Ezer

Oh goodness, I have learned so much at ICC this month.  And I'm sorry that I haven't shared many of these learnings with you.  I would love to go back and just tell you everything, but that would take hours that I do not have, so I'll just tell you a little bit of what I learned today.  Maybe one day I'll be able to recap some things from earlier.

So, today in this edition of "What I Learned at ICC"...

When God created woman, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18)

The word helper is translated from the original Hebrew word Ezer.  This word is mentioned 21 times in the Old Testament, 2 times referring to Eve, 3 times referring to Israel, and 16 times referring to God.  Psalm 33:20 says, "We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield."  In this verse, God is the only one who can meet our needs of hope and deliverance.  When it came to Adam, God saw that Adam was incomplete.  He didn't need someone inferior to him, whom he could rule over, but someone who was his equal, who would complete his incompleteness.  W.A. Criswell defines woman as "the perfect counterpart for man, possessing neither inferiority or superiority, but being like and equal in personhood, and unique and different in function."  He goes on to describe the function...

God provided a "helper comparable to him" (ezer kenegdo, Heb.), i.e., one corresponding to him in kind. Unlike the animals (Ge 2:9, 20), the woman was of the same nature and being as the man (cf. Ge 2:23). Rather than being a demeaning term, the word "helper" even describes God in Ps. 33:20. The word describes function rather than worth. One does not lose value as a person by humbly assuming the role of helper. The woman was to be a help to the man: (1) as a spiritual partner to assist the man in obeying the word of God and being active in spiritual ministry; (2) as man's partner in the divinely assigned process of procreation, in order to assure the continuation of the race (Ge 1:28); (3) as man's friend to offer comfort and fellowship (Ge 2:23, 24); and (4) as man's encouragement and inspiration.

Ezer is a term used in warfare.  When ezer was provided, it was in the form of a warrior, a sustainer, a life-saver.  When we consider this in our lives, we think of spiritual warfare.  God has given us as women the ability and grace to be warriors in time of warfare.  As implied in the true definition of helper, we are the only ones who can meet the needs for which we were created.

My favorite part of today was, of course, a clip they showed from Lord of the Rings, where Arwen is portrayed as the perfect symbol of ezer.  The clip was from when she came to Frodo's aid when he was stabbed by the wraiths.  She put him on her horse, wrapped her arms around him as a shield, and rode as hard and as fast as her horse would take her.  Once she was across the river with Frodo and the wraiths had been washed away, she says, "Let the grace that has been given to me pass to him."

Ladies, let's be ezers.