By Pr Isaiah White
This year, from January to November, the Lord has placed it on the heart of the Good News newspaper, to run a series on the women of faith in the Bible.
This page will be dedicated to this call, and we hope the lives of these faithful women in history will inspire our lives.
Eve is the first woman to be mentioned in the Bible, and I bet most of us see nothing good about her.
Her action in Genesis 3 is always the root of the negativity towards her, but we need to remind ourselves that there was a long time between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3.
On this note, Genesis 2:18 will help us appreciate the greatness of this first woman.
The power of Eve
In Genesis 2:18-20, God observed that Adam was alone, and it was, and still is not good for man to be alone (verse 18).
God created an animal environment around Adam, but this could not solve his loneliness.
In the absence of Eve, Adam was alone no matter how many things surrounded him.
His loneliness was because he did not have another creature to identify with; a human being to be specific. Eve’s power is that she takes away the loneliness from humanity.
This loneliness is symbolic in two ways; first, that Adam is incomplete without Eve, and second, that this loneliness is what many Christians experience in the absence of God.
Eve’s absence in the life of Adam reminds all of us that we can be in company of others, but still be lonely without God.
Many of us are desolate of the spirit of God and our lives constitute loneliness.
When God said “it is not good for man to be alone”, He intended that man does not need animals and trees around him at the expense of human beings.
Again, Adam having Eve, but without God, would still experience loneliness. That is exactly what happened in Genesis 3. The absence of Eve could be the absence of God.
Eve the helper
Adam’s faith could not be put in action until Eve showed up. In Genesis 2:18, God recognises that Adam is not faring well alone, so He moves to make a “helper” for him.
The original Hebrew word for “helper” is ‘ezer’ (Hebrew transliteration). This is not the person to do his laundry or dishes. It is far more profound than that.
Ezer appears only 21 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is used twice to describe women, three times to describe battle assistance (Deuteronomy 33:29) and the remaining 16 times to describe God’s assistance to humanity (Psalms 33:20 and 70:5).
Far from being demeaning, ezer is an empowering and powerful description of how women reflect the very nature of God (Genesis 1:27).
Faith needs a helper
Eve was Adam’s helper, not just in his journey of life, but in his journey with God as well. Eve, in the Bible, is an individual who reminds women that they are their husband’s helpers.
They are a support system that is intended to end loneliness and failure in the home. The presence of women in the lives of others is to launch and establish fellowship.
The other important aspect of the significance of Eve in the life of humanity (Adam) is that, she symbolises the Holy Spirit in the life of the believers.
When Jesus was ascending, He reminded us that He was not going to leave us as orphans, but with a helper who is the Holy spirit.
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.
“The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
Eve was an image of the Holy Spirit that helps believers in their Christian journey. Every believer needs this helper who is God Himself, to help them be the Christians they are called to be.
It is this helper who will teach believers in various ways because God said: “But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Eve was an image of this helper and her call was to help Adam in all his weaknesses.
It is this idea that Apostle Paul re-echoes in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
“And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
The writer is a life coach and theologian.
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