Old Testament


CREATION

Firstly, we begin with Genesis in Hebrew script and review the command that God gave to both men and women to subdue the earth. Second, we will review how God created woman. We will use sources from the Jewish community to give us deeper insight. Next, we will then discuss the curse that came upon humankind from the fall and how it was not God's desire for us. After that, we will talk about how the curse placed upon the human race has been removed by Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1:27

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;

’ĕ·lō·hîm way·yiḇ·rā ’eṯ- hā·’ā·ḏām bə·ṣal·mōw bə·ṣe·lem ’ĕ·lō·hîm bā·rā ’ō·ṯōw

male and female He created them.

zā·ḵār ū·nə·qê·ḇāh bā·rā ’ō·ṯām.

’ĕ·lō·hîm is plural referring to the trinity.

’eṯ- feminine noun meaning appointed time

hā·’ā·ḏām is man/mankind

’ō·ṯōw is translated as them in Hebrew

Both man and woman are referred to as hā·’ā·ḏām or "Adam"

Direct Translation:

God created at the appointed time Adam (both male and female) in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

When we look at Genesis, we must understand that the man was not the only one called Adam. Both man and woman were called Adam. The woman's name was not Eve until after the fall. God called the woman Adam but the man called her Eve. After the fall, the man named the woman as he had named all of the other animals. This was not God's perfect plan. This renaming of woman represented the separation that came in between male and female as a result of sin but Christ has restored this union.

We must go back to the original Hebrew to see where hā·’ā·ḏām (or Adam) was used in scripture. We can see that God commanded both man and woman to have dominion and to rule the earth. This was God's perfect plan. He called for both man and woman to rule the earth together and to have authority. In Christ, the curse destroyer, we have this authority restored in His name. Yet, many times women are not permitted to lead or to hold positions of authority within the Church body.

Genesis 2:18

And said the Lord God, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him

way·yō·mer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm lō- ṭō·wḇ hĕ·yō·wṯ hā·’ā·ḏām lə·ḇad·dōw ’e·‘ĕ·śeh- lōw

helper suitable for him."

‘ê·zer kə·neḡ·dōw

Yahweh has no translation because God is indescribable and there is no one like him.

The first part of lə·ḇad·dōw means to be separated from.

"I will make" ’e·‘ĕ·śeh- has the root word of 'accomplish'.

kə·neḡ·dōw means in front of, in sight of, opposite to

‘ê·zer means help, aid, rescuer. It it used in referring to someone who is of equal or superior status. In the Bible “ezer” is most often used in a military context, reflecting God’s strength and power. God refers to himself as "ezer" (Moses named one of his sons “Eliezer” in Exodus 18:4, “God is my helper” and in Psalm 121:1-2 etc are examples of the word ezer in use).

"The sense of the phrase ezer kenegdo is ‘an equal but opposite helper to him’. For example, my left hand is the ezer kenegdo to my right hand; both hands look alike except they are exactly opposite. Both hands are equal but opposite. This is so that they might work better together. " Taken from "The Family Under Siege: The Role of Men and Women."

Hebrew word ezer is a combination of two roots: `-z-r, meaning "to rescue, to save," and g-z-r, meaning "to be strong." Therefore, could we conclude that Genesis 2:18 be translated as "I will make a power [or strength] corresponding to man."

It is also important to note that God refers to himself in both the masculine and the feminine throughout the Bible.God does not have gender because God is Spirit but He created gender.

Direct Translation from the Hebrew: Genesis 2:18

And said the Lord God, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will accomplish for him an equally powerful aid that is a corresponding partner to himself.”


MAN & WOMAN THROUGH THE EYES OF HEBREW


Below is a study on the words Man & Woman in Hebrew. There is no greater way to gain God's insight into gender than to look at His own language.....

Hebrew is an ancient language that uses letters like English does but it also has picture symbols or a pictogram that represents each individual letter. It has 22 letters and corresponding symbols. It is interesting to note that the number 22 can represent light in biblical numerics and that Jesus was believed to have quoted from 22 different Old Testament books.

Hebrew also does not use numbers as differing symbols from the letters as we do in English. For example, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet = 1, the second letter in the alphabet = 2, and the third letter in the alphabet = 3. So the same symbols for the letters are also used for the numbers. As a result, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet not only has a pictogram that corresponds to each letter but also a corresponding number.

Please note as you look at the Hebrew words below that they are read from right to left instead of left to right. :)

There are three Hebrew letters used for both the words man and woman respectively. Two of the three are identical with only one letter differing.

Man in Hebrew is pronounced `ish and looks like this:

איש


Woman in Hebrew is very similar and is pronounced `isha and looks like this:

אשה


When our heavenly Father created man and woman, they were both created with the letter Aleph א which represents God and His attributes and the letter Shin ש which represents life.

Let us explore the two letters above that they both have in common in more depth......

Aleph א

This letter is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is represented by a picture of an ox. It is the first letter used in both "man or 'ish" and "woman or 'isha" as shown above reading from right to left. The corresponding number is 1 which represents new beginnings and also unity.



An ox represents strength and leadership. It also symbolizes a servant leader.

Shin ש

This letter is twenty-first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is represented by this symbol



This symbol represents the fire of life. It can also mean to eat, to consume or to destroy. The corresponding number is 21 and can represent exceeding sinfulness of sin. Likewise, we can see in the above example that both man and woman possess this symbol. It is the second letter in woman and the last letter in man read from right to left.

What can we take away from this information? God chose to put Aleph א in both the words man and woman.This is because both men and women are designed by God to lead and to be servant leaders. They are both also given the responsibility of bringing God's Word to the world.

Okay, now that we have gone over the like letters in man and woman let us now go over the one unique letter that each one possesses.

Let's review......


Man in Hebrew is pronounced `ish and looks like this:

איש

The unique letter is Yod or י

The pictogram for this letter is



which means 'hand' and the corresponding number is 10 which can represent order and law.


Woman in Hebrew is `isha and looks like this:

אשה

The unique letter is Hey or ה

The pictogram for this letter is



and means 'behold' and the corresponding number is 5 which can represent grace and God's goodness.


Let's go deeper into their individual meanings...


Man - Yod or י

Yod is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is also used to make all of the other letters.

Scribes use Yod as the ending and as the beginning of all of their writings.

Yod is considered to represent the starting point of God's presence in all things.

Yod is the first letter in the divine name of Yahweh



Woman - Hey or ה

Hey is added to the end of a noun to feminize the word or to make the word productive and fruitful.

Hey is formed from the letters Dalet and Yod. This can represent a returning to God by the transformation of the Holy Spirit.

Hey is considered to represent God's creative power.

Hey can represent the divine breathe and revelation of God.

The letter Hey is used twice in the divine name of Yahweh





It is interesting to note that the abbreviated name of Yahweh can be written as יה

Look familiar? These are the two letters, Yod י and Hey ה, which are the the unique individual letters for man and woman. I do not think that this is a coincidence. God gave man and woman each a respective divine element of Himself for them to possess.

It also worth noting that if we take man and woman in Hebrew and remove the letters which are also present in God's name that all we are left with is ש the letter shin

As stated previously, the letter shin can mean destroy or consume. It's numerical value also means exceeding sinfulness. This is what happens when we remove God from the equation.

When we write out Yahweh in non-abbreviated form that is what we see:




This is Yahweh written out in Hebrew with the pictograms and their meanings. As we can see, the word Yahweh reads from right to left as a "Hand Behold Nail Behold". Who does this speak of but Christ Jesus Himself?


WOMAN IS CREATED

Genesis 2:22

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ- way·yi·ḇen lə·’iš·šāh haṣ·ṣê·lā‘ ’ă·šer- lā·qaḥ min- hā·’ā·ḏām way·ḇi·’e·hā ’el- hā·’ā·ḏām

Genesis 2: 23The man 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."…

’eṯ- feminine noun meaning appointed time

way·yi·ḇen is to build

haṣ·ṣê·lā‘ or translated tesla is used in 1 Kings 6:8 and Exodus 25:12. It is always translated as 'side' in these verses.

The Jewish Chumash are the first 5 books of the Bible, aka the Torah, written in printed form rather than on scrolls. Rabbis who know Hebrew and translate woman's creation translate it as: " ...and He [God] took one of his sides and He filled in the flesh in its place."

Direct Translation from the Hebrew: Genesis 2:22

The Lord God in the appointed time built into a woman the side which He had taken from Adam, and brought her to the man.



THE CURSE

Genesis 3:16

Tto the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."

The word 'Rule' is yim·šāl- which means to have dominion or authority over.

The curse over woman was not a part of God's original plan and it only occurred because of their sin. This curse now has no place in a believer's life because their sins have been washed away.

17Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. This curse over men has also been taken by Christ.

THE CURSE HAS BEEN BROKEN


1 Corinthians 15:47
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Man used both times is anthrōpos. It does not mean a 'man' but rather humankind or person and is not gender specific. This is because God came to do what the first man and woman could not.

The curse over both Man and Woman has been taken by Christ because our sins are removed by He who is the curse breaker. We must remember this in context to scripture that we read the New Testament concerning man and woman.

Galatians 3:28-29

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

Women could not inherit but God made them inheritors. God restored what had been distorted. He broke the separation and the curse. This curse no longer applies to us but the world still operates under it. This is why women have been treated the way they have throughout history and have always had to fight for equal rights.

Genesis 3:6 she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her;

When woman fell, it was not because of her weak mindedness. It was because she did not guard the domain that God had given her. This is why in Ephesians we are told to "stand". Standing is guarding your domain.

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