A Special Report on the issue of women being help mates.

Help Meet Not Help Mate

by Rev. Dr. D. M. Hoffmann, B.Th., M.Th., Ph.D., Ord./IAOGI, (CNC).

Genesis 2:18 has often been made the subject of popular preaching and teaching rendering that God gave man a woman as a "helper", "helpmate" or someone suitable to "help" him.

However, the term "help meet" has been and continues to be mistranslated by preachers in two ways.

To begin with, the term is first used to refer to the delivering of man’s loneliness in God bringing about the animals to the man. But then two verses later, we are told that the animals did not take care of this situation : "… but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him." (verse 20).

The second misinterpretation is that, there is no such word in the Bible as "helpmate" nor "helpmeet" as it's been misinterpreted. Here is what the Bible says…

"In me is thine help"

Genesis 2, verse 18 says, "I will make him a help meet for him." On examining the word "help" ("meet" is also translated to the same word) in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, it is noticed that this word ('êzer from 'âzar) is also used in Exodus 18:4, "And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh...".

It is again used in Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29, "And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou a help to him from his enemies." "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help...", "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help...", and in Psalms 115:9, 10, 11, "O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.",

And other Scriptures:

"O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.", "Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield", in Psalm 121:1,2, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.", "My help cometh from the Lord..."; in Psalm 124:8,

"Our help is in the name of the Lord..."; in Psalm 146:5, "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help...";

and in Isaiah 30:5, "They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit...", in Ezekiel 12:14, "And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands..."; Daniel 11:34, "Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help..."; in Hosea 13:9, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."

Not one of these scripture verses is anywhere near the common traditional mistranslation of Genesis 2:18 to mean "helper" or "helpmate".

One cannot substitute the words for "help" in these verses. For example, in the Living Bible, the author has translated the original King James to, "...I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs." (Talk about adding to the Word!). This translation cannot be used in any of these verses quoted above, nor can the mistranslation of the New King James "a helper comparable to him" or any other mistranslation.

"Seccour"

The above scripture verses clearly indicate the meaning for help is not in the sense of one who hands out the nails and fetches the hammer, or one who helps move the furniture, or helps another achieve personal goals, etc.; rather it is in the sense of coming to one's relief in a particular situation. In this case of Adam, it was loneliness.

Amongst its translated examples, Strong’s uses the word "seccour", which is a French word, meaning to come to someone’s aid. God comes to Israel’s aid — not as a helper or an assistant, but as a deliverer.

After declaring, in verse 20, that the animals didn’t take care of the man’s loneliness (he could name them and appreciate them in their variations and limitations, but he could not communicate with them on his human level), God then had another idea and formed another human being out of the man’s own rib to which Adam’s response was, "… now this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (The words for man and woman are Ish and Isha).

So much for evolution... man and animals are quite separate.

The kind of "help" that God brought to man through the making of the woman is the kind of help which "delivers" the man from his loneliness. God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone". God brought man a woman to take care of the loneliness problem. It has nothing to do with "a helper suited to his needs", or "a helper comparable to him" -- man's convenient translations -- but it has everything to do with "a deliverer from his loneliness".

Single people know this well. They are not longing for someone to help them, they long for someone to communicate with, to share with...

At the same time that God brought the woman to the man, God instituted the marriage:

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Genesis 2:24). What a beautiful and clear picture of what marriage is.

"Not found a help meet"

The term "help meet" is first mentioned in Genesis 2:18 when God had compassion on His lonely creature. Verse 19 follows: "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Verse 20... "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him."

After God made the animals as "help meet" and brought them to man, He realized that they didn't take care of the man's loneliness. If the translation was to mean what preachers have been making it to be, I wonder which one of the animals had been intended to wash his clothes? … or to make his lunch? ... or support him in his endeavours?

No, God then separated the "male and female" (Gen.1:27) into two individuals -- Ish and Isha, Man and Woman. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof" (verse 21).

"And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made (build) he a woman, and brought her unto the man" (verse 22). It is interesting that the word "brought" (in both v.19 and 22) is the same word used for Cain and Abel bringing their offerings of their firstfruits to God. What an awesome thing that God would bring to man in the same way that He requires man to bring to Him, in man's highest gesture of worship toward God. What Love and respect God has for mankind -- His own creation. It is like Jesus' washing of His disciples' feet.

"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

The term reference for "now" in one Bible translation writes it to mean "at last". This was it.

There could not have been a better deliverer of his loneliness then his own "bone of his bone" and "flesh of his flesh". This one was like him -- thought like him, talked like him, felt like him.

Man's translations

One television evangelist, while preaching on this subject, added that men do not "take advantage of the strength God gave women". He wanted to flatter women that they were strong, but at the same time he was saying that women are there to help and therefore men could take more advantage of what God has given them.

Some feminist groups argue that woman is as strong as man. I guess this was stated to try and please this group. I believe that woman has the potential to develop herself to become as strong in some ways as man. But not many women do it and if you put one thousand men vs one thousand women it does not equal. They are different.

God did not "clone" Adam for He would have ended up with double the trouble at hand. In separating Male and Female, the Creator split up the characteristics of the human being into a precise distribution that would allow each of the separated beings to specialize in each a certain character and role and to complement each other.

The old adage "two heads are better than one" lives up to its meaning as long as the two heads don't have the exact same ideas. So they had to be different.

Because they were to be "one" again in marriage, there was no need to have the same strength, emotions or characteristics. They would add to and complement each other in their specialties and roles of "becoming one flesh". But, that does not mean that one single person of either gender is not full or complete by him/herself.

We have to be careful that in our teachings we do not make single people to feel that they are incapable of living by themselves. A man and woman people become one in marriage. God made provision for single people to be quite complete if not married, however some (most) feel the loneliness and therefore seek to be married. However there are some who can live unmarried. (More on this in 1 Corinthians 7).

Failed System

Now, lest any feminist glimmer perks up in the light of this fresh study, and use the truth exposed to relinquish the submission responsibility placed upon wives, Ephesians 5:22 still stands. Paul was helping the believers to stay organized within God's orderly government which was set up after the Fall as a protection against the indiscremination of mankind's worst enemy - Satan.

We are still to help one another -- exhorting, supporting, encouraging each other -- but each in our personalities and talents as God has given us -- the man still being the head of the marriage household.

"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God", Paul exhorts in verse 21. In the next verse wives are not told to submit in a slaving sense, but, rather, in a manner that brings order to the believers' family lives. There are not two presidents in one company.

Then verse 25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." The whole of this chapter is dedicated to love, respect, submission to one another-- not as zombies or robots -- but as "becometh saints" (Ephe.5:3).

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:36).

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22)/dmh

Dr. Diane M. Hoffmann is president of the Link School of Ministries Inc., a Christian Bible Correspondence School and Internet Theological Reading Room that can be seen at http://www.linkschool21.com . She is the author of numerous Christian seminars and theological articles, tracts, e-books and books, including "The Horizontal Chronology of the Four Gospels". (Article copyright Diane M. Hoffmann. You may reprint this article without changes and including author's name and resource box).

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