Did the fact that Adam named Eve demonstrate dominion over her?

When God brought Eve to Adam for the first time, you can almost hear the relief in his voice. “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” God had answered his need.

It is sometimes thought that naming a person indicates power over them.

When I was a teacher, knowing a student’s name afforded a certain amount of power over them. Trying to get a trouble-making child’s attention out on the playground was a challenge if you didn’t know their name. Even if they heard the whistle and knew you were trying to get their attention, they could ignore the summons, knowing they could claim they thought you were calling someone else. But identifying them by name put any possibility of anonymity to rest. There was no option other than responding to the teacher in charge.

Did Adam’s naming Eve show a dominance over her? After all, Adam had just finished naming all of the animals that God brought to the garden. And he was given charge over them. Remember, only parents can name their children, because they have authority over them. So wasn’t naming Eve the act of someone in charge? Did his action demonstrate authority?

Not according to an event later on in Genesis. Abraham’s second wife, Hagar, encountered God after fleeing her mistress Sarah’s harsh treatment. He tells her to turn around, and go back to living under Sarah’s authority. You can imagine how Hagar would have taken that news. Go back? Did He not realize the risk returning to that unhealthy situation to her and her unborn child?

But the Lord quickly assures Hagar that her trouble has not gone unnoticed. He gives her a glimpse into what at the moment seemed to be a dubious future. The child she carried was a son. He would be a strong man and live well into adulthood.

In that moment, Hagar suddenly comes to a new understanding. God had seen her past trouble in the camp. He had watched her escape across the desert and reached out to her in her present desperation. Now He’d even seen her future. In her amazement, Hagar calls Him El Roi. The God who sees (Genesis 16:13).

It is the first time in the history of mankind that someone has dared to give God a name. She must have been that inspired to be so bold. But here’s the question: did the fact that Hagar named God give her dominion over Him? Did it indicate in any way that she had more power than Him?

Of course not.

So it would be a stretch to assume Adam’s calling Eve “woman” would indicate power over her. He sure doesn’t show any desire to be in an inequitable relationship by what he says next: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh!” There is nothing in that exclamation to make us think ruler and subject. It only demonstrates an acute awareness of their sameness.