Woman as "helpmeet" defined

[whatsonemore]

I didn't write this. I found it on a blog (and can no longer find the source) and found it an amazingly wonderful, light shedding definition. I posted it, but thought I'd post it as a journal too. I did edit it some.

 

 

“What IS a woman? What’s her design? Why did God create Eve? Who IS she?”

 To answer this, we have to go back to square one. The beginning. Genesis. Take a look at Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 2:20b-23.
Could God have raised both ish (Hebrew word for “man”) and ishshah (Hebrew word for “woman”) from the dust of the ground simultaneously? Sure. Then why didn’t He? Why did God choose to create ISH first, and draw ISHSHAH out of man's rib/ side/ corner?Did God forget to create woman at the start? Did God draw her from man as an afterthought, an appendage? Of course not. God didn’t forget. He waited for man to desire woman, to feel a hurt, an emptiness. A void. God waited for Adam to feel a need for Eve before He created that beautiful creature: woman.

Look at Genesis 2:18. What is Adam missing? Eve. Woman. Femininity. The crown of creation. Not an afterthought. Not an appendage or a nice addition, like frosting on a cake. Eve is the final, astonishing work of God! Woman. The Creator’s finishing touch.  The conductor’s crescendo. His piece de resistance. 

Wow.  

Do you see it? As Stasi Eldredge eloquently points out in Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, the Genesis account holds such rich treasures for us! The essence and purpose of a woman is unveiled here in the story of Eve’s creation. Woman is the crown of creation –the most intricate, amazing, and dazzling creation on earth!  She, too, bears the imago Dei, the image of God. But Eve bears the image in a uniquely feminine way that only she can share and be. God wanted to reveal something about himself, so He gave us Eve. What can we learn from her? Think about it. When you are with a woman, ask yourself, what is she telling me about God? 

 

But don’t stop there. 

 

Have you been taught, as I was for over 40 years—that Woman was created to be a “helper”? Have you ever felt a twinge at that unfortunate rendering? Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who’s spent years translating Genesis, says that this phrase is “notoriously difficult to translate.” Various attempts in English include “helper” or “companion” or the notorious “help meet.” Why are these translations so… dull? Bland, colorless, flat? A “help meet”? A “helper”?  A spatula is a helper. Kenmore, Amana and Whirlpool are “helpers.” A “companion”?  A dog is a companion. Is that all Eve is?

 

Hardly.  When God creates Eve, he calls her an ezer kenegdo. “It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him (an ezer kenegdo).” Do you see it now? “Help meet” is an inarticulate, incomplete rendering of ezer kenegdo. Alter is getting close when he translates the concept as “sustainer beside him.”

 

As John and Stasi Eldredge note, “The word ezer is used only 20 other places in the entire OT. In every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately. (See Deut. 33:26, 29; Ps. 121:1-2; Ps. 20:1-2; Ps. 33:20; Ps. 115:9-11). Most of the contexts are life and death, and God is your only hope. Your ezer. If He’s not there with you—you’re toast. A better translation therefore of ezer would be lifesaver. Kenedgo means alongside, or opposite to, a counterpart.”

 

“Helper” vs. “life saver, sustainer”? That’s like using a dust mote to describe the Grand Canyon. Eve as ezer kenegdo. Not just “helper”, “helpmeet” or “companion,” but life saver. How can we have missed this? How can I have missed this? 

 

The life God calls us to is not a safe life. Just look at the friends of God in either Testament. Why else would we need Him to be our ezer? You don’t need a lifesaver if your mission in life is to be a potted plant.  You need an ezer when your life is in constant danger. (Captivating, p. 32.)

 

Look at Genesis 1:26, 27 again.  Both male and female were created in the image of God (male and female created he them). The Hebrew for image is TSELEM, which means "a phantom or resemblant likeness, a representative figure". The word was often used to refer to the image of something that came out of a mold: it was not the mold, but looked exactly like it. In other words, finite man was created in such a way as to reflect the infinite God, inasmuch as that is possible. This means Adam and Eve.

 

Yes! You are the image bearer of the God who longs for relationships, who yearns to be your ezer; who reveals beauty as essential to life. You are the image bearer of this magnificent, powerful, beautiful and tender God. Do you long for these things, too?  Does your Heart resonate with the desire to be sought, pursued, and loved for who you are, “warts and all”? Does your inner core long for intimate, deep relationships? Not just the “Hi, how are ya, how’s the weather?’” kind of “skin deep,” superficial acquaintance that I find so unfulfilling and redundant. But the kind of soul-deep, kindred spirit type of relationships where you can share and reveal your deepest heart honestly and openly without fear of rejection or ridicule. The kind of relationship categorized by mutuality, responsiveness, genuine acceptance, consistent support, authenticity and Grace. 

 

This longing in the heart of a Woman to share life on this level with another as part of a great dual adventure—doesn’t that desire come straight from the Heart of hearts, who also longs for this? 

 

You see, beloved, Eve wasn’t and isn’t an option. She’s not an accessory or a sidekick.  She isn’t Tonto to the Lone Ranger, Robin to Batman or Bullwinkle to Rocky. Eve is essential, just as God is. He is irreplaceable. So is Eve. So are you. No one else can offer the world what you have to give, what God created you to uniquely, tenderly, powerfully and femininely offer—as a woman. As a life saver, life giver, and life sustainer. 

 You and I are not alive merely to complete a man—as noble, vital and praiseworthy as that is.

There is something uniquely magnificent and powerful about a woman.