In writing about what the Bible says concerning women, I’m often surprised to hear which bits of information are new to my readers. I’m reminded that, sadly, many of us have inherited a prejudiced view of females.
For this reason, I’m beginning a series on women in the Bible. We’ll alternate between Old and New Testament women. (I’ll address other topics, too.)
We’ll start with the very first woman created, because the minimizing and maligning of women in Scripture unfortunately begins as soon as we misinterpret the first chapter of Genesis.
Genesis 1:26-28 and 31 (NIV) reads:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground….
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
After 25 verses of God creating and calling his creation good, the passage summarizes the narrative from chapter two where the man and woman are created separately, and here describes both the man and woman.
Though we think of “Adam” as the first name of a man, the Hebrew term ha’adam means humanity, not gendered man.[i] It is translated as “human” or “mankind” in many Bible versions.
(In other words, instead of a guy named Adam, think “the human.”)
God created ha’adam in his image. They were created male and female, and they received a mandate to rule creation on God’s behalf. The verb for “rule” is radah, a legitimate type of ruling.[ii]
Notice the interplay between humanity as singular (a unified whole) and plural (individuals interdependent on one another). This continues in Genesis 2.[iii]
The Hebrew word for “image” is tselem, a term which usually negatively refers to an idol, except in this case. In ancient times, statues were made of kings and governors which were to be treated on the same level of respect as the leader himself.[iv]
Male and female humanity represent living “statues” of God. We are created as his image, or representatives, ruling over creation on his behalf and reflecting the praise of all creation back to him.[v]
Up to this point in Genesis, God makes only two references to human relationships involving authority. First, God has authority and rules over humans; second, God tells both humans to subdue the earth and have dominion over the animals.[vi]
There is nothing in the text about the man ruling the woman in Genesis 1.
Moving on, if Genesis 1 is the 30,000-foot view, Genesis 2 takes us up close. The two chapters are written in different literary forms to round out the reader’s perspective.
Without reading the whole passage, let’s note several significant events:
1. God forms the first human from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7).
2. God plants a garden and puts the human in it to work it and watch over it (2:8, 15).
3. God gives the command that the human may eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with a warning that eating will result in death (2:16).
4. God states that it is not good for the human to be alone and God will make a helper corresponding to him (2:18).
5. God brings all the paired animals to the human to be named, but no corresponding partner is found for him among them (2:19).
6. God puts the human into a deep sleep, takes a significant piece of his side, closes the flesh, and builds that material into a woman (2:21-22).
7. The man wakes up, sees the woman, and breaks into a poetic song upon recognizing the one he’s been missing (2:23).
8. The chapter closes with a beautiful picture of one-flesh unity and intimacy between husband and wife (2:24-25).
When we hear the word “helper” (2:18), we might think of a junior assistant role. This is not the case.
The Hebrew term for a corresponding helper is ezer kenegdo.
Ezer, meaning “one who helps,” is used of God himself and is most frequently used in the OT in reference to God as helper (consistently in a military context).[vii]
Kenegdo is basically a prepositional phrase meaning means “like his counterpart = corresponding to him.”[viii] Put together, ezer kenegdo means something along the lines of warrior alongside or strong ally (not sandwich maker or subordinate!).[ix]
We would not think of God as our subordinate helper, nor should we think of the woman that way.
In 2:21, we find a significant mistranslation in English Bibles.
The Hebrew word tsela, found 40 times in the OT, is translated as “side,” not “rib,” everywhere else it is used. Not just any side, but the side of a sacred space. In 38 of the 40 times it is used other than Gen. 2:22, tsela is a special architectural term for the sides of sacred places where God makes his presence known.[x]
The sides of structures such as the holy of holies, the ark of the covenant, and the tabernacle must be present, of equivalent size and shape, and capable of bearing the weight of the lid or roof. This imagery helps us see how both man and woman are necessary to take their stand as holy sides for God’s presence and power to be manifested on earth.[xi]
If woman is diminished or excluded, or if man tries to take both sides, the sacred space falls into ruin. God’s presence and work will not be manifested.[xii]
Regarding the man’s exclamation in 2:23, “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” is the kinship language used by Laban in Genesis 29:14. The man, Ish, calls the woman Ishsha because she was taken out of him. (This is a description, not a proper name.)
In Genesis 2, again, nothing is said about the man ruling over the woman.
She is created as his essential partner. The two are different, yet of the same essence, and unified. God differentiating the woman out of the first human was not a picture of hierarchy, but of unity.]
After the first woman was taken out of man, every man would come out of a woman. Neither can say, “I’m greater than you because you come from me” because they both come from the other.[xiii]
The woman, like the man, is created by God in his image. She, too, receives the divine mandate to rule over creation. She is a co-regent and representative of God in the earthly realm, alongside the man.
The strength and stability of the sacred space God made by building the woman from the side of ha’adam depends as much on the woman as it does on the man.[xiv]
Unity, intimacy, and a shared mission between the man and the woman is emphasized.
Nothing in the text indicates the woman is less important than, or subservient to, the man.
When I examined Genesis 1-2 more closely, I realized I’d been taught ideas which are not in the text—and those ideas lowered my view of women.
Perhaps you’ve experienced the same?
In a subsequent post, we’ll discuss Genesis 3.
[i] Ingrid Faro, Redeeming Eden: How Women in the Bible Advance the Story of Salvation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2025), 13-14.
[ii] Bruce Fleming, The Book of Eden (self pub., 2021), 101.
[iii] Faro, 14.
[iv] Faro, 15-16.
[v] Carmen Imes, Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2023), 31.
[vi] Fleming, 49-50.
[vii] Carolyn Custis James, Half the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 112.
[viii] Marg Mowczko, “Kenegdo: Is the woman subordinate, suitable, or similar to the man?” https://margmowczko.com/kenegdo-meet-subordinate-suitable-or-similar/
[ix] James, 111-117.
[x] Faro, 28-30.
[xi] Faro, 31.
[xii] Faro, 31.
[xiii] 1 Cor. 11:11-12, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.”
[xiv] In the New Testament, we are the temple of God. See 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 6:19.
