I am Your Ezer Kenegdo

Photo by Tigran Hambardzumyan on Unsplash.

Last weekend, I was praying through a difficult situation, unsure what to do. I asked the Lord to reveal His truth in that area of my heart as it was a place of constant struggle and waited. After some time, I heard the words, “I am your ezer kenegdo.”

I will be honest, it is not very often I receive clear words from the Lord like this, and was a bit taken aback. Additionally, those words in Hebrew were ones I have not heard in almost 20 years. I had first read them in the book, “Captivating: Unveiling The Mystery of a Woman’s Soul” by John and Stasi Eldredge who beautifully expound on them in relation to the role of a woman.

In Genesis 2:18, after creating the Garden of Eden and Adam, “The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer kenegdo] suited to him.”

However, according to Hebrew scholar Robert Alter in “The Hebrew Bible: The Five Books of Moses,” ezer kenegdo is notoriously difficult to translate.

“‘Help’ is too weak because it suggests a merely auxiliary function, whereas ezer elsewhere connotes active intervention on behalf of someone, especially in military contexts,” he writes.

As a woman, being called a “helper” to my spouse is not very inspiring. However, what is inspiring, is knowing the true context of the word as described by Alter, and where else in the Bible it is used.

The word “ezer” appears only twenty other times in the Old Testament. One other time to reference woman, three times to reference nations that Israel appeals to for help, and 16 times to reference God, as a helper for His people. For example:

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you ... Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. (Deuteronomy 33:26, 29)

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. (Psalm 33:20)

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1–2)

Instead of “helper,” Alter instead proposes the phrase “sustainer beside him.”

Aside from knowing that I am that for my husband, it was remarkable to be reminded that God is that for me, someone I can count on. As the week has progressed, the Lord continues to actively heal and address this area of brokenness, proving true the meaning of these words.

He truly is my ezer kenegdo, and I know He is yours too.

With love,

Valentina

ps. I will begin maternity leave June 16th, 2023, and communication will be limited over the summer. Feel free to read past blog posts or watch past podcast episodes to stay connected with all things Fiat.

“For when we say ‘Yes’ to God, we change the world”!