Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #17 of Genesis, chapter 2 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 2:18:

And JEHOVAH God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

In our last study we were looking at the first part of the verse where it said, “And JEHOVAH God said, It is not good that the man should be alone,” and we saw that when the Bible speaks of God it speaks of God “alone,” especially when the Lord Jesus, who is eternal God, was undergoing the wrath of God to pay for the sins of His people. Let us look, again, at John 12:24:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

The Lord is using a parable to describe His death in which He must die alone. If He does die alone, there will come forth much fruit and many would follow Him that is firstborn from the dead, the firstborn among many brethren, but He must first abide alone under the wrath of God to satisfy the demand of the Law of God for sin. Then would follow the fruit, the whole company of the elect.

Regarding the two words “not good” where it says, “It is not good that the man should be alone,” we saw in 1Samuel, chapter 26, that David said to Abner when Abner failed to protect King Saul, in 1Samuel 26:16:

This thing is not good that thou hast done. As JEHOVAH liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, JEHOVAH'S anointed…

It was “not good” and, as a result, he was worthy to die. In our verse I said, “It is not good that the man should be alone,” and in this figure the man represents the Lord Jesus and He is alone as He endures the wrath of God because He is bearing the sins of His people. He is worthy to die. It is “not good” because He has been made sin for His people.

Concerning the words “not good,” it also says in Ezekiel 36:31:

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

Here, the Lord defines the term “not good.” Of course, historically, there had been no sin on the part of Adam as yet, but God is looking ahead and painting the Gospel picture. First He is going back to eternity past to look at the time when Christ bore the sins of His people and died for those sins alone. It was “not good” that the man be alone. He was worthy to die; He was full of iniquity and, therefore, He must experience the terrible wrath of God in order to pay for the sins of all those He had determined to save.

So, I think we understand the spiritual dimension of the first part of Genesis 2:18, but what about the second part of this verse? It says in Genesis 2:18:

… I will make him an help meet for him.

Does this also have a spiritual meaning? Yes, it does, but first let us discuss the order of things. God created species of creatures, both male and female. He created rabbits, elephants, monkeys, deer and all the creatures. He created them male and female in order that they would reproduce and there could be future generations of all the creatures. In God’s wisdom, it required male and female to reproduce, but so far God had only created the man. He was alone. Historically, there was only Adam and there was no female or woman, so God said, “I will make him an help meet for him,” and He proceeded to make the woman by causing Adam to experience a deep sleep and taking one of his ribs to create the woman. We know this is the true historical record of how God created mankind. Because we know this is what took place in history, we almost naturally conclude that when God says He would make a help meet for him He is referring to the woman. Later on, it says at the end of Genesis 2:20:

… for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Then it says in the next verse that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and, finally, the woman is created. So we are, as it were, directed in our thinking to conclude that the woman is the “help meet” for the man Adam, but we have two problems that make this impossible.

The first problem is the wording of the verse where it says, “I will make him an help meet for him.” When we consider it carefully, why does God repeat the word “him”? In other words, why did not God say, “I will make an help meet for him.” But God said, “I will make him an help meet for him,” and the word “him” is a prefix in the Hebrew that is attached to other words and it is there twice in the original Hebrew. Why God is doubling the masculine pronoun?

The second problem is that we have understood that the woman is the help for the man. Actually, that is true in the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. The wife does help the man, the husband. But, we could also say that the man helps his wife. There is no special call for the woman to be of more help to the man than the man is to his wife, is there? No, there is not. Both are called upon to help one another and to love one another. Yet, spiritually, here is the problem. We have already seen how God uses Adam as a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us go to that verse, again, in Romans 5:14:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Adam is definitely a figure. EBible and Mr. Camping of Family Radio have often said that certain men were types and figures. For example, Pharaoh was a type of Satan. King Nebuchadnezzar was a type of Satan. David was a picture or type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are constantly using that language. In some cases, it is true that God uses types and figures like the ones I just mentioned, but God does not always make it as explicit as He did with Adam. Adam is a figure of Christ, according to the Word of God, the Bible. So when we saw Adam in view and it was said that it was not good for him to be alone we related it to Christ, and rightly so. But it is the same man in view in the second part of the verse: “I will make him an help meet for him.” Adam is still in view and he is a figure of Christ and Christ is God and herein is the problem when we look at the word “help” in the Bible. When we look up that word we do not find that man helps God or that man is a help to God or even that the elect are a help to God. Rather, we find it is always God who is man’s help and the helper of His people, the elect. For example, it says in Exodus 18:4:

And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

We see that “help” and “deliverance” often go together in the Bible and they point to salvation.

It says in Psalm 79:9:

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.

It says in Hebrews 4:16:

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

I am glad I read this because it clearly refers to salvation. Obtaining mercy and finding grace is what helps man. Because of our sin, we desperately needed mercy. We desperately needed God’s grace, so God helped.

It says in Isaiah 49:8:

Thus saith JEHOVAH, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

Here, the “acceptable time” is the day of salvation and that is when God helped in the work of saving. He saved His people in the set time of salvation.

So, when we look at the word “help,” used in Genesis 2, verse 18, it does not lead us to verses where we find people giving help to God in some way or even doing service to God, if we identified that as some kind of help to God. Look up this word and its related words and you will see that God is our help: “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from JEHVOAH, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) Our help comes from JEHOVAH Saviour. He is our help and our shield and our great defense. It is the salvation of God that is our help. It is He that granted mercy, bestowing grace upon the sinner and helping us in the time of need in the day of salvation.

So, when we come to our verse and we find the word “help,” we had understood it in the past to be referring to the woman. Is that not how we understood it? We thought, “God will make a woman to help Adam and she will be a help to him as he serves God.” We think of the marriage relationship and how she would be close to him and love and care for him, and so forth. All those things may be true. Husbands help wives and wives help husbands physically in the world, but this is not true spiritually. The woman is not the “help” for the man. The woman is the elect, the body of Christ, and the man is Christ our eternal God. God does not need our help. He does not need the help of the elect, but it is the other way around. We desperately need His help. And that is what God did: “I will make him a help meet for him,” and the first pronoun “him” refers to Christ and the second pronoun “him” refers to the body of Christ. Yes, historically, it refers to Adam, but remember that God said of Adam in Genesis 5, “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam.” So when God was looking at Adam, He saw Eve. When He looked at Christ, He saw the body of Christ or all those God would save.

Adam had been placed in the Garden of Eden, the outward representation of the kingdom of heaven, and the use of the two pronouns “him” teaches us that God will make Christ our help. How does God help? It is salvation. God will make Him salvation meet for him, the man or the elect people of God that He had predestinated to save. Now we have an understanding why there are two pronouns “him” and we no longer have a difficulty with the reference to the word “help.” God made Christ the “help,” or the salvation for the body of Christ that can also be typified by Adam.

Let us go on to Genesis 2: 19-20:

And out of the ground JEHOVAH God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought *them* unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

In these verses God mentions beasts of the field and fowls and cattle. We already spent some time discussing how God can use animals to typify people. Here, God has made the statement concerning Christ being the help meet for man, but let us look at all the people of the world as typified by these animals and let us see if there is any other way of salvation. Is there some other possible saviour? No, there is not because it says, “But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him,” or there was not found salvation suitable for him. Remember we looked at Isaiah 63 when we were looking at the word “alone,” and, again, says in Isaiah 63:2-3:

Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

Then it says in Isaiah 63:5:

And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

Here, God is saying that He looked for “help,” but there was none to help. He looked out over the peoples of the world. Was there any other way? Was there any other possible way of salvation? The answer was, “No, there is none to help.” He looked for it. He gave mankind the opportunity if they could find another way, but there is no other way. There is no other Saviour. As it says in Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” It is only Christ. And, yet, God looked. He would allow anyone to come forward and to present their cause, but there was none to help, just as all the animals came before Adam and there was not found any to help. There was not found a help meet for him – no help of any kind from all the creatures. None was suitable to help Adam.

What happened next? JEHOVAH God caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam and this was the help that God Himself would provide. God would make Him (Christ) a help meet for him (Adam).