How Is Eve a Helper?

By Dr. Nicholas J. Schaser

February 07, 2025

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Genesis 2:18 has God assert, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make an ezer k’negdo (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ).” This final Hebrew phrase—ezer k’negdo—is usually translated as “a helper for him” or, in more antiquated English, a “help meet for him.” Traditionally, this verse has led non-Hebrew readers to assume that Eve (and all women after her) was created as a subordinate assistant to her husband. However, this is not what the original Hebrew means. Instead of being a term of mere assistance or relational inferiority, ezer (עֵזֶר) is a term of power and authority that signifies a heavenly ability to protect and save those who are in need. 

Outside of Genesis 2:18, whenever the word ezer describes a subject providing decisive aid or deliverance, the “helper” is always God. For instance,  psalmist states, “You are my helper (עֵזֶר; ezer) and my deliverer, Lord” (Psalm 70:5). According to Exodus, Eliezer gets his name because “he had said, ‘The God of my father was my helper (עֵזֶר) and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh’” (Exodus 18:4). Deuteronomy declares, “Happy are you, Israel: who is like you? A people saved by the Lord, a shield as your helper (עֵזֶר)” (Deuteronomy 33:29). Based on these descriptions of God as “helper,” the ancient Israelite reader of Scripture could not have helped to compare Eve’s aid for Adam with God’s intervention for Israel. Put another way, when the Bible calls the first woman a “helper,” it cannot be describing someone who is inferior to her husband—the available biblical data simply does not permit such an understanding of ezer.

Yet, a knowledge of Hebrew is not even necessary to secure Eve’s role as a deliverer for the lonely and vulnerable Adam. If one person is in need, and another person provides the help required to fill that need, then the “helper” is the stronger person—just as God is stronger than the humans who benefit from divine intervention. Therefore, whether the evidence comes from studying the linguistic data or logical deduction, the conclusion is the same. According to Genesis, women are not inferior or subordinate to men, but are rather possessors of requisite redemptive power within God-given relationships.