Eve, the Special Helper with a Special Purpose
March has been “All About Eve” for Seele. We’ve looked at the first woman over a period of 6 weeks from 6 different angles- hopefully angles that will give you a unique but positive perspective of this woman and what God intends her to represent. You can find all past six Friday Posts on Eve here: http://seelemag.com/series/
I’m going to finish out this series on Eve by throwing a wrench in yet another way of how you may have never thought of her. This week we will look at Eve: A Special Helper with a Special Purpose.
You see, Genesis and Revelation are the two most confusing and misunderstood books of the Bible, and Satan has it that way for a reason, for one book describes his fall (Genesis) and the other his eternal doom (Revelation).
From the beginning, God established a covenant. A covenant is like a contract with a purpose of defining a relationship between a greater and lesser party. In Genesis 2:4 we see a covenant that God made with creation.
“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. ”
The theme of Genesis 2:4 introduces a relationship or covenant between God and creation. Genesis 2 is about the kind of relationship God wanted with humanity, and Genesis 3 is about why that relationship went wrong. We know that Genesis 2:4 is a covenant because whenever we see “LORD” in the Bible with capital letters, it is God’s special covenant name, Yahweh. Any Jewish rabbi knows, as well as the ancient Israelites, that when Yahweh is written in Genesis 2 and 3, it is God’s covenant relationship with creation.
What does this have to do with Eve you ask? Good. I’m glad you asked. If you remember from last week’s post, Eve is the completion of relationship. Eve, the “special helper” completes this original covenant in Genesis 2. Eve isn’t just some woman created just to bring Adam companionship or pleasure. Eve and her daughters are purposed, and we are a part of God’s covenant with creation.
In ancient Israel, the prophet, priest and king were special individuals, where the people helped them in their roles. When God appeared at Mount Sinai to make a covenant with His people, He said, “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).” The Israelites knew they were to help the priest and king, and to mediate God’s blessings to the world.
Eve represents the kingdom of God. Her role was to help multiply God’s people, to help mediate/ channel God’s blessings to the world.
Paul dives into this in Ephesians5, where he shows how human marriage is modelled on a relationship between Christ and the church, which is Christ’s body. Paul is making 2 connections: he connects Adam, who is a porotype of Christ as the Head. And he connects Eve and the church. One is Adam’s bride, built from Adam’s body. The other is Christ’s bride, members of His body. Eve represents the people of God- the church. Christ is coming for His woman, the church!
Human marriage is modelled on the covenant relationship. Eve’s role as special helper is modelled on this covenant relationship. Human marriage between a man and woman is modelled on the idea of a wonderful relationship that we enjoy as God’s people. Paul makes that clear in Ephesians 5, but uses Genesis 2 for his teaching.
Eve is the lifter of Adam, it was her role as his “ezer kenegdo” (week 4 of this series) to protect this covenant God had given to them. And though they fell in Genesis 3, it is Eve’s daughters (and the church’s) duty to protect what God has given us (salvation, the sanctity of the Scripture, our relationship with God, and our relationship with one another). We still have a role because Christ is coming to revive God’s original plan with humanity with the church, and Eve and her daughters are all a part of this.