Eve as Helper

Brenna Rubio and Rebekah Martinek-Williams, in their remarkable message yesterday, started off talking about the creation of Eve as Adam’s helper. So many times, that’s where the patriarchy starts - Eve is cast as the ‘helper’ of Adam. But that’s actually not what the Bible teaches.

First off, the Adam who needs a helper is both male and female - see Genesis 1:26-28. So the creation of Eve is not for the male Adam, but for the androgynous Adam.

Second off, the Eve who is created is not some dainty helper who would cook his meals and dress nicely for him. The word “helper” in Hebrew is the word ezer. You can read it in this passage below:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a HELPER as his partner.” So out of the ground the LordGod formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man there was not found a HELPER as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. - Genesis 2:18-22

16 our of the 21 times that ezer is used in the scriptures it is used to describe God (read more HERE). Hmm… that doesn’t seem so dainty, now does it? No, this creation bring diversity to the image of God - neither female nor male subject to the other, but both reflecting God’s strong, beautiful, creative person.

As you lean in to the deep work of dismantling patriarchy this week, reflect on the passage that Rebekah shared with us yesterday:

The word Ezer [often translated ‘helper’] has two roots: strong and benevolent. The best translation of Ezer is: Warrior. God created woman as a Warrior. I think about the tragedies the women in my life have faced. How every time a child gets sick or a man leaves or a parent dies or a community crumbles, the women are the ones who carry on, who do what must be done for their people in the midst of their own pain. While those around them fall away, the women hold the sick and nurse the weak, put food on the table, carry their families’ sadness and anger and love and hope. They keep showing up for their lives and their people with the odds stacked against them and the weight of the world on their shoulders. They never stop singing songs of truth, love, and redemption in the face of hopelessness. They are inexhaustible, ferocious, relentless co-creators with God, and they make beautiful worlds out of nothing. Have women been the Warriors all along? Glennon Doyle Melton, Love Warrior