mutual loyalty.

So, in this first instance of direct human discourse, Adam may be stating much more than the fact that he and the woman are made of the same stuff. It could very well be a statement of commitment.

Thus it would serve as the biblical counterpart to the modern marriage ceremony, "in weakness [i.e., flesh] and in strength [i.e., bone]."

Wow, can you believe this may have been Adam & Eve's way of marrying, becoming "one flesh" with her? Makes sense in context...

I read this on my anniversary. Darina is my bone and my flesh. We share in each others' strengths and weaknesses, and the Lord is there with us through it all.

What a nice anniversary present. Thank you, Lord.

--Brueggemann, Walter, "Of the Same Flesh and Bone (GN 2,23a)," CBQ 32 (1970) 532-42
--Hamilton, Victor P., The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17, The New International Commentary on the New Testament