Where To Look:

 

If  we are to understand  the 'place' of a woman, we need to start  before 'the fall of mankind.’ If we are to truly comprehend who the woman is in YHVH's eyes, then we must look at the world before sin entered into it. The reason being is that this is the way YHVH meant for us to live.

 

If any view of 'womankind' is taken from scripture as to how they should conduct themselves, then it must be taken from Genesis 2. Any examples from ancient times, customs or traditions is 'after the fall' and, therefore, tainted by the sin that entered, and not true to YHVH's purpose. Please follow along as I attempt to unravel some of the scriptures that women desperately need to know to understand who they are in YHVH’s eyes.

 

To Make a Long Story Short:

 

Since there is no real detail in the story of Adam and Eve's actual relationship with YHVH, we have to look at the words used to tell the story. For anyone that has studied, or even looked at, the Hebrew language, it is evident that it is a far cry from languages used today. Especially English.

 

Hebrew is a multifaceted language in which one word can mean a whole phrase in English. A lot of translations today are not an accurate interpretation of the original, which we will explore as we go along. So, to find out what YHVH put us women here on the earth for, we must go back to Genesis 2, verse 18. This is where our investigation will start.

 

YHVH said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. (NIV)

 

Regardless of the translation, the verse says something like the above. The important phrase here is 'I will make.' This is the proof that YHVH purposed within Himself to bring about an end to Adam's aloneness.

 

What?!

 

That sounds simple enough: YHVH would create for Adam someone to cook his meals, do his laundry, keep his house, and make sure he made a good presentation to the world. What?! Throughout time and cultures, this is what people have been taught as the scriptural meaning behind women's existence.

 

Yet, if YHVH had Adam in a garden where He Himself was meeting Adam's needs, (see Gen. 1:29-30) then why would He create someone else to do His job? Why would we be told throughout scripture to rely on Him if he created someone in the beginning to take on that responsibility? It is plain throughout scripture that our reliance must be on YHVH, before anyone else. Subsequently, YHVH did not make women to do chores.

 

Word For Word: Alone

 

It is not good that the man should be alone. The word for alone in Hebrew is 'bad', pronounced bawd, which means alone, apart, by oneself. That word comes from 'badad' which means separation, as in a part of the body separated from another part, or a branch of a tree separated from the trunk. 'Badad' comes from a primitive root word that means to be separate, to be isolated.

 

Hmmm...was Adam not a whole person? This word would indicate that, according to YHVH, Adam was separate from something. It was not YHVH, because that came with 'the fall', and that had not happened yet. So, what was Adam separate or isolated from? 

 

As the account continues in v. 20, Adam named all the animals, but none were suitable as a 'help meet' (KJV) for him. The animals were male and female, but Adam had no companion. In other words, Adam was the only human in YHVH’s creation and that made for a solitary existence in isolation in the sense that there was no other creation like him. As a result, YHVH created Eve. 

 

So the ‘alone’ that was ‘not good’ was that there was no other human like himself that he could pair up with, as the animals did. Verse 24 proves this true with: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 

 

Word For Word: Suitable

 

Now, let's look at the word 'suitable', or in the KJV, it is *'meet'. What does that mean? Suitable in Hebrew is 'neged' and is used only twice in scripture, in vv. 18 and 20. That word means 'about, presence, other side'. It comes from 'nagad', meaning 'part opposite', specifically a counterpart or mate. 'Nagad' comes from a primitive root word meaning to 'stand boldly out opposite, to certify, declare, expound, [to be a] messenger.' There is nothing in the definition of the word for 'suitable' that means 'housewife' or 'domestic engineer', or anything like it.

*'meet' comes from the Old English 'meten', then shortened to 'mete' meaning 'to measure out, to distribute, to allot'

 

Word For Word: Helper

 

The word for 'helper' is ezer. This noun form literally means 'help'. It comes from the root word 'azar', which means 'to aid' or 'to help'. 'Azar' comes from a primitive root word that means 'to surround, to protect, to aid, succor'.

It is used in scripture four times. Two are Gen. 2:18 and 20, which we know applies to Eve. The third is Ps. 89:19, where the psalmist speaks of the YHVH giving help 'to one who is mighty'. The fourth is Daniel 11:34, where we are told 'they will be granted a little help'. The verb form, 'azar', occurs numerous times in scripture, through the use of other words. As 'succor' it occurs 8 times; as 'aid', it occurs 20 times. As 'assistance', 4 times; as 'rescue', 92 times. As 'Savior', 60 times, as 'saving', 37 times.

 

If the word that is used for 'help' throughout scripture; that is: YHVH fighting for Israel, the bringing of a Savior, and the many times that His people are helped, rescued, assisted, or aided, carries so much weight, then how can we not apply the same meaning to the same word describing the female gender as YHVH meant her to be? In almost every example, the word is used in military terms. Does that indicate what kind of help we, as women, are supposed to be to men? I believe so.

 

Ezer Warrior

Now, one question remains: why did Adam need help? What was going on in the garden that was so important that YHVH would need to create another being like Adam to 'help'? The answer is simple once we think about it: Satan had been cast into the earth, and was present in the garden. That is evidenced in Genesis 3. YHVH was putting in place the beginning of the army needed to engage in the spiritual warfare that He knew would eventually come.

 

Even though woman was 'taken out of man', it was in the woman that YHVH chose to place the capacity to bear the children that would be added to that army. This was known by the Adversary, so his plan was to stop it before it started, hence the beguiling of the woman. But, YHVH, knowing the enemy's plan of attack, had a counter plan of His own. In Genesis 3:15, YHVH speaks of the salvation that would eventually come in the person of Yeshua, through the woman, so that ALL -including women as YHVH meant us to be- could be redeemed.

 

So our purpose is to fight -side by side- with the man, against YHVH's enemy. That means answering our calling and being obedient to YHVH, just as is required of the man.