"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."
Genesis 2:18 NRSV
YHWH Elohim looks over this garden and this adam that he/they have created and notices something right away: he is alone. YHWH Elohim knew from the beginning that we, as human beings, would struggle in this world if we felt isolated and had no one else to share life with. In fact, this is the first time, with the exception of Genesis 1:2 (tohu va’bohu – formless, empty wasteland) that we see something that is not good in the creation narrative. And if the Documentary Hypothesis is true, and this is actually the older creation narrative, this would be the very first time that we would see something not good in the creation.
If you are tracking along in the hebrew text, then you will notice a word that has popped up several times: TOV.
TOV is the Hebrew word for “good.” It is actually all over Genesis 1. In fact, in Genesis 1, tov is the literary contrast to tohu va’bohu, showing that Elohim takes what is not good, and creates and makes it good.
What we see here in Genesis 2:18, however, is a different phrase:
We see the phrase “lo tov” which means, literally, “not [it is] good.” It is not that the creation isn’t good, nor is it that the adam is not good. YHWH Elohim spells it out, “It isn’t good that the adam has no one like him to be with.” In some sense, this is a statement letting us know that the creation is incomplete. That, in order for this creation to be “tov,” a “suitable helper/partner” needs to be created.
These are the Hebrew words “ezer kenegdo” and they are translated from Genesis 2:18 “a suitable helper” in the NIV. Ezer is translated “helper” and kenegdo is translated “suitable.” I’m actually not a big fan of this translation, because, while it is technically accurate, it misses the nuance of these words and what they mean when put together. Ezer does mean helper, sometimes. More often, however, it means “to rescue/to save” or “to be strong.” In fact, the word ezer is used several times in the Hebrew Bible in reference to God. When we translate ezer to mean helper, it can give off this notion of less than or inferior to… as if the next creation was there only to serve the adam’s needs. This is NOT the correct use or definition of the word ezer. Whenever the word ezer is translated as “helper” when used with the name of God, it carries this connotation of “I needed rescue and God was my “helper” (ezer)… basically, “the one who rescued me from my dilemma or dispair.” In this context, the adam needs rescue from what is “lo tov,” or “not good” and the thing created will be his “helper” to rescue him from it. That brings us to the word kenegdo. Kenegdo is translated here “suitable.” I also don’t love this translation, even though it is technically correct. The word kenegdo also means “equally opposite from or corresponding to.” Suitable, once again, can bring this connotation of “what is going to be created is not only less than and inferior to the adam and there to serve the adam, but they are now suitable only to meet the adam’s needs.” YHWH Elohim wasn’t trying to create a master/slave relationship for the adam. YHWH Elohim was creating a beautiful partnership between equal – in substance and compatibility- beings. That is why I love the NRSV’s translation of Genesis 2:18 and used it above.
So the story continues to unfold and YHWH Elohim continues to create. He creates all kinds of animals, in the same fashion that he created the adam, but none of them is equal in substance and compatibility to the adam. The adam “names” all of these animals, a reference to dominion and rule, not equality, showing us that none of these has the ability to be his ezer kenegdo. So, it stands to reason, that YHWH Elohim sees that in order to create an ezer kenegdo for the adam, it needs to come from the adam. Any other method would either be inferior or superior to the adam, not equal to as the text seems to indicate. So YHWH Elohim causes the adam to sleep deeply and takes a part of his side and, from it, fashions the woman and brings her to the adam.
"The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.'"
Genesis 2:23 NIV
The adam sees the woman, and in jubilation cries out these words. It’s as if the adam is saying, “FINALLY!! This one is exactly like me. This one is in essence, me.” There is a fun little word play here in the Hebrew text between the words “man” and “woman” that we do not see in the english translation, that helps make sense of the phrase “for she was taken out of man.”
This is the Hebrew word “Ish” and it means man.
This is the Hebrew word “Ish shah” and it means woman. It’s root is derived from the word Ish… so, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, the word “ish shah” is taken out of the word “ish”… so the woman is both literally and literarily taken out of man.
So… the Ish and the Ish shah together form the adam (mankind) and together reflect the image of God. The Ish shah is not the servant of the Ish, but the “rescuing helper of equal substance and compatibility.” And, as this text notes, this is why the phrase “one flesh” is used when the two come together in marriage. The Ish and the Ish shah are made back into an equal whole again.
And Genesis 2 ends with this interesting phrase:
"Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."
Genesis 2:25 NIV
There is both innocence and intimacy expressed here. Intimacy is the full knowing of another with no shame between the two. What drove their intimacy was their innocence, but that was about to be tested in a huge way…
