“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (ESV)
“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (KJV)
“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (NIV)
What does this verse often get misunderstood to mean?
What does this verse actually mean?
Women were created to fill the missing piece of humanity, to provide to humanity what man alone could not do.
Explanation
This verse is describing the creation of Eve, the first woman. The term “helper” is talking about her.
Ezer
The original language of the Old Testament is Hebrew, and the word used to describe the woman is “ezer kenegdo” (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ). This gets translated as what you see above: helper, helpmate, help meet, or helper suitable.
Because we aren’t reading the Bible with the knowledge of its original language, we need to look at where else in the Bible the word “ezer” is used to get an accurate understanding of what it means. This is how we put on the proper linguistic lens.
The word “ezer”/helper is used in 21 verses throughout the Bible. When we hear the word “helper,” we usually think of a subordinate role—a secretary, an assistant—someone who helps but isn’t crucial. However, aside from describing the woman as being an ezer, there is one other main figure repeatedly described with the same word—God himself. “Ezer” was primarily a military term. It was used to describe how God would help the Israelites during battle. For example, see how it is used in Deuteronomy 33:26. “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.” (ESV)
We see in the Old Testament that when God would go out to battle with the Israelites, they would win. Whenever they tried to fight on their own, they would lose (Joshua 7, 1 Samuel 4, and Numbers 14 are examples of this). When God was described as an ezer, he wasn’t being likened to a subordinate role. His help was crucial to winning wars. It was the kind of help that, without it, they had no hope.
When the woman is described as an ezer, it is by no means an inferior status. Eve is not being called a useful assistant. She is being characterized as a militaristic force that can turn the tides of battle.
Rib versus Side
Another aspect of the woman’s creation that is noteworthy is what she was created from.
Genesis 2:22 says, “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (NIV)
There is a Hebrew word that means a rib bone—“ala” (עִלְעִין)—but that is not the word present in Genesis 2:22.
The Hebrew word used to describe what part of Adam the woman was made from is “tsela” (צלע). This word appears in 42 verses throughout the Old Testament, and it is usually an architectural term referring to the stabilizing beams of a building. In Genesis, it is translated as “rib” because it is being used in relation to a person, not construction. To get a true vision for the implications of Genesis 2:22, we need to look at the other uses of tsela.
Tsela spoke to the structural integrity of a building, the support columns that ensured the building didn’t fall. It also referred to the inner chamber, the deepest and most private room within the structure. Using tsela in the context of a human is describing the deepest part of a person, the thing that stabilizes them and gives them the ability to stand.
Tsela can also mean “side” or “other half.” For example, 1 Kings 6:34 says, “…The two leaves (tsela) of the one door were folding, and the two leaves (tsela) of the other door were folding.” This verse is describing a set of double doors, using the word “tsela” to indicate that it wasn’t one door standing alone; it was two doors that each made up equal halves of the entrance.
That being said, Eve being made from Adam’s rib wasn’t insinuating that she was made from a small, inconsequential part of Adam’s anatomy that he could stand to lose. She was built from something much deeper, his side, his tsela, making her his equal other half.
The First Artistic Work of Man
Right before Eve is created, we get a somewhat jarring verse. Genesis 2:18 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’” (ESV). Thus far, everything in creation has been deemed “good” by God. Adam being alone was the only thing in an otherwise perfect world that is deemed “not good.” This shows that the making of women was not a casual afterthought. Women were an intentional and necessary creation of God.
At this point, Adam was in the Garden of Eden surrounded by all manner of animals. He sees how every other creature on Earth has a partner, except for him. While he might enjoy the company of the animals, they are not his equals; they are not made in the image of God like he is. He is depressingly alone, and we feel his ache in verse 18.
When he sees Eve, he is flooded with joy that there is another like him and is enamored and inspired to the point of poetry. Genesis 2:23 says, “Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…” (ESV).
This is arguably the first artistic work done by mankind—a poem celebrating the creation of women.
Conclusion
In conclusion, being given the title of helper is an honor, women are integral to creation, and men and women are meant to live in joyous harmony as equal halves of humanity, the pinnacle of God’s creation.
Sources
Instances of ezer: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5828/esv/wlc/0-1/
Instances of tsela: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6763/esv/wlc/0-1/
Ezer Kenegdo: https://faithgateway.com/blogs/christian-books/ezer-unleashed