On Saturday, I posted the first of a three-part series on
considering the possible beginnings of a biblically faithful Christian feminism
(see part one here). Then yesterday, we explored the semantic range of the term
‛êzer, which is consistently
translated “help(er)” in the AV (see here). Today, then, we’ll wrap things up
by returning to the term’s first instance in Genesis 2 in order to allow
yesterday’s word study to inform our understanding of what it means a woman to
be a “help meet” for her husband for sake of his growth in faith and life.
Having done a brief survey of the term’s semantic range, then,
we can now carry our findings back to the context of Yahweh’s intentions in the
woman-wife’s creation. If we allow the consistent meaning throughout the Old
Testament to determine the meaning in Genesis 2, then even the more
accommodating ideas surrounding the English sense of “help” as ‘assistant…one
who supplements what is lacking in another’s attributes and abilities’ doesn’t
quite work, though it is moving in the right direction.
Without any straining or stretching, we may read Genesis 2
as Yahweh making Adam’s/man’s counterpart as a defender and protector of the
man. While a fuller look at biblical anthropology would clearly show that the
husband is first and primarily the wife’s protector and defender, we cannot
ignore that here the wife’s role shares in this function for sake of her
husband.
In no wise does this threaten a biblical complimentarian
perspective on manhood and womanhood. (If one felt that it did, he would still
have to reckon with the term’s meaning in the context of Gen. 2 and explain why
this isolated situation means something other than the word consistently and
statically means elsewhere throughout scripture.) What it
does do is challenge some of our assumptions about what it means to be a wife.
If John Piper’s “Christian hedonism,” which seems like a contradiction in
terms, actually enjoys biblical justification—and I believe it does—then
perhaps these observations could be the beginnings of a “Christian feminism.” Who
knows?
Let me provide one illustration from my experience last
week, one which I think qualifies as a fulfillment of the êzer-wife.
From my rising in the morning to returning to bed late that
night, I had one of those really, really tough days last week. Despite the
sticky-note that Fanny left for me, warning me that the Impala was parked
slightly behind the Jeep, and me carrying all the way to the Jeep, I hopped in,
fired her up, dropped it in reverse, and six feet later was careening into the
driver’s rear door of the Impala in my own driveway!! UGH! This event served as
an archetype for the rest of the day.
My beloved Fanny prayed for me and with me that evening and
through her overnight shift at work. The next morning, I found another
sticky-note written in Fanny’s own hand, hanging from the kitchen cabinet,
almost exactly where the warning note was the morning before. This time,
though, it reminded me of her all-night prayer vigil she held for me. All
night, she engaged in several battles, interceding before the throne of grace
on my behalf. In this, she was being my true êzer. More than that, she was taking the fight to our great Ĕzer, the warrior-Captain of our
salvation, who is the Help of his people.
Additionally, the note contained words not her own. It was
full of the words of St. Paul. She put the weapon of Phil. 4:8 in my hands and
heart, the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). It
read:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are
of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on
these things.
St. Paul’s words were followed by more of Fanny’s: “I love
you. Be blessed today!” This was a radical move by Fanny! This was a woman
living out the role of the êzer-wife.
Granted, I didn’t need the devil’s minions’ to do stupid things like bang up
our cars. Nevertheless, all the various and attending circumstances that week
were fertile battlegrounds for the powers and principalities to attack; I
believe they were. So, my êzer-wife
was defending her head; she was protecting and “shielding” me in Christ. These
means, these weapons, were the source of my deliverance, salvation, and rescue
through a rough season in life. This is biblical womanhood. And despite the
seeming antinomy, caused by tensions between polar factions within the church,
this is Christian feminism. Good and godly men need their êzer-wives—it is God’s originally-good creational intention. How
much more, then, do we not-so-good and not-so-godly men need them!
“A virtuous woman is
a crown to her husband” (Prov. 12:4); an êzer-woman
is his shield and buckler! Men of God, we need both, and we need to be men
enough to admit it! As Yahweh judged, man alone ain’t good; neither is it good
to try to act and fight the good fight of the faith alone.
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