Woman's Work

Some people say that:

• because the Bible says that God made Adam before Eve,
• because the Bible says that Eve was created to be Adam’s servant (helper), and
• because the Bible shows that it was easier for the snake to tempt Eve,

it proves to us that God does not want men and women to be equal in society.

What do you say to this?

The given assertions prove no such thing. The stories in Gn 1 and 2 are about the human race, not just about the male of the species.

We know that the writer of the Gn 1 creation story was himself a priest, writing in the time of the Babylonian exile. As such, his way of thinking would have been formed within the framework of the priesthood, as well as the social, political, cultural, religious and historical situation in which he found himself. If there was any inference of male supremacy in the Gn 1 account would derive from the writer’s context. However, I don’t believe that there is such an inference from the writer’s perspective, because in Gn 1:26-27 we see that the terms man, them, male and female, are used interchangeably, and it’s clear from this treatment that the writer does not see the male as superior to the female: they are equal and in perfect partnership.

In the Gn 2 creation story, both woman and man are made from the same substance and God breathes life into both of them: explicitly in the case of the man, and implicitly in the case of the woman. Substance alone does not make a human: the breath of life is also required. The names given to man and woman mean ‘ground’ and ‘life’: they are the two elements that make a complete living, breathing human. The substance cannot fulfil its purpose without the life within it, and the life needs the substance to contain it and give it form and expression. The fact that God made Eve after he made Adam serves to highlight that Adam alone was not the full and complete expression of humanity: woman was needed as well as man.

God did not make all of creation to supply Adam’s needs and desires; rather Adam was given the job of cultivating and caring for the garden. It was God’s idea to provide a partner (not a pet or a slave or an afternoon’s entertainment) for Adam. When God created the various animals and offered them to Adam for his consideration, God clearly thought that the animals had great dignity and worth. When none of the animals was found to be suitable as a partner, then God created the woman, also with great dignity and worth. When God brought the woman to Adam, the man recognised that the woman was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh: if he were then to disrespect her or insult her dignity, he would thus disrespect himself and insult his own dignity.

When the Bible says that the woman was created as a helper, the terminology supports her respectability in that it is using the same descriptor often given to God in his relationship to Israel. A helper is in no way inferior.

Adam and Eve had a perfect, open relationship with each other: this is conveyed by the inclusion of the details about their nakedness without shame. They were partners. When the snake came to tempt Eve, Adam was with her, as her partner. He didn’t try to dissuade her from eating the fruit; neither did he reject the offer of the fruit for himself. Adam and Eve together succumbed to the temptation to do what God had forbidden them to do. The assertion that it was easier for the snake to tempt Eve holds no water: there is no reliable evidence that the snake tempted the woman and man equally in turn, separately from one another and outside of the other partner’s influence – which for me would be the only way to draw a conclusion about who was easier to tempt.

God made men and women equal, and he wants them to work together in perfect partnership.