If you’re new here, welcome! This is a new series called ‘A Christian Woman in a Modern World.’ A subject that I know I have had doubts, thoughts, and most certainly questions on for some time. If you haven’t read last week’s Part 1 covering the creation of woman, I encourage you to start there and be sure to subscribe as we will reference previous posts and keep building each week!
Having said that, we now know why woman was created. Truthfully though, that one question alone could reach much deeper than what we’ve covered. For instance, we discovered we were planned, purposed, and wanted last week. But somewhere in the back of our minds (because this is what women do) we doubt… but why woman? What makes her different? Well, let’s talk about that. Let’s dig into the design of woman. Where there is distinction, there is intention.
As we’ve already discussed, we know that Adam and Eve were created on the same day, thanks to chapter 1 of Genesis that provides a wider scope of a timeline on creation (reference part I). Chapter 2 of Genesis is a little more in depth and potentially confusing as it seems out of place. And perhaps the most dangerous perception we could have here is failing to remember God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge as we walk through the second chapter. No matter how something may be worded, remember: audience versus Creator. The Creator is all-knowing and foreknowing—the audience is not. Therefore, it simply has to walk in order like a story, but unlike fiction books where thoughts are presented as just having popped into someone’s mind, the bible puts them where they should be for its readers, but we must understand they were always present in God’s mind.
As established last week, in the garden, male and female were equally loved, equally wanted, and essentially given the same purpose. This is true, however chapter 2 is where we begin to see the distinction we only touched on last week. The first difference is their creation. Adam, created first, was made out of dust from the ground, and then God breathed life into him, and through this he became living. (If this doesn’t preach that without God, we are nothing, I don’t know what will). But Eve isn’t immediately formed afterward. And in our hearts and deepest vulnerability, we want to know why.
After Adam’s creation, God places him into the garden to show him this new world. Now obviously I don’t know, but I imagine as we read through the text of all the things God has created, God’s showing Adam around. Showing him the ropes. He tells him specifically of his work in verse 15. “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” And then he tells him that famous warning:
Genesis 2:16-17
“But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
For those of you that don’t know the story (spoiler): Eve’s gonna do it. And then Adam. And God, as we’ve established, already knows this. Even though Eve still hasn’t been created. Interesting though that directly after this warning, the word says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper who is just right for him.’” That transition speaks volumes to me. God knows she will sin. He knows she will hurt him, and yet directly after the warning she will indeed later ignore, he thinks of her—anticipates her creation. Even though she’ll fail, he still wants her.
That truth gives us chills. But there’s something lingering in the background too. In our most honest confession, two things bother us about this verse. One: the fact that it sounds like he just now thought of her. (He did not). Remember, God: all-knowing. Audience: not. Not only do we need to have this dialogue, but so does the other person in the audience: Adam. Not only do we worry God had not thought of her prior to this, we fear the only reason he did now was as a solution to Adam’s workload and loneliness. As though she will be brought into existence for pure function and no longing. The deepest fear in here is not even between man and woman but between woman and God. We may fear we are unequal to man at times. But mostly, we fear we are lesser in God’s eyes. As though Adam was his prize creation and Eve just a gift for Adam. This is the primary fear. The secondary issue that bothers us to our very core (though we hate to admit it): helper. Cringe.
Even after he declares this, Eve still isn’t created. Instead, God brings the other living things forth: animals, birds, livestock— all to Adam to see and then gives him his first task: to name them. After Adam has named every creature, we find these words, “But still there was no helper just right for him.” Ponder that for a moment… how does that make you feel? What sort of emotions or doubts surface for you?
As I was discussing my thoughts on the series recently with my sister Lindsay (who holds so much wisdom and knowledge on scripture), she said something that I had never thought of. And I believe she is absolutely right. Because our first instinct is this: even when we know God is foreknowing, why does the bible go through these motions and dialogue as if one of the animals may have been sufficient for Adam’s “helper”—as if woman could have been potentially replaced with a dog? But remember what we said about God versus audience? Lindsay pointed out that God very well knew Adam needed Eve, but Adam did not. Didn’t even know the creation of another human was possible. How could Adam miss what he did not know? How could he long for what he did not know to be possible? God wasn’t going through the animals and the vegetation actually searching his creatures to see if any would fit. He was showing Adam a longing in his own heart that only Eve could soon fil. He wanted Adam to experience this unknown longing that would lead him to appreciate the creation that is to come. Through anticipation and loneliness and a wanting he cannot define, God is teaching Adam to view his bride the way God views her. To cherish Eve the way God already cherishes her.
You see, the competitive nature in us wants to ask well why weren’t they created together? Why was Adam first? We hate feeling forgotten or unimportant. But I believe there’s a reason for this that benefited both parties. If Eve had been created at the same moment or even before Adam, it would have ruined everything that God is setting up for marriage. In the confines of marriage, the man’s deepest desire is to be respected and the woman’s deepest desire is to be cherished. If Eve had been in the garden any earlier than God placed her there, she would have been taken in by Adam along with all of the other creations. As it stands, by now, he’s seen everything in the garden and been familiarized enough to give it a name. He’s comfortable and acquainted with his surroundings and its creatures. Now God has arranged it so that Eve will be set apart in Adam’s mind. It was no afterthought that she was created so late in the day—it was climactic for Adam to see her as the most beautiful and precious creation God had yet made. The buildup to how God meant for husband to view his wife. A foreshadowing of how Christ loves the church.
Likewise, because Adam has been shown the ropes by God prior to this moment, God has placed him in the position to be the leader of the relationship. Adam knows where all the food is. What each animal is named. What to eat. What not to eat. In this, God has equipped Adam to hold esteem in Eve’s eyes. Adam need not demand nor want for respect from his new bride, because he’s been set in a position to simply receive it through his teaching, leading, protecting, and loving. Let’s see… a confident man who follows God, loves animals, knows how to work with his hands, has accomplished some things in his life (read: named all the animals in the world in one day), who basically has his whole world going on, and yet protects and desires you? Don’t tell me God’s not a romantic. Adam’s been set up to hold respect from his advantage of having this time to become efficient in his world before Eve is created. He will feel safe to her. But despite this, he will love her devotedly and treat her as equal. We will talk about this later when we discuss women in marriage, but this reflects Christ in his right to be the only man to claim equality with God yet giving up his divine privileges to love, save, and deliver his bride, the church.
So God makes community for man through woman. This is even with God walking and talking in the garden with Adam. This is even with much work to do and a whole new world to explore. This is even before sin had entered creating an insurmountable chasm between God and man that only God himself could close through Jesus Christ. This was when Adam was in perfect closeness with God. Adam was in no way alone—he was with God constantly. And still God deemed it “not good” to be without Eve. To create a woman when man had perfect community with God is to boldly say that woman was absolutely needed and desired. Not to do the work that Adam didn’t want to do or couldn’t get to—but to share in the work God had given Adam and to compliment and oppose Adam in ways only God could design. God knew this from the very beginning, but through a long day of allowing Adam to be the only human alive, he was showing Adam this too. Remember how we are both image-bearers of the trinity? Well the trinity is a perfect community of three. Now when Adam and Eve have each other with God at the center of their marriage, they will reflect (though not replace nor reflect in full) this good and perfect community.
Now for her debut. God causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep and then creates Eve from a rib he removes from Adam’s side. When Adam awakes, God brings Eve to him. Adam’s response that she was “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh” was not viewing her as a lesser entity—it was cherishing her as something so dear to him it was a part of him. Acknowledgement that he actually gave up a part of himself to her. It was protection—a desire for her to be his. He wasn’t saying simply come alongside me in my life, he was declaring her to be so important that she was now a part of him—two lives joined together. That the world could no longer have Adam without Eve, nor Eve without Adam. Scripture says they—and all marriages—were “united into one”. How can one half to a whole be lesser or construed somehow as unnecessary or undesired?
And finally… that helpmate word. Perhaps the problem is not found in the role given to Eve but in our understanding of what exactly it meant. We use the world “helper” with our toddlers. “You’re such a good helper.” And through this lens, there’s this sort of degrading sense (although we mean it to offer praise to those younger) because it’s seen as giving a menial task to teach a child and make him feel important. As though the “helper” in this scenario does not accomplish nor is designed to accomplish anything of real value, but simply to hold the tools until Adam asks for the next one. That is not, however, what it means at all.
The world helpmate was made up of two Hebrew words, and I have found a wonderful source by Mikella Van Dyke on her blog Chasing Sacred that I will link here, but this is what she says:
In Hebrew the word “help mate/help meet,” is derived from two words, ezer and k’enegdo. First, I will explain the Hebrew word, ‘ezer.’ The word ‘ezer’ appears 21 times in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the word ‘ezer’ is most often used to describe God being an EZER to human beings. In David Freedman’s book he says that the word, ‘ezer’ originally had two roots: “to rescue, to save,” and “to be strong.” (R. David Freedman, “Woman, a Power Equal to a Man,” Biblical Archaeology Review 9 [1983]: 56-58)….
Lastly, the word that accompanies ezer is k'enegdo which means “in front of him,”‘opposite as to him’ or ‘corresponding as to him’.
We already know from last week that Eve too was made in the image of God. And so it should come as no surprise to us that this word he uses for her he also uses for himself. However, it does surprise us, because more often than not, we view ourselves as lesser. And believe others who teach this. But friend, God does not. He views us just as important and valuable as men, but he also created us to be opposing. He never says to Eve she will do different work or stay in different bounds than Adam. Adam’s instructions are Eve’s instructions and Adam’s forbiddens are Eve’s forbiddens. Never does God state that she was unwelcome in the work Adam was doing, but he also did not create her to do it exactly like he did. He declares with this one world helpmate that she is welcome in all of the same circles but that she will be different.
God didn’t “make a helper just right for him,” as if she were just what Adam wanted; he created the helper that Adam needed. Yes, in help of work but also to help in healthy opposition. Iron sharpens iron. Eve will present a view of the world that only she could portray, and Adam will be better for it. Adam likewise will do the same and Eve will be better for it. Had he simply needed a helper in the sense we are inclined to think of it—as taking tasks he could not get to or didn’t want to, two men would have sufficed. But he meant much, much more. He meant for the earth to be graced and flourish with the beautiful gift of femininity. It is not wrong to be feminine, in fact to suppress your femininity would be to step outside of God’s good plan for you. And so neither does femininity negate importance or invitation in our callings in the world. It does not mean we do not follow the leadership of our husbands, but it does mean that God has given us equally important value and work—both reflecting him and glorifying him when we embrace these truths.
“Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.”
Genesis 2:25
Thank you so much for following along with this series! I hope you found restoration for your doubts here today, and that God is meeting you in this season to remind you that you have an important calling. We’ll cover more on marriage in a few weeks, but I know I opened up a whole new conversation on femininity there, and so next week we will cover more in depth on femininity and how it stands with feminism. Stay with me, it might surprise you... As always, I would love to hear your feedback/thoughts so please message me, email, comment, share with your friends, and don’t forget to subscribe to the blog! Can’t wait to see you back here next week!
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