2:18 — The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
[T - OL ]
This verse strikes us with a surprizing observation from God; "It is not good for the man to be alone." For the first time in the history of the universe, and after seven times that things have been declared "good" since we open our Scriptures, we hear that something is not good. It turns out that the universe —for all its virtues and beauty—is ultimately incomplete without women.
The question has sometimes been asked whether Yahweh's recognition of the man's loneliness has to do with the workload, i.e., the point of making the woman was to lighten his burden, or whether it has to do with the psychology, i.e., it has to do with companionship, which is the traditional view. The question, I think, can be easily resolved. If it had to do with the workload, all that Yahweh needed to do was produce another man, instead of going through all the subsequent trouble.
"How can you say you are lonely?
Isn't God's company
and presence good enough?"
There is no such
hyper-spiritualizing disdain here.
True companionship—the need for an equal with whom one can be open at the deepest levels of our being—is a gift for which all humans long. Not having someone who understands and can accept them for what they are, i.e., loneliness, is the major reason for suicides. It is, amazingly, that Yahweh God was the first to recognize this need. There is no hyper-spiritualizing disdain here of the kind, "How can you say you are lonely? Isn't God's company and presence good enough?" We might say that even God recognized that there was something He could not do. He knew that humans are humans and God is God, and was strong and secure enough in Himself to accept that only a equal of the man can properly do the job. And, in fatherly care, He did not allow time for the problem to fester but quickly comes to a decision: "I will make him a helper suitable for him."
Male chauvinists—even Christian ones—have a habit of reminding women that they were created only as helpers, implying that women are secondary and in some (deliberately left undefined) ways less important than men are. We are, most of us, familiar with the caricature of the Jewish man who prayed, "God, I thank you that I was not born a woman . . ." There is nothing in Scriptures to support such a vile idea. The words translated "a suitable helper" are 'ezer kenegdo. There are actually four words in this compound. 'ezer is "help," "helper." Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible does the word suggest inferiority or subordination. In fact, God is Israel's greatest help, and the existence of such common names as Azarel ("God has helped"), Azriel ("My help is God") and Azariah ("the Lord has helped") attest to such recognition. It would be ludicrous to suggest that God, since He is Israel's helper, is subordinate to Israel. Ke means "like," "corresponding to." Neged is a preposition signifying "before" or "in front of." The root basically denotes placing something "high or conspicuous before a person." The verbal form is interesting because it is used often of God's revelation, i.e. of God putting something conspicuously in front of men (Gen 41:25; 49:1; Isa 19:12; 21:2). The basic idea is, therefore, of someone prominent, eminent (nagid means "ruler," "leader"). The compound is closed off with a third person singular masculine suffix, "his." Put together we have something like this: a helper corresponding to his prominence or a helper who is his counterpart. God's solution would be the perfect match for the man; only someone equal in every way will do.
Even God recognized that
there was something He could not do.
He knew that humans are humans
and God is God.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016