Masculinity and femininity are spiritual and eternal aspects of God’s Oneness. The Sh’ma hints at this: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The word “one” is the word echad in Hebrew. Echad first appears in Genesis 1:5––“And there was evening and morning day one.” Here we see one as two coming together: one day equals an evening and a morning together. In Genesis 2:24, a man leaves his parents and holds fast to his wife; he and his wife become basar echad––one flesh. Again, we see one as two coming together. Similarly, a case can be made that God is echad because He is the essence of masculinity and femininity together.
Connected to this, consider Exodus 25:22––“There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” So here notice: it is between two that God presents Himself to man. But these two cherubim were made of one piece (Exodus 25:20). So the two are actually echad.
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The written Word is the Namer; the living Word is the Savior. Compare the two great animal parades in world history: the one that passes before Adam in Genesis 2 and the one that passes before Noah in Genesis 7. Regarding the first procession, man names the animals. Regarding the second procession, man saves the animals. In relation, God names His creatures via the written Word. Afterward, God saves His creatures via the living Word. The pattern is first naming, then saving.
