Monday, October 23, 2017

Help Meet, Not Help Mate


by Diane M. Hoffmann, Ph.D.

A lot of preachers out there, everywhere, are referring to the scripture in Genesis 2:18, as the woman being a "helpmate" to the man in marriage.

I hear this all the time, yet that is not what the Word of God says at all.

Now that is not to say that a man and woman in marriage are not to help one another.

The term "help meet" in Genesis has been misrepresented by most preachers and teachers of the Word of God. They usually refer to the term as either a "helpmate" or a "helper". By saying that, those people only show their lack of research in the interpretation or their study of the Bible.

In this scripture of Genesis 2:18, the word "help meet" (two words) refers to the delivering of man from his "being alone".

First, it is used in God bringing the animals to the man (same word). Animals are not helpmates or helpers. then God says: "... but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him" (v.20)

The words "help meet" are translated from the Greek as "ezer". It is used also in several other scriptures.

For example,

in Exodus 18:4, "And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was my help (ezer) and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh".


In Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29, the same word appears: 

"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 you be a help (ezer) to him from his enemies . . . "

"There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heaven in your help" (ezer) . . . 

"Happy are you, O Israel: who is like unto you, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help" (ezer).

Again:

In Psalm 115:9, 10, 11, “O Israel, you trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.” “O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield,” “You that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.”

In Psalm 121:1, 2, “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from where comes my help.” “My help comes from the Lord . . .”; in Psalm 124:8, “Our help is in the name of the Lord . . .”; in Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help . . .

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 helped with a little help . . .”;

 in Hosea 13:9, “O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in me is you help.

and there are many other examples throughout the Bible.

God is not a helpmate or a helper as it is being wrongly preached and taught.  He is a deliverer of certain situations.

It means the woman was brought to man by God as a deliverer of the situation of the man being alone.

Read more about this, in the book "24 Hot Potatoes in the Church Today" under the "About the Book" tab above or the download of this one topic under the tab "PDF Downloads" above.

./dmh