At the end of each day of Creation, G‑d looked at what He had done so far and “saw that it was good.” The Creation was good — there was light and darkness, heaven and earth, plants and animals — but it wasn’t yet complete. It was only after G‑d created Adam and Eve that the Torah tells us, “And the heavens and the earth were completed.”

Though the heavens and the earth were created on the second and third days, they — and indeed the entire creation — were not considered complete until Adam and Eve were created.

Why is this so?

After all, Adam and Eve were only two people. That seems so small when compared to all the animals, plants, water and other things in the universe. Yet when G‑d created man, it is as if He said: “This is what I had in mind when I started creating the world.” Not because there were going to be more people than anything else, but because people could be more special.

What makes people so special?

People have brains; they can think and understand.

But wait a minute. Animals can understand things too. They can figure out how to get food, how to keep warm and how to take care of themselves. Some can even be taught skills and tricks.

But animals can only use their understanding to do things that they want for themselves. Animals can’t think about ideas that are higher than themselves. People can. And as a matter of fact — people should.

When G‑d created Adam and Eve, He wanted them to use their understanding, not just like animals, but to realize that there are things which are higher than understanding, things which we know are there, but don’t understand because they are holy and spiritual.

That’s why G‑d was so pleased when Adam declared to the world: “Let us bow down to G‑d.” Adam had used his understanding to realize that there is a Creator, and that everything should serve Him. When Adam said this, G‑d proclaimed the world completed. This understanding is what He wanted from the first man, and this is what He has wanted from every human being ever since.