Monday, May 28, 2012

A Glorious Task


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
God made a helper for man he made one who was suitable (NIV, NASB), fit (RSV, ESV), meet (KJV, ASV), or right (New Century Version) for him. "Meet" in the KJV and ASV is not used in contemporary English, but it means more or less what the other translations say. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) defines it as "precisely adapted to a particular situation, need, or circumstance." Three other translations emphasize a different nuance suggesting a correspondence or likeness between the man and his helper. They say God would make for him a helper "as his complement" (Holman Christian Standard Bible) or "as his counterpart" (Lexham English Bible, Young's Literal Translation).

If man's task was merely to hunt ducks, a dog might be a suitable helper. If a man's task was to keep mice out of his house, a cat might be a helper meet or fit for him. Those, however, were not the tasks God assigned to man. God assigned man the task of increasing in number and ruling God's creation as God's stewards. For these tasks, neither a dog nor a cat was suitable. They were not suitable in part because they had no likeness to him and so could not be his counterpart. For this task, he needed a woman who was, like him, made in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).

Man needed woman to produce children, to nurture them, to teach them to respect God, and to train them to be stewards of God's creation. Both would have important and complementary roles each step of the way.  One person and one gender alone could not fulfill some tasks and would work at a disadvantage on others.

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