This article is going to be about Adam & Eve, I promise. However, I want to start by talking about God for a bit. Because, while the people in the Bible may seem like they are the main characters or heroes of the stories in the Bible; in reality, they are not the main character. God is the Main Character of the Bible. God is the Hero of every story in scripture. Meanwhile, the people, whom we are reading stories about, are there to illustrate different aspects of our God and His relationship with His people. This is true with the story of Adam & Eve as well. So, let’s go on a brief journey to consider some passages about God, then we will come back to talk about Adam & Eve.
“The other was named Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh” (Exodus 18:4, NASB). - Moses named His son: “El” (God) “ezer” (Help/ Strength), to show that God was the help/ strength that Moses was lacking and needing.
“And this regarding Judah; so he said, “Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them, And may You be a help against his adversaries” (Deut. 33:7, NASB95). - “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty” (Deut. 33:26, NASB95). - “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, Who is the shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, And you will tread upon their high places” (Deut. 33:29, NASB95). - Moses blessed Judah by praying for God to be Judah’s help/ strength (“ezer”) against his enemies. Then Moses praised God for riding through the skies to be Israel’s help (“ezer”), and told Israel that they were blessed because God was the shield of their help (“ezer”).
“May He send you help from the sanctuary And support you from Zion!” (Psalm 20:2, NASB95). - “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield” (Psalm 33:20, NASB95). - “Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people” (Psalm 89:19, NASB95). - “O Israel, 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 who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield” (Psalm 115:9-11, NASB95). - “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2, NASB95). “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8, NASB95). "- “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5, NASB95). - Over and over, the psalmists praise God for being their help/ strength (“ezer”) in their time of need. That they could not succeed or survive without the strength/ help that He provided.
“Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy” (Dan. 11:34). - “It is your destruction, O Israel, That you are against Me, against your help” (Hosea 13:9, NASB95). - Daniel speaks of the suffering receiving a little help/ strength (“ezer”), likely from God. And Hosea prophecies against Israel for turning against God, Who was their help/ strength (“ezer”). Other prophets spoke against those who found their help/ strength (“ezer”) in someone/ something other than God (Isa. 30:5; Ezek. 12:14).
Notice a theme here? These are all but two of the uses of the Hebrew word: “Ezer.” This word is mostly translated as “help”, but could be translated as: “Strength”, “Aid”, etc. Most of these passages are talking about God as a “Mighty Warrior” providing the help/ aid/ strength that various men are lacking.
But, what about those remaining two uses? Actually, what are the first two times in scripture that this word “Ezer” is used? They are found in Genesis 2:18, 20 - “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him… The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him” (NASB95). - God saw that man had none among the animals to be a fitting helper/ strength/ aid/ mighty warrior to supply what he was lacking and needing. So, God created woman to be man’s helper/ strength/ aid/ mighty warrior, supplying man with the strength that he was lacking.
Eve was to Adam, what the rest of the scripture tells us that God is to us. Adam’s need for Eve illustrates mankind’s need for God. Adam lacking strength and not finding it anywhere on earth, illustrates mankind lacking strength and being unable to find it anywhere on earth. But, as God provided Eve to be Adam’s “ezer” (help/ strength/ mighty warrior); God has provided Jesus to be our “ezer” (help/ strength/ mighty warrior).
But, not only does Eve’s relationship with Adam illustrate God’s relationship with us, but it also works the other way around. Adam’s relationship with Eve is used by God to illustrate God’s relationship with us.
“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:22-33, NASB95).
After giving instructions for how the husband and wife are to treat one another, Paul pauses to tell us that he is not actually talking about marriage. He is using marriage as an illustration of Christ and the church. In fact, that is what marriage was always designed to do - to illustrate God’s relationship with us. God loves us, as Adam likely loved Eve. God wants to be joined to us, to be one with us (John 17:20-24), like Adam was joined to Eve as one flesh. Eve was supposed to submit to Adam while he ruled over her (Gen. 3:16), as we are supposed to submit to Christ while He rules over us.
So, while the story of Adam & Eve does tell us about Adam & Eve, it really is a story about God & us. Eve’s relationship with Adam illustrates God’s relationship with us. And, Adam’s relationship with Eve also illustrates God’s relationship with us. Let us be one with God. Let us have Him as our Helper/ Strength/ Aid/ Mighty Warrior. And let us love Him, and submit to Him in humility.