What is the Meaning of A Suitable Helper ?

Even though God took one from Adam to form Eve, women and men have twelve pairs of ribs. God didn’t need a rib to create but made her part of him.  “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 NIV).

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him…then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” Genesis 2:18-22

Adam was a marvelous creation of bone, flesh, seeing, thinking, observing, and working. The only part of creation where God took something he made in Adam to form another was the making of a woman, the gift of a suitable helper.  The word helper is not a secondary person, but one who is in the image of God and called by the same description as God, Helper. The similarities that God and woman share are described more fully later in this article  

God designed a woman for a man and a man for a woman. They needed each other to be complete, create life, and walk with God. After naming the animals and birds, God brought the woman to Adam. Do you suppose Adam had an adrenalin rush with the exhilaration and wonder of this new creation standing before him?  God’s beautiful design of a woman brought completeness and joy and vastness of life unattainable without each person. If God called the creation of man and woman good, I can’t imagine Adam disagreeing. Together, they were in paradise!

SUITABLE

The word suitable is from the Hebrew “neged” (neh’-ghed), which means “in front of, in sight of, opposite to” (Strong’s 5048). This “suitable” person is conspicuous, vigorous, a leader, effective, stands out boldly, praises, expounds, exposes, plainly professes, reports, tells, and utters. Considering the word suitable reveals the significance and importance of a woman created equal with a man. This companion speaks up, advises, and together faces the joys and sorrows of life. Not only did each complete the other, each one had a mind to think, a heart to feel, and a spirit that would live forever. 

It gets better. Look at the word “helper!”

HELPER

Too often, the thought of a helper is someone less than the other, such as an unskilled worker who helps a skilled one. Or one who is less in status or education than the one being helped. Often a woman’s role has been related to a subservient role to the man. Not so in God’s created order. In the image of God, a woman is a helper and called by the same description as God.

The word “helper” (the Hebrew is “Ezer,” a help, helper) is the same word used by God sixty-six times in Scripture. This “Ezer” (pronounced “ay-zer”) speaks of God’s strength, power, protection, help, and being a rescuer.

1. Eliezer–The name of the son of Moses was called Eliezer (my God is helper–”Eli–my God; Ezer–helper). “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharoah.” (Exodus 18:4). The word “helper” references God.

2. Ebenezer–The prophet Samuel raised a stone monument, the Stone of Help because the Lord had helped them win a victory over their enemies (1 Samuel 7:12).

3. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a “helper.” “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16, 17).

4. The people proclaimed God their help in ages past. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

5. The Holy Spirit, co-equal with God, is our advocate, advisor, counselor, paraklētos (called to one’s aid). He is an intercessor, consoler, comforter, and helper who pleads another’s cause before a judge, acts as counsel for the defense, and as a legal assistant, giving evidence that stands up in court. God, the Holy Spirit, is a Helper.

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, establishing the divine order of marriage.  In Ephesians 5:1, believers are to follow God’s example and walk in the way of love, “just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” The husband and the wife are to “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:2).

Jesus is our chief example of submitting to each other in marriage. Jesus, co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, came to earth, took on flesh, and became a servant. He humbled himself and was obedient to death on the cross.  His death freed us from sin even when we didn’t deserve that kind of love (Philippians 2:5-8). Jesus serving, submitting, and giving his life through death is our example for marriage, laying down our lives for the other. As faithful followers of Jesus, we become like Jesus as we submit and love each other in marriage.  

COMPLETION

The LORD” God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).

Wives are the picture of the church yielding to Christ, and husbands are to be like Jesus in submitting himself up for her (wife) as Jesus did for the church, the Bride of Christ. Matthew Henry, pastor and author, beautifully states, “The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

Another example of being one is seen in the Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit work together in unity. Although three in one, they are known as One God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12 29).

Husband and wife are to resemble the unity of the Trinity, to be one, not only physically, but one in harmony and in serving the Lord and each other. Each one is unique, with varied gifts and talents. And, each is the crown of the other, equal to, and a fitting companion. 

Ephesians gives the picture of pure love. Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us. We are to follow God’s example and lay down our lives for the other. 

As a household of faith, we are called to follow God’s standard of love, submitting to the other because we love and respect the Lord. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wife–submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  Husband – love your wife, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:21-23).

God’s gracious and compassionate love is revealed in creating a man and a woman as one flesh—“bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” the closest companion possible, equal to, partner, lover, and friend.   

 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:31-33).

God created both man and woman in the image of God. Jesus is equal to the Father but chose to submit to the Father and become our Savior. The Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and Jesus. Yet, the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus. Our Helper, the Holy Spirit, is with us and in us (John 14:16, 17). 

The Three-in-One exhibit no rivalry, competition, or inferiority but are equal, each divinely God, accomplishing God’s will and purposes. Marriage between a man and a woman is to model that kind of love, unity, and oneness.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

God’s creation from Adam’s rib brought forth a suitable helper made in God’s image, opposite to yet equal to man.  Together they complete each other and example the unity of the Trinity, the creative characteristics of God, and the everlasting love of God.  

“All Scripture is from the NIV translation.”