Helper

Genesis 1:26-28 (Opening) 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Introduction Do you remember helping your parents get things done? I remember a commercial from TV back in the ‘70s, for Shake-n-Bake chicken. Dad was so impressed with dinner, and the kids were so proud. “It’s shake and bake, and we helped!” You have to say it in that southern accent or the commercial is completely wrong. I remember helping my mom cook when I was a kid. Mom thought it was important that all of us learn how to cook so we could take care of ourselves when we grow up. The first thing I remember learning how to cook was tomato soup from can. Easy, yes, but a good first skill to learn in the kitchen. One of our granddaughters learned how to make macaroni and cheese from a package. Another good life skill. I also helped my dad when he worked around the house. I remember him teaching me how to plant in the garden, how to graft trees, how to split wood, how to build things out of lumber, and how to do plumbing and electrical wiring. I still can do most of these, although my planting skills are so rusty I have more of a black thumb than a green one. Learning by helping is important, and kids have been doing it forever, really. Most fathers who had some sort of business expected at least one of their sons to learn the trade to carry on the business. It’s assumed that Jesus spent time learning Joseph’s trade of being a carpenter. Jesus would have been considered an apprentice today. There are many fields that have organized apprenticeship programs still today. Most of the building trades have apprenticeships, and I learned a few years ago that glass blowers have an apprenticeship program, too. The Air Force considers its lower enlisted people to be apprentices, as they learn the required skills to do the job they enlisted into. I started out in the Air Force as an apprentice computer operator. Not one of the fields you think of when you talk about apprentices, but that’s the way it was 30 years ago. Many of the fields that have apprenticeship programs follow that with a journeyman level program for more fine-tuning in their particular skills, before becoming a master in their field. Back when organized apprenticeship programs started, back in the 1200s or so, a child of about 10 years or so would be given into an apprenticeship program by his parents. The child would move into the home of the master craftsman, who would provide room and board for him in exchange for the work done. Most apprenticeships lasted around 7 years, when the apprentice would have enough skill to go out on his own, or would stay as a journeyman to hone his skills more. Sometimes, being considered an apprentice or a helper isn’t that glamorous, and can be frustrating, especially if the master craftsman isn’t too keen on you learning to quickly and leaving him without the help he needs to get the job done. Over the years, the idea of being a helper has become, well, demeaning. You’re only a helper. The master is more important because he does all the real work. Second Telling In the first chapter in the Bible, Genesis chapter one, we read about God creating the entire universe in six days. And on the sixth day, God created mankind in His image. When you get into the next chapter, Genesis chapter two, we read the same story as the previous chapter, except the perspective is different. Chapter one looks at creation from a heavenly perspective, but with very little detail; at the 20,000-foot level, if you will. When you’re in a plane at 20,000 feet looking down, you can see the “big picture” view, but you can’t see all the little details. In chapter two we read about the creation from an earthly perspective. There’s more detail, but that detail is focused on the last day of creation that was discussed in chapter one, the day that God created all the animals and the humans. Genesis 2:5-7 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. This telling of the creation story is a little different. Some of the timing is different than in the previous chapter, but that’s OK. To make the point they wanted to make, chronology wasn’t important. We have that in chapter 1. God created everything, but there was no one to tend what God had created, so He made the man out of the dirt. Here we see the intent for mankind in general, as it says in Genesis chapter one, “fill the earth and subdue it” and “have dominion” over all the fish, birds, and animals. Of course, filling the earth with humans would be difficult when you’re starting with just one. Also, here in these verses, God creates “the man”, not mankind in general, like we read in chapter 1. He specifically creates Adam, who’s name is the same as the Hebrew word for mankind, but here the Hebrew is ha Adam, the man. There’s also a Hebrew pun here, because the word for dust or dirt is adamah, which sounds like the word for man. So, God creates a mud man and breathes life into him. Genesis 2:8-9 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ever notice how some details seem to jump out at you sometimes when you read the Bible, and other times different details jump out at you? What jumped out at me in these verses is that God made Adam, but then put him in the garden. God didn’t make Adam in the garden. But He did make the garden for Adam. God put all the plants that looked good and that were good as food in the garden for Adam. There were also two other trees there, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We’ll see the tree of life again in chapter 3, and then we won’t hear about it again until we get into John’s Revelation, at the end of the Bible. Genesis 2:15-17 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam must have been a fully grown adult male, and God put him in the garden to tend the plants and animals living there. That was Adam’s job, but it wasn’t work. Not yet. There has been no sin yet, so food was easy to get, and tending the garden was a pleasant experience. Part of the curse for sinning was that the ground would be cursed and make it difficult to get food for survival. As well as being a full grown human man, Adam had the ability to communicate with and to understand God. God explains the rules; you can eat from every plant except for one. And the punishment was simple, although even if he understood the word “die”, he probably didn’t completely grasp the concept, since that had never happened before. But in a perfect world, and this was the perfect world, death doesn’t exist, and would never be a problem. But that means to me that Adam was allowed to eat from the tree of life. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t die, because he was allowed to eat that fruit, and when he was sent out of the garden, he no longer had access to the fruit of the tree of life. Alone Now we’ve set up the real story. God created Adam, put him in the garden, and explained the rules. But something was missing. Genesis 2:18 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” What did God mean that the man was alone? Didn’t he have God to talk with? Wasn’t God there in the garden, too, to spend time with Adam and explain what was right and what was wrong? Not that it was a very long list of what Adam was told not to do. In the next chapter we read that God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, so that makes me think that God was there in the garden interacting with Adam, and later, with Eve. I think “alone” here means more than just by himself. He wasn’t really by himself. But he was unique. There wasn’t anyone or anything like him anywhere around. I think God wanted Adam to understand that before He resolved the problem. It’s what you call a teachable moment. God was going to allow Adam to experience his uniqueness before He resolved the situation and made things better. Genesis 2:19 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. That morning, from God’s perspective, He had created all the animals, pretty much the same way He created Adam. So, now God brings all the animals to Adam, as a part of Adam’s responsibility of having dominion over everything. God gives Adam the responsibility of naming every animal. That must have been a great time. God bringing all the animals around, and Adam looking them over, thinking for a while, and then deciding what name it should be called. That’s a lot of responsibility for someone who was just created. That’s why I think God created Adam as a full-grown adult, with the mentality and understanding that goes along with it. Adam was no dummy. Genesis 2:20 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. Adam paid attention to the animals that God showed to him. He did what he was supposed to do; he named all the animals. I can see Adam, standing in the garden, surrounded by all the trees and plants, and God brings all the animals past in a huge parade of life. Adam must have had a great memory. He named all the animals, but he noticed something; there wasn’t another like him in the bunch. God’s teachable moment worked. Adam realized his uniqueness. Yeah, dogs, cows, horses, cats, they’re all nice to have around, but they are different. They are only minions, subject to Adam’s dominion. But they weren’t like him at all. Helper What was God saying Adam needed, and what was Adam looking for? The English Standard Version translates it as a “helper fit for him”, but the Hebrew could be taken to mean a lot more than just that. The Hebrew words here are “ezer kenigdo”. Honestly, it doesn’t really flow off the tongue. To understand what these words mean, scholars look for other places where they are used. So let’s start with the first word, “ezer”. It’s important to notice that the majority of times this word is used, it’s used referring to God. For instance, Psalm 121:1-2 1  I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Throughout the rest of that psalm, God is referred to as an ever-present protector, providing shade and safety, and keeping evil away. Now, when I think of the word helper, that’s not what comes to mind. I remember back to when I was a kid, helping my dad working on things around the house. If we were working on the car, and I was helping, I was more of a gopher than anything else. If dad needed something, I would go for it. The word helper has a feeling of a subordinate, a minion if you will. But we know that God is subordinate to no one; He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That’s more than not subordinate. God provides for us what we cannot do for ourselves, He meets our needs, even when we don’t know how to express those needs. So maybe helper isn’t really the best English word to translate this. Some scholars have noted that the beginning of the word ezer is similar to the Hebrew word for strength, but saying that God needed to provide the man with his strength may be going a bit too far. The New English Translation or NET Bible translates ezer as “companion”. There so much more to that than just “helper”, but a companion helps, and a good companion knows what’s going on and helps when you haven’t figured out that you need help yet. And God can be our companion. So, what does that other word mean, kenigdo? It’s a complicated word that is used a lot in the Old Testament, but also has several meanings. It can mean opposite, across, in front of, face to face. One way to look at it is with your hands; my left hand is opposite or corresponding to my right hand. They’re both the same, they’re both hands, they both have fingers and a thumb. But one of them has the thumb on the wrong side. So, the phrase “helper fit for him” doesn’t really get the message across. God wanted Adam to understand that there was no comparable companion for him among the animals. A companion that could help him, and provide for his needs. A companion that was like him, but not like him. The animals all had comparable companions, but Adam didn’t. Genesis 2:21-22 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. You wouldn’t think these verses would be controversial, but they have become that way over the years. The word that’s translated as “rib” is only translated that way here. Everywhere else the word is used it refers to a side or something that is attached at the side. But rib kind of fits that description. Again, the NET Bible translates it as a part of the man’s side, rather than one of his ribs. Either way, God took something from Adam and used it to make the woman. Modern scholars look at these verses and say “Men have the same number of ribs as women. Where would they get that idea?” It doesn’t say that God changed the genetics of the man to have one less rib, it says it used that part of the man, whatever it was, and created the woman with that flesh, but closed up the place where the flesh was in the man. The man was made from dirt, and then placed in the garden. Then God put him in a deep sleep, took flesh from his side, healed it, then used that to make the woman. Men are from dirt, but women are from man. Adam recognized at once that the woman was not like the other animals, but was like him. Maybe God told him what was going to happen or explained it after he woke up from the deep sleep. Either way, Adam realized what happened, and where the woman came from. Genesis 2:23 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Adam didn’t say, “Now I finally have a human to boss around, a subordinate to make do things for me so I can take it easy.” Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. That’s what he said. She’s like me. She was made like me. We are the same; the same, but different. Uniquely similar. Up to this point in Scripture, every time the word “man” is used, it’s referring to mankind, adam. But here, we see a different word for man for the first time, ish, which is the male of mankind. The word for “woman” in Hebrew is ishshah, showing the uniqueness that she was taken from man, ish. But now Adam can identify himself as a particular gender. Up to this point there was only one, so there was no need to identify it. Now that there’s two, they need to be differentiated. He no longer represents all of mankind, only half of it. God knew what He was doing. Not just the physical similarities and differences, but the psychological similarities and differences. You’ve heard the phrase “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus”? That doesn’t quite cover it. Not all men are the same and not all women are the same. But generally speaking, men are more physical, stronger physically, but are not strong in the relationship department. Women, on the other hand, are more relational; they deal better with discussing problems and communicating. But like I said, that’s a generalization. God knew Adam’s strengths and weaknesses, because He made him. He provided a comparable companion for him, to fill in the gaps, if you will. But God didn’t create them as boss and subordinate, or prince and minion. Not even hero and sidekick (you pick which way you want to think about that one). Together, they both had dominion over everything else on the earth, but God had dominion over them, just like He has over us. As David worded it: Psalm 8:5-8 5  Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6  You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7  all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8  the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. “Him” being generic mankind, not just the man. Both male and female, the man and the woman, were given dominion over God’s creation on earth, but created lower than the Elohim. Their dominion doesn’t extend to the humans on the earth; that’s God’s area of responsibility. So, Adam wasn’t made responsible for Eve’s actions, and Eve wasn’t made responsible for Adam’s actions. They were made to be equal, even though they were made different, and have different skills and abilities. Conclusion The helper or apprentice isn’t what God was talking about when He said that Adam should have a helper suitable to him. God made both male and female humans to be equals in their dominion over His creation on the earth. We have since developed our own hierarchy of who is responsible to whom. God has put governments and leaders in place to help keep order, and to enforce laws, but when it all comes down to it, we’re all just humans, we’re all equal. We’re all made just a little lower than the Elohim. But we still need to obey laws; both God’s laws, and men’s laws when they don’t require us to break God’s laws. Maybe you’ve been having a hard time keeping yourself from doing things that you know are wrong, breaking God’s laws. Maybe you don’t even know for sure what God wants us to do. I can help you on that journey. Maybe now is a good time for you to be a helper for God. Ephesians 5:31-33 (Closing) 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.