This is the Bible record of how the first woman came into being. The word in the Hebrew here translated "rib" is in other occurrences translated either as "side" or "side chamber" or "part." Whatever God used of Adam's body, which was taken from the inner chamber of his side, must have involved an issuance of blood.
Since "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11), and since blood cleanses and renews both flesh and bone, such a transfusion, whether in the form of liquid blood or bone marrow, would be uniquely appropriate to bring life to Eve's body. We know from modern medicine that most of the red blood cells are manufactured in the ribs, so the word rib could be symbolic of blood or it could have been a literal rib bone. Either way, the essential substance was the blood wherein was the life.
When Christ hung on the cross and He had uttered His last words, "Father, unto Thee I commit my spirit," a Roman soldier threw a spear which pierced His side, and from the open wound flowed a mixture of blood and water (John 19:34). This was truly a bloody and gory scene. That issue of blood was not a trickle, but we are told that the blood gushed out. No doubt that the spear either severed a major artery or perhaps the heart itself. In addition to the suffering of the cross, Christ literally bled to death as the blood drained out. Could the first Adam's deep sleep, and the issue from his side which produced a new life, have been a prophetic foreshadow of what occurred on the cross? The issue of blood from the side of the first Adam gave life to a woman (Eve), who became the mother of the human race. The deep sleep of death into which "the last Adam" (I Cor 15:45) would enter, and the issue of blood from His side gave life to "the church of God" (Act 20:28) which provided the means for the new birth of all believers.
Perhaps it would be appropriate to paraphrase John 19:34 as - so God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Christ, Adam II, and God took blood from His side, and from that blood He formed a woman (the church) to be presented to Him as a virgin bride. It is an interesting coincidence that the blood (rib) from the side of the first Adam resulted in the creation of Eve, the first woman, and the blood from the side of Christ resulted in the Christian church which is identified as the bride of Christ. Not only does our very existence but also our salvation depend upon "side issues."
