Eve Was Not Subservient

In order to understand God’s purposes for women, we need to go back to the dawn of creation, when He first fashioned man from the dust. He set him in the garden, provided for his needs, and ordered him to cultivate and care for his environment. But the plan was not for man to be the only one created in His image. “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18 NASB).

That description, helper, (sometimes translated help-meet) is often used to suggest that this made Eve subservient to Adam. That this inferred she would be the weaker vessel, obliged to do what Adam, who was in charge, demanded. Helper = assistant to the boss. But the word helper is not used to mean that anywhere else in Scripture.

The original Hebrew word is ezer. If we take a look at the other scriptural contexts in which it is used, a far different concept than a mere assistant emerges.

• Moses named his second son Eliezer, “…for he said, ‘The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh’” (Exodus 18:4 NASB).
• In fact, ezer is used to describe God in many other places in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 33:29, in his blessing to Israel, Moses says: “Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places” (NASB).
• The Psalms refer to God as the peoples’ ezer: check out Psalm 20:2, 33:20, 70:5, 115:9, 121:2, etc.

So why would we assume that Eve, created to be Adam’s ezer, was in any kind of subservient role?

Another reason to question an inferior position is the command God gave to both man and woman: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:27-28) There is no suggestion that either is inferior to the other.

A final reason to believe Adam and Eve were equal in God’s eyes is in His response to their fall to sin. To Eve, He said, “…Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” After sin, the relationship between husband and wife had now changed. Which of course tells us that before the fall, Adam did NOT rule over Eve.

So then, was God saying that now His command was that husband would now rule over wife? As her punishment for falling to temptation? That’s for another post. Stay tuned…