‘ezer kenegdo (ודגנכ רזע)

What is the Meaning of “Help-Counterpart” in Genesis 2:18, 20?

Genesis 2:18

The earliest translations show a variety of interpretations:

Old Greek: “a help according to him” (βοηθὸν κατʼ αὐτόν)

1. Targum Neofiti: “a partner who comes as one with him” = “a partner similar to him” (קפנ דכ גוז היב)
2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Onkelos: “a support according to him” (הילבקכ ךמס)
3. Latin Vulgate: “a helper similar to him” (adiutorium similem sui)
   
   
   Exodus 18:4
   
   
   Deuteronomy 33:7
   
   
   Deuteronomy 33:26–27
    
   
   Deuteronomy 33:29
   
   
   Hosea 13:9
   
   
   Psalm 20:1–2
   
   
   Psalm 33:18–20
   
   
   Psalm 121:1–2
   
   
   Psalm 146:5–6
    
   
   Isaiah 30:3–5
    

‘ezer kenegdo (ודגנכ רזע)

Exodus 19:2

“The last part of v. 18 reads literally, “I will make him for him a helper as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him).” This last phrase, “as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him)” (keneḡdô), occurs only here and in v. 20. It suggests that what God creates for Adam will correspond to him. Thus the new creation will be neither a superior nor an inferior, but an equal. The creation of this helper will form one-half of a polarity, and will be to man as the south pole is to the north pole.” —VICTOR P. HAMILTON, THE BOOK OF GENESIS, CHAPTERS 1–17, 175.
‌

The Human’s “Deep Sleep” (Tardemah) ( המדרת)

Genesis 15:12

Ayin (ע), zayin (ז), resh (ר)

zera’ and is spelled זרע

Genesis 15:12

Genesis 15:17

Daniel 8:18

God Causes Deep Sleep to Fall on His Enemies
‌
1. Sisera in Judges 4:21: He is in a deep sleep in Jael’s tent when the kills him
3. Saul and his soldiers in 1 Samuel 26:12: Saul is prevented from waking a capturing David
5. Judah’s leaders in Isaiah 29:10: God cuts off all communication through prophets to Judah’s leaders
7. Jonah in Jonah 1:5-6: Jonah runs from God and tries to escape to his self made Eden
9. Psalm 76:6: God rebukes enemy warriors and reduces them to deep sleep

A Rib or a Side? the Hebrew Word Tsela’’ (עלצ)

‌

Exodus 25:14

“[Tardemah] sleep blocks all perception in the human realm. In each of these passages there is either danger in the human realm of which the sleeper is unaware, or there is insight in the visionary realm to be gained. Pertaining to the latter possibility, it is of interest that the Septuagint translators chose to use the Greek word ekstasis in Genesis 2:21. This word is the same as the one they used in Genesis 15:12, suggesting an understanding related to visions, trances and ecstasy… From these data it is easy to conclude that… the description of the man being cut in half and the woman being built from the other half (Gen 2:21–22) would refer not to something he physically experienced but to something that he saw in a vision. It would therefore not describe a material event but would give him an understanding of an important reality, which he expresses eloquently in Genesis 2:23. Consequently, we would then be able to conclude that the text does not describe the material origin of Eve. The vision would concern her identity as ontologically related to the man. The text would therefore have no claim to make about the material origin of woman.” —JOHN H. WALTON, THE LOST WORLD OF ADAM AND EVE, 79–80.
‌

The word [tsela’] is used about forty times in the Hebrew Bible but is not an anatomical term in any other passage. Outside of Genesis 2, with the exception of 2 Samuel 16:13 (referring to the other side of the hill), the word is only used architecturally in the tabernacle/temple passages (Ex 25–38; 1 Kings 6–7; Ezek 41). It can refer to planks or beams in these passages, but more often it refers to one side or the other, typically when there are two sides (rings along two sides of the ark; rooms on two sides of the temple, the north or south side; etc.). On the basis of Adam’s statement, combined with these data on usage, we would have to conclude that God took one of Adam’s sides—likely meaning he cut Adam in half and from one side built the woman. —JOHN H. WALTON, THE LOST WORLD OF ADAM AND EVE: GENESIS 2–3 AND THE HUMAN ORIGINS DEBATE (DOWNERS GROVE, IL: IVP ACADEMIC: AN IMPRINT OF INTERVARSITY PRESS, 2015), 78.

Bibliography

Mangum, Douglas, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder. Genesis 1–11. Lexham Research Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.
‌
https://bibleproject.com/course/adam-noah/
‌
https://www.gotquestions.org/two-Creation-accounts.html
‌
Terje Stordalen, Echoes of Eden: Genesis 2-3 and Symbolism of the Garden of Eden in Biblical Hebrew Literature
‌
Seth Postell, Adam as Israel: Genesis 1-3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh
‌
John H. Walton. About The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2–3 and the Human Origins Debate