What is Biblical Womanhood?
And why should we care?
Clichés and typecasts create distinct divisions between men and women. These tell us that men are more stoic and women are more emotional; men like cars and women like shopping; men are louder and women are reserved. These stereotypes are not always true, but they point to an undeniable truth that women and men are simply different. There’s a reason why girls want to help their friends process both difficult and exciting situations. There’s a reason why moms are called superheroes. There’s a reason why women love to help.
There’s a biblical reason for all of this, and I want to invite you to dive deeper with me into what the Bible says about womanhood.
Let’s start in Genesis where God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him,” (Genesis 2:18, emphasis added). The Hebrew word here is ezer kenegdo, meaning “a suitable help,” which indicates that the woman was not made to be inferior to the man but was made to compliment, nurture, and aid him in his task to serve the Creator and steward His creation well (Genesis 2:15). There is innate strength in being an ezer kenegdo.
If God created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27), is He also an ezer kenegdo? No, but He is our ezer. The psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” (Psalm 46:1, emphasis added). The fact that God is ezer and we are ezer kenegdo automatically removes any line of reasoning that diminishes our Lord’s deity. Kenegdo, “suitable to assist,” suggests a limitation. In other words, women cannot meet every need. We will never fully meet people’s needs – or our own for that matter – because we are finite beings. God, on the other hand, has no limits. In His sovereignty, He is mighty to save every single time. In His grace, He will always perfectly meet our needs and surprise us by providing more than we ever could have asked for.
It was never in our design to be self-sufficient. God made us to lean into Him and trust Him to be our very present help. And as we lean into His strength, He illuminates the strengths He designed us to have so that we can be the women He’s made us to be. Then, we will be able to wisely and effectively help the people around us. We don’t draw near to God so we can perform our tasks well. We grow closer to God to learn more about Him, and as a result He blesses us with a strength that can only be found in Him. We should be moved to magnify the name of our Lord for the strength He is willing and able to provide us!
Now, women are tempted in specific ways to forget that God is our ezer. Let’s go back to the first woman, Eve. She’s the first person the serpent tempts to eat of the forbidden fruit, and there are several reasons for this. The one I want to focus on is her desire to go against her design as ezer kenegdo. Before she disobeyed God’s command to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she failed to go to God to help her discern good from evil and to remind her that He is trustworthy. In her desire to make a fast decision on her own, she helped Adam disobey God with her. Eve went against her design by failing to go to God for help and for helping Adam disobey God.
To show you how this sin still affects us today, let me give you a glimpse into my life. I’m fairly independent, and function at a high capacity. I am a full time college student, work several jobs, and am committed to several ministry opportunities, all the while trying to invest in my relationships with my family, friends, boyfriend, and God. As I strive for intentionality in all these parts of my life, I often mistake ezer kenegdo for ezer. I often live as if I am self-sufficient to accomplish my tasks and still have the capacity to run and meet others’ needs. But God didn’t create me to do that. In fact, when I rely on myself and go against my design, I end up burnt out, frustrated, and ashamed at my own limitations.
Psalm 46 says that God is my “refuge and strength,” before whom I must “be still and know that [He] is God.” God created me to be able to do many things at once and still maintain the relationships in my life, but He did not create me to do this without Him. Before I can help others, I must first run to the One who promises to help me and supply my every need (Philippians 4:19).
As women, we get to uniquely display who Christ is through our womanhood. We get to understand God as our very present help – often in a much deeper sense than men do – because this is the very characteristic that lies at our core! As we learn what it means to be created in the image of God in innate beauty and strength, we are called to represent Christ through the way He made us. This looks different from personality to personality, but every woman is an ezer kenegdo. You can’t escape it. This is who God made you to be.
There are so many ways we can represent Christ through our womanhood. We’ll never follow Him perfectly or always go to Him for help when we need to, but as we learn more about Him and His heart for us as His daughters, the actions will follow. We’ll explore this in the next few weeks, but for now get excited about God and His creative design. As you get to know Him more and more, grow curious about the ways He has made you to reflect Him to the world. Seeing the ways you bear your Father’s image is perhaps one of the most beautiful blessings God could ever give you. Let this very truth allow you to rest in the goodness of your Creator, and let it compel you to deep adoration and exaltation for Him!