Nurturing the Nations Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures

1. Nurturing the NationsReclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures Genesis 2 Corresponding (Different) In Function

2. Part 4THE TRANSFORMING STORY 12 The Big Story 13 Genesis 1: Equal in Being 14 Genesis 2: Corresponding in Function 15 Genesis 3: The Distortion 16 Sexism and the Spirit of Baal 17 The Coming of the Bridegroom 18 The Bride of Christ 19 The Wedding of the Lamb 20 The Reign of Women: Nurturers of Nations

3. Humankind • Two complementary types of humankind • male-adam • female-adam • Both have been gifted differently for their community task, their complementary roles and functions are equally valuable • And necessary for fulfilling the cultural mandate

4. This is not a man’s world! It is God’s world.

5. The Unfolding of the Story • Alone in Kind - Genesis 2:18a, 20b • The Counterpart - Genesis 2:20 • The Creation of Eve - Genesis 2:21-22 • She Shall be Called Woman - Genesis 2:23 • The Sacred Mystery – One Flesh - Genesis 2:24 • Naked and Not Ashamed - Genesis 2:25

6. The Context for the Creation of the Glorious Eve • Set # 1 Genesis 2:1-3 • Questions: What role does Genesis 2:1-3 have in the narrative? What does it reveal about God? • Set # 2 Genesis 2:4-6 • Question: What are the things lacking in the garden as we move through this transition? • Set # 3 Genesis 2:7-8, 15 • Question: How did God respond to this lack?

7. Play on Words:adam & adama “Initially, God made adam out of the adama to till the adama (Gen 3:23), to bring forth life. The adama was God’s possession and under his care (Gen 2:6). Thus, the first adam (the man, Adam) and his family were to act as God’s servants by obeying him in maintaining the divinely created and intended relationships vertically and horizontally.” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

8. Humankind: The Connection betweenHeaven and Earth Man is the one creature whose eyes are towards heaven and whose feet and hands are in the soil. Man is the connector for the carrying out of the heavenly mandate on the earth.

9. Alone!

10. Alone! • Genesis 2:18a, 20b • Questions: • Again, here is something missing! What is missing? • What is the relationship between these verses and Genesis 2:5b? • Is man really alone? • What does this mean?

11. Alone in Kind! Genesis 2:20b: “But for Adam no suitable helper was found.”

12. Alone in Kind! • And yet Adam is alone! • His counterpart is missing • He is alone in kind • The imago Dei is male and female • Adam is “incomplete”

13. The Glorious Eve

14. The Counterpart

15. The Counterpart The task of pro-creation and stewardship required not an identical one, but a similar one to complete God’s mandate!

16. “Suitable Helper” • Kenegdo: “suitable,” “like him,” “corresponding-to-him,” “matching him,” or “counterpart” • Ezer: “help,” “succor,” “assist,” “support,” “comfort”

17. Ezer • Question # 1: When you think of the word “helper” what images come to your mind? • Question # 2: What kind of status does someone who is a “helper” have in your culture? • Question # 3: What do you think the scripture means when it says that the woman is the helper of the man?

18. Ezer • Set # 1: Deu. 33:26, 29; Ps. 115:9-11; Ps. 121:1-2 • Questions: Who is being called ezer? What is the nature of this ezer? • Set # 2: Isa. 30:5; Ezk. 12:14; Dan.11:34 • Questions: What is an ezer doing in these passages? What does this reveal about the character of an ezer?

19. Ezer • Used 21 times in the O.T. • 16 times for God • 3 times for aid given to needy people • 2 times for women

20. The Divine Humility “So it is with God. When He helps His people, He retains His glorious deity but (amazingly!) steps into the servant role, under us, to lift us up. He is the God who emptied Himself and came down to our level – below us, to the level of slavery – to help us supremely at the cross. Therefore, the fact that the Old Testament portrays God as our helper proves only that the helper role is a glorious one, worthy even of the Almighty.” John Piper

21. Kenegdo • The helper is a “suitable” helper. • This is the Hebrew word kenegdo. It means “like him,” “corresponding-to-him,” “matching him,” or “counterpart.” • Further synonyms: “suited,” “appropriate,” or “complementary.”

22. Uniformity Correspondence

23. Uniformity Correspondence

24. Elisabeth Elliot … men and women are “two creatures amazingly alike and wondrously different.”

25. The Creation of Eve Genesis 2:21-22: “So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”

26. Source of the 2ndAdam • the first adam – male, came from the ground adama • The second and complementary adam-female was formed from the first adam • The man’s source was the ground. The woman’s source was the man.

27. The Creation of Eve

28. Adam’s Counterpart “She was not taken from the head, to show she was not to rule over him; nor from his foot, to teach that she was not to be his slave; nor from his hand, to show that she was not to be his tool; but from his side, to show that she was to be his companion.” Pastor John Angell

29. The Glory of Woman • Here is no slave to be ill-treated. • Here is no property to be bought and sold. • Here is no sex object for male pleasure. • Here is one, not to be despised and crushed by Sexism, nor one to run from as does feminism.

30. The Glory of Woman • Here is the crown of creation. • Here, in human form, from the Hand of the Creator Himself, is the manifestation of the Mother-Heart of God. • Here is the Mother of all Living, the Wife of the first man. • Here is the prequel to none other than the Bride of the Son of God, the one who is worthy of God Himself.

31. The Crown of Creation • Proverbs 12:4a • 1 Corinthians 11:7b

32. The Crown of Creation • The crown of God’s creation is adam. • The crown of adam-male is adam-female. Woman is the glory of the man!

33. She Shall Be Called Woman: Genesis 2:23: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Õishshah [ish-shaw’] ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of Õiysh [eesh]man.”

34. “Called” – qara • Hebrew word qara means “call,” “calling” • It is used in two ways • For calling into existence • For the process of naming • (Genesis 1:3-5): “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”

35. The Concept of Naming • Naming establishes authority of the one who names • Naming identifies the one or thing named

36. Word adam used in three ways • The generic name for the human species (Genesis 1:26) • The name for a particular human being, the first human being – Adam (Genesis 3:17, 21, 4:1, 25; 5:1) • A name for the male of the species (Genesis 2:5, 7, 8, 15, 16 18, 19, 20)

37. God spoke and created the universe. Man speaks and creates culture.

38. Man’s Naming • adam – mankind establishes its authority of creation by naming the animals (Genesis 2:19-20) • Names woman • Generic name woman – Õishshah [ish-shaw’] (Genesis 2:23b) • Particular name for his wife - Chavvah - Eve (Genesis 3:20) meaning “life” or “living,” because she would become the mother of all the living.

39. Õiysh – Õishshah • Õiysh is the Hebrew word for “male” and for “husband” (Genesis 2:23-24). • Õishshahis the Hebrew word for woman. • A Hebrew play on words: She shall be called Õishshah, because she has been taken out of Õiysh.

40. Õiysh – Õishshah “This word play points to the fact that woman too is man –she man, womb-man, or female man.” Leanne Payne Counselor and Author

41. Husbandry

42. Ish The name symbolic of Yahweh’s relation to Israel

43. The covenant marriage between God and Israel (Exodus 19-24) • Exodus 20:1-2 The Bridegroom reminds Israel what He has done for her • Exodus 20-23 God tells His people how they are to live as His holy people • Exodus 24:3 Israel says “I do!” • Exodus 24:9-11 Wedding Feast

44. The Order and Ordinances of Creation • The order of creation reveals that the man was createdfirst (Genesis 2:7, 18). • The woman was created for the man (Genesis 2:18, 20). • The woman was created from the man (Genesis 21-23a). • The woman was brought to the man (Genesis 22a). • The woman was named by the man (Genesis 23b).

45. Functional Distinctions

46. Functional Distinctions While men and women are equal in their being, they are different in both their pro-creative and developmental responsibilities of the Cultural Mandate.

47. Functional Distinctions • In the Cultural Mandate, adam-male will most fully manifest the Father-heart of God, while adam-female will most fully manifest the Mother-heart of God. • Together as imago Dei, the purpose of their creation – to create godly culture and be Vice-regents of creation, will be fulfilled.

48. Complementary Roles • The Husband: loving-serving-headship of his wife • The Wife: loving-respectful-helping of her husband

49. Biblical Balance “It is important that the cause of not imposing on women restrictions that Scripture does not impose should not be confused with the quite different goals of minimizing the distinctness of the sexes as created and of the diminishing the male’s inalienable responsibilities in man-woman relationships as such.” J.I. Packer

50. The Sacred Mystery – One Flesh Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one [echad] flesh.”