Comments on: Created to Be His Helpmeet http://mindy.firstimportance.com/2005/10/21/created-to-be-his-helpmeet/ Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:55:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Contradictory Ben http://mindy.firstimportance.com/2005/10/21/created-to-be-his-helpmeet/#comment-6 Contradictory Ben Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:04:30 +0000 http://mindy.firstimportance.com/2005/10/21/created-to-be-his-helpmeet/#comment-6 Just passing through, and couldn't resist noting that the usage of <em>'ezer</em>, the Hebrew word your Bible translates as helpmeet, provides no support for the idea that Eve was created to help Adam do <em>whatever</em> he wanted to do: she is a help not a servant. Sometimes in order to help someone is necessary to go against their orders and their desires. It is used again in Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:7, Deuteronomy 33:29, and Psalms 33:20, 70:5, 115:9-11, 121:1-2, 124:8 to refer not to wives but to God. Does the God described in the Bible help human beings to do whatever <em>they</em> wants to do, or does He actually do what's best for them? The verse usually (though not necessarily accurately) used to justify the subjection of wives to husbands is Genesis 3:16. This may well specifically refer, as apparently certain medieval Jewish commentators believed, to the sphere of sexual desire. (See Carol Myers, <em>Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context</em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), especially pp. 109-17.) But in any case if Adam’s alleged subjugation of Eve was a punishment for Eve’s part in the Fall, then (if we interpret the text consistently) it can not also have been implied in <em>'ezer</em>, which describes Eve’s position before the Fall. (Please note: I mean no offence. I’m also a reader, not a believer, so I'm sure you'll think about it for yourself.) Just passing through, and couldn’t resist noting that the usage of ‘ezer, the Hebrew word your Bible translates as helpmeet, provides no support for the idea that Eve was created to help Adam do whatever he wanted to do: she is a help not a servant. Sometimes in order to help someone is necessary to go against their orders and their desires. It is used again in Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:7, Deuteronomy 33:29, and Psalms 33:20, 70:5, 115:9-11, 121:1-2, 124:8 to refer not to wives but to God. Does the God described in the Bible help human beings to do whatever they wants to do, or does He actually do what’s best for them? The verse usually (though not necessarily accurately) used to justify the subjection of wives to husbands is Genesis 3:16. This may well specifically refer, as apparently certain medieval Jewish commentators believed, to the sphere of sexual desire. (See Carol Myers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), especially pp. 109-17.) But in any case if Adam’s alleged subjugation of Eve was a punishment for Eve’s part in the Fall, then (if we interpret the text consistently) it can not also have been implied in ‘ezer, which describes Eve’s position before the Fall.

(Please note: I mean no offence. I’m also a reader, not a believer, so I’m sure you’ll think about it for yourself.)

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