Adam and the Genome– Part Sixteen

Thesis 6 is about the fact that humans are bi-gendered for the sake of procreation, so humans can multiply and flourish themselves. They are gendered not just for multiplication but also for mutuality, for relationship, a one flesh relationship that only a male and female can share. Scot discussion of ezer kenegdo is right on target (pp. 134-35). It means a suitable helper, and since God himself can be called the helper of Israel (Ps 121.1-2), the term implies no subordination of one party to the other (p. 138). Adam found no such helper amongst the animals, only in Eve, his equal in the image of God.

There is a helpful discussion on the importance of naming, and how that is an exercise of authority over other creatures on pp. 136ff. “To name is to know and understand by observation and then to assign oneself a relationship to and a responsibility for that which is named. In fact, the absence of a name is virtual nonexistence in the ANE, and hence naming in a sense gives something of an existence in the knowable and known world.” It is also true that names usually connote something about the nature or character of the person named.