By a guest contributor, Malcolm Cotton, 18.8.21
The ministry of Jesus was radical in many ways. One way was the value He placed on women in an age where they were treated as property or as dogs. Still today, His message is slow to sink into entrenched thought and behaviour patterns in our world.
Today is a day to exalt women as the pinnacle of God’s creation. Men, because of their strength and dominance, as well as misinterpretation of scriptures, have subjugated women, to suffer unimaginable traumas, abuse, and deprivation, right under our noses. Not all men are like this, but it is up to men of courage to stand against the tide as Jesus did, to elevate women to the place God originally planned.
Gen 2:20-25
So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
The helper who has the exact qualities needed to be compatible and give aid to man was the woman. Who needed help, the man or woman? It was not good for man to be alone; he was not complete and needed the strengths a woman could provide to be whole.
The two became one flesh, perfect compatibility, stronger as a single unit than two halves. The helper is not the slave, but the rescuer. The same Hebrew word for helper is used for God Himself on many more occasions than for the woman. Therefore, a woman, or wife, is like God in her aiding abilities toward her husband.
Adam and Eve were equals, dominion of the earth was given to mankind (men and women), for how else could they be fruitful and fill the earth. The marriage was a place where transparency, or nakedness prevailed, and no shame or guilt was present.
Eve was not taken from under Adam’s foot, but his rib, his side, close to his heart. Eve was created as the pinnacle of creation, not from the dust of the earth, but from the previous pinnacle, man. God is Spirit, neither male nor female, but having characteristics of both, so to have mankind made in His image, mankind had to include women.
We are the same, but different, with different specialities. Men cannot have babies or breastfeed. Women don’t have the same strength as men. A man’s strength is meant to protect and provide for his wife, while the strength of a woman is in nurture and discernment.
A man can build a house, but a woman can make a home. Our differences are meant to make the whole, the one flesh, stronger, wiser, more resilient, and more resistant to the attacks of the enemy. Many qualities overlap and can function to some degree independently if the need arises.
Ecc 4:9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
Quotations from NKJV