In most cultures, women find themselves being looked down upon by men as somehow being inferior. Why is that? In the beginning God said, “Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness; . . . And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26 – 27, NASB). Woman was created in the image and likeness of God to be his image bearer. Her life was to reflect God.
Man and woman were not created at exactly the same time. Later in Genesis we learn that God formed woman out of man. The purpose of this delay, I believe, was to emphasize the importance of women in relationship to men. After God had created man he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [ezer] suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18, NASB). The Hebrew word ezer – pronounced ay’-zer – occurs 21 times is the Old Testament. Reading these verses provides insight about what an ezer is. An ezer is a strong helper, even to the extent of being a strong warrior. God created woman to partner with man – marriage being one way – in fighting spiritual battles to advance God’s kingdom.
First, woman was created to walk with God and grow in her understanding of him and reflect this to the world around her. Second, she was created to partner with man as his strong warrior. A woman brings into that relationship insights and strengths that make him much more effective than working alone. Third, without her God’s mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28) could not be fulfilled.
At the time of creation, God gave Adam and Eve a command, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16 – 17, NASB). As the story goes, Eve was tempted and she decided to take and eat and Adam joined her. At that point they both experienced spiritual death, their hearts were darkened, and one day they would experience physical death. The beautiful life and relationship with each other and with him that God had planned for them now became a difficult, harsh reality without a loving relationship with God. Experiencing this change caused Adam to blame the woman God had given him to be a strong helper. This caused Eve to blame the serpent who deceived her into eating the forbidden fruit. The unity that God had created between man and woman had now become tension and conflict and continues to this day.
God’s plan is still for woman to walk the long road of faith with him and be his image bearer. He still wants woman to be an ezer to man and fight beside him in the battles of life, but because of their fallen nature there will be tension and conflict and women will continue to struggle with men for equality.
