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.

Help for the Future

The Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him."
-- Genesis 2:18 NIV

When God saw it was not good for a man to be alone, he did not merely make a companion for him.  Companionship with its mutual comforts and pleasures is good, but God planned something more - a helper.  This implies that the man and his companion had a task.

What was the task?  The context mentions two related tasks.  First, mankind was given the task of ruling God's creation (Genesis 1:26) as stewards in submission to God's sovereignty (Genesis 2:15-17).  Second, as a means to that end, mankind was to increase in number and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28).  In short, their task was to produce, train, and equip children to rule God's creation as God's stewards.

This was no small task.  It could not be accomplished by one person alone.  Furthermore, two people could not accomplish it in one night alone.  It would take two people working together for years to raise children to a level of maturity sufficient to continue the task God assigned mankind.

Too often, contemporary debate about marriage, divorce, and homosexual partnerships has ignored God's intention and purpose.  God's primary intention was not to provide for an individual's right to happiness and satisfaction, but to provide for giving life and nurture to children who would carry on responsible stewardship over God's creation.

It is Time You Open an Account in Heaven

A friend of mine gave me Randy Alcorn's little book The Treasure Principle several years ago. It didn't take long to read, but it was not soon forgotten. I shared or gave the book to someone else, I am not sure which, so when I occasionally wanted to reread the book, I couldn't. Then recently I had opportunity to receive a free copy of the book in return for reviewing it on my blog.

I was not disappointed the second time through the book. The treasure principle is that all earthly treasures will either be lost or left behind, no exceptions, but earthly treasures can be exchanged for secure and eternal heavenly treasures (Matthew 6:19-21).

Our problem is that we are reluctant to exchange the temporal for the eternal. Mr. Alcorn offers six keys that will free us from the tyranny of our earthly treasures and open a storehouse of eternal treasures. First, understand that God owns everything and that we are merely managers of his property. Second, our hearts will go where we put God's money. Third, heaven is our home, not earth. Fourth, we should live not for the dot (the temporal) but for the line (the eternal). Fifth, giving is the only way we can free ourselves from materialism. Sixth, God prospers us not to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving.

I would highly recommend this book for personal reading and as a gift to others. You can read the first chapter here. I give the book 5 out of a possible 5. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Great Distress

Reflections on 1 Sam. 30:1-6

No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.
-- 1 Cor. 10:13 NET

Saul and David lived in the same world and faced similar trials, but one found strength in the Lord and the other did not. The difference was not in God, who is impartial, but in the seeker.

SIMILAR TRIALS. Saul was in “great distress” (1 Sam. 28:15) because he and the Israelite army were facing a formidable Philistine army. At about the same time, David was “greatly distressed” (v. 6) because David had found Ziklag plundered and his family taken captives by a marauding band of Amalekites. Both were under added stress because their men and the families of their men were also at risk. Some of Saul’s officers had deserted him to go to David, and David’s men spoke of stoning him (v. 6). In their distress, both sought the Lord, but only one was strengthened.

ONLY ONE STRENGTHENED. Saul did not find strength in God because he had cut himself off from God by disobedience. He cut himself off from the prophet Samuel when he refused to acknowledge his sin, and he cut himself off from the priests when he murdered an entire family in Nob. Even when he finally sought the Lord in desperation, he was seeking his favor without seeking his will, for he was seeking the Lord in an unauthorized way, through a medium. David, on the other hand, had a dynamic relationship with God. He regularly sought the will of God, and he followed the will of God whether spoken by the prophet Gad or Abiathar the priest. His psalms show that he regularly meditated on God’s words and blessings, and praised God in all circumstances. Consequently, when he sought the Lord, he found strength in him.

The Prince

The Prince by Francine Rivers is a good historical novel about Jonathan, the son of Israel's first king. Generally, I do not enjoy fiction about Bible characters because authors take too many liberties with the story, often adding details that are inconsistent with Scripture, but Francine Rivers is quite faithful to the Bible story while filling in details in the lives of Saul, David, and Jonathan.

Rivers is remarkably accurate about minor details such as locations of minor cities and the times soldiers from Gad, Manasseh, and Reuben joined David's men when he was an outcast. She also narrates events in the same order as the Scripture with one curious exception: she puts David's short stay with Achish the king of Gath before David's visit to the priests at Nob.

Any work of historical fiction based on Scripture is going to add details which are not recorded in Scripture. Most of the time, Rivers does this in a way that is consistent with other Scripture. For example, she has Samuel telling Saul when he is anointed to write a copy of the Law for himself with his own hand. The Scripture does not say Samuel told Saul to write a copy of the law for himself (1 Samuel 10:25). However, in Deuteronomy 17:18, Moses did command that the king was to write for himself a copy of the law. In another case, she suggests that David fled to Gath not so much for safety as to find out the secret of forging iron. We don't know that he went to Philistia for that reason, but it is true according to Scripture that the Israelites did not have that technology at the time.

On the other hand, in the case of Israelite marriage law, Rivers is not consistent with other Scripture. In Rivers' story, Jonathan criticizes Saul for giving his daughter Merab in marriage to a man outside the tribe of Benjamin. He tells Saul that Moses required Israelites to marry within their own tribe. Accordingly, when Jonathan marries, he refuses to consider the daughters of wealthy men from any other tribe and marries a poor farm girl from the tribe of Benjamin. Actually, what the Law did not permit was for Israelites to marry the daughters of the nations they were to drive out (Deuteronomy 7:1-4). Furthermore, it did not permit the high priest to marry anyone except the virgin daughter of an Israelite (Leviticus 21:14), and it did not permit daughters who inherited land from their fathers to marry outside their own tribe so their tribal land might not become the possession of another tribe (Numbers 36:8). This could happen when a man had no sons. Otherwise, Israelites could marry other Israelites without regard to their tribe.

I enjoyed this book of fiction and would highly recommend it. I give it a rating of four out of a possible five.