Woman as the “helper” does not mean inferior
There is a much-debated word in Genesis 2: the word “helper”. God made woman to be a helper for man. Almost every single Bible translation uses the same word to translate the Hebrew here; it is the best word in English.
Yet we often think of a helper as a secondary person, an inferior person, compared to the one being helped. Like a boss and their assistant, perhaps. Or a tradesperson and their apprentice. Someone to take notes and hold the tools while the main person does the ‘important work’. That is clearly not what is meant here.
If you look at how the word ‘helper’ that is found here is used elsewhere in the OT, you see something very interesting. It is often used of God. Exodus 18:4 says that God helped deliver his people from Egypt; in that situation, God was the one who did it all! In 1 Samuel 7:12 it is God who will help the offspring of David to rule forever; I think you’ll agree that God is doing far more than assisting while David did the real work here! The same word is also used of mighty countries helping a smaller country in battle. In almost every case, the ‘helper’ is actually more powerful than the one being helped. So we should not read this as an uneven power balance; the helper is just as important as the worker in this passage.
God made the woman out of part of Adam in v21. While most translations use the word “rib”, the word used here is never used to describe a rib anywhere else in the Bible (Hamilton, NICOT). It usually means ‘side’. In other places, it is used of the side of the ark, or the side of a building or a mountain. So the verse says God took part of Adam’s side and formed the woman from it. Men and women do have the same number of ribs, in case you’re wondering! As always, this is God’s work; Adam is fast asleep at the time. Woman is made of the same stuff as the man but is in a completely different category to the animals.
I mentioned this in other blog posts, but it is worth saying again here. Both men and women are equally made in the image of God. What we see here is a difference in function, not in value. People have had this mixed up too often in world history. Women have been sometimes seen as inferior when that has never ever been God’s plan.
There are differences in the way men and women are to act; there is a difference in role that is explored in other Bible passages. Yet that word “helper” does not have the connotations as the support act to the real person; both men and women are equally valuable to God and have different but important contributions to make to society.