Marriage is a Prescription

As this verse [Genesis 2:18] is followed by the creation of woman, with whom Adam is to bond (i.e., marry—see verse 24), it is clear God wants men to marry. Marriage is a prescription, a moral and social value, more than it is a male instinct. The dramatic decrease in marriage rates at this time attests to this (with regard to women as well), as does the fact that more people in the West and other developed societies are living by themselves than at any time in recorded history. So, while more and more men and women choose not to marry, loneliness has become a major social pathology. In the words of the National Institutes of Health, “Loneliness is a painful universal phenomenon.”

Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Genesis: God, Creation, and Destruction, pg.39