In Genesis 2:20, was God looking among the animals for a helper for Adam, and did Eve hear the prohibition directly?
An emailer named Paul asks about Genesis 2:20, where Adam names the animals but 'for Adam there was not found a help meet,' whether this implies God was searching the animals for a companion, and whether Eve, not yet created, personally heard God forbid the tree of knowledge or was told by Adam.
Answer
This is a historical text; it is not symbolism, metaphor, myth, or legend. It all happened just as you read it, but it does not give you every detail, so sometimes you have to read between the lines and know how Hebrew is used, since Hebrew had a small vocabulary of about 8,000 words. The phrase 'a help meet was not found' is a Hebrew idiom, just as we might say poetically, 'I looked for the golden ring, but it was not found.' It is simply saying, point blank, that there was no companion among the animals for Adam; it does not mean God was searching the animals hoping to find him a mate. On the second point, you are very keen: the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was given to Adam alone, in Genesis 2, before Eve was created. There is never a sentence saying God told Eve; Adam, her head and authority, told her. This all fits, because St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:13 that Adam was formed first and is therefore the head, and it is on that order of creation, not merely because Eve sinned first, that his headship rests. So Adam had the responsibility to tell Eve the rules, and he also failed in his duty to warn and protect her when she was deceived.