“Then the LORD God said, ‘It’s not good that the human is alone.’” (Genesis 2:18)
For the first time, something is “not good.” Adam is not truly alone, of course: the Lord is there too in the garden. But there is no being like Adam. The LORD decides, “I will make him a helper that is perfect for him” (Genesis 2:18). The Hebrew is ‘ezer kenegedo, a difficult and ambiguous phrase. The word ‘ezer means “helper,” which we could misunderstand to mean something like “assistant.” But if we flip through the Hebrew Bible to find out how this word is used, we discover that the one most commonly referred to as ‘ezer is God. So this isn’t a term of subordination!
The expression kenegedo can be taken apart, piece by piece. In Hebrew, ke means “as” or “like.” Neged means “next to,” “alongside of,” or sometimes “opposite.” The o at the end means “him.” So: kenegedo means “like and yet unlike him,” or “corresponding to him.” The King James Version famously renders this phrase as “an help meet [that is, ‘fitting’ or ‘suitable’] for him.” The CEB has “a helper that is perfect for him.” I really like what the NRSV does here: “a helper as his partner.” This is not a quest to find an assistant or a subordinate, someone less than Adam. Adam is alone: the quest is to find a being that will be like and yet unlike Adam, with whom Adam can be in relationship.
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Author: Steven Tuell
Keywords: Women superior to men, Women men, Women vs men, Women versus men, Women are closer to God, Women are closer to God than men, Oppression of women, Women, Feminism, Anti feminism, misogynist, misogyny, Women to be in subjection, Sexist, Women of prominence, Chauvinism, Male chauvinism, Chauvinist, Male chauvinist, Helpmeet, Help meet, Helper, Woman helper, Helper against, Helper opposite, Helpmate, Help mate, Woman help mate, Woman helpmeet, Equality of women, Gender equality, Equality of the sexes, Men superior to women, Opposing helper, Woman opposing helper, Ezer Kenegdo
Bible reference(s): Genesis 2:18, Genesis 2:20, Genesis 3:16, 1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Cor. 14:34, Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 5:24, Col. 3:18, 1 Tim. 2:11-14, Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 3:1-6
Source: “On Being Earthlings,” The Bible Guy.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.