Genesis 2:18-25 - Ezer Kenegdo
This week we're going to talk about ezer!! I am very excited about this because really, re-reading this Scripture created this space for us to come together and study the Bible and understand the role and the regard God has for women. I am really excited to get started.
Starting with Prayer
BLESS ADONAI who is blessed. Blessed is Adonai who is blessed now and forever. Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has chosen us from among the peoples, and given us the Torah. Blessed are You, Adonai, who gives the Torah.
Father God, thank You for making me, a woman, according to Your will. Thank you for calling me ezer kenegdo. Thank You for Your example as a helper and rescuer. Thank You for helping me reclaim and proclaim my role in Your creation. Thank You for giving me a husband that is complementary to me. He is strong where I am weak and he can recognize I am strong where he is weak. I pray You continue to bless our marriage. I pray that You hold the hedge of protection you have around us and protect our marriage from the enemy. I pray You extinguish our pride, forgive our sins against each other and against You, and I pray You restore the harmony you intended for this relationship. I pray as we study Your Word today, You put the relationships in our lives that need Your grace and I pray that You give us grace and restoration in our relationships. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.
Today’s Reading
Genesis 2:18-25 from the Complete Jewish Bible translation
18 Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.” 19 So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
21 Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. 22 The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. 23 The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh.
25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Read all of Genesis 2 for context
from the Complete Jewish Bible translation
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. 2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.
4 Here is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created. On the day when Adonai, God, made earth and heaven, 5 there was as yet no wild bush on the earth, and no wild plant had as yet sprung up; for Adonai, God, had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no one to cultivate the ground. 6 Rather, a mist went up from the earth which watered the entire surface of the ground.
7 Then Adonai, God, formed a person from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being. 8 Adonai, God, planted a garden toward the east, in ‘Eden, and there he put the person whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground Adonai, God, caused to grow every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river went out of ‘Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four streams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it winds throughout the land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The name of the second river is Gichon; it winds throughout the land of Kush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that flows toward the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
18 Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.” 19 So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
21 Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. 22 The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. 23 The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh.
25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
Jenn's Two Cents
This is ambitious for me – ten verses in one post!? Dangerous. This week we will see the origins of humanity and the dynamics of human relationships.
Anytime I prepare a Bible study, I am telling you... God gives me opportunities to test my faith, to see if what I am saying is actually what my heart believes, and He gives me opportunities to put that to work.
The creation of the woman, to me, is pivotal to how I understand my role and my relationships. This passage has empowered me in many ways. This passage has caused tension in my life in other ways. This passage is beautiful to me and I am so grateful to God for it.
Let's think back to the beginning. God created for six days and when we see Him finishing a step of creating, it says, "and God saw that it was good."
Now, here we are. God has created ha’adam out of the adamah. And, God says it is not good that ha’adam should be alone.
A human alone is not good.
So, God makes a "companion suitable for helping him." Other translations have read "helper suitable for him." The King James Version uses the word, "helpmeet."
The Hebrew expression "ezer kenegdo," which appears here in Genesis 2:18 has some nuanced meanings that reveals the depth of God's relationship with humanity.
"Ezer" comes from the root word "azar," signifying assistance or support. I wrote about how I use to think of this as passive or subordinate, but I was wrong.
"Ezer" embodies strength, aid, and even rescue. Throughout the Tanakh, this term describes God's intervention on behalf of His people.