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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
the Hebrew word for "helper"
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Editor's note: I happened to learn of a church devoted to gender equality. Their web address is www.gal328.org - based on Galatians 3: 28, "there is no longer male and female [in terms of superiority in the eyes of God]." Lance Pape, the author of the material below, and his wife, Katie Hays, "are co-ministers at the West Islip Church of Christ on Long Island, NY. He started Gal328.org in the hope that his young daughter might one day grow old and wise in a church that looks back on its practice of gender discrimination as a long, strange dream." All enlightened people share this hope.
Man and Woman in Genesis 1-3
Six Common Misconceptions Challenged
Lance Pape
In Genesis 2:18 God declares:
"It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."
This text is often taken to mean that God created woman to be man’s subordinate. In fact, for many, the operative paraphrase of Genesis 2:18 seems to be: "God saw that the man couldn’t take care of himself, so he said: 'I will make him a helper to do his laundry.'" This take on the story betrays a low view of men and women alike. Far more importantly, it is discredited by a close reading of the text.
The word helper (Hebrew: ezer) does not imply inferiority or subordination. On the contrary, in the Hebrew Bible it is used almost exclusively to describe God.
Thus, Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills -- from where will my help (ezer) come? My help (ezer) comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Likewise, 1 Samuel 7:12
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer ('stone of help'); for he said, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."
James R. Beck: "All of the other occurrences of ezer in the Old Testament [excluding Gen. 2:18] have to do with the assistance that one of strength offers to one in need (i.e. help from God, a king, an ally, or an army.) There is no exception... Help given to one in need fits Gen. 2: 18 - 20 quite well."
The use of helper (ezer) in other contexts suggests that, if anything, the woman was created [in some sense] as man's superior. But, in light of Gen. 1:27, we are probably justified in concluding that the woman was created as man’s equal.
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Editor's last word:
That protracted era of "gender discrimination as a long, strange dream," I think, is nearing an end. It was a spiritual dark-ages time of the purported Wrathful Celibate Father.
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