1

John McKinley
Talbot School of Theology

Necessary Allies: God as ezer, Woman as ezer

I. Orientation to the problem

The common translation of “helper” in Genesis 2 is too loose and weak a term to translate
ezer. Egalitarians attempt to shore up this weakness by arguing for the equality of women by
comparison to the usage for God. Complementarians typically argue for the distinction of man
and woman to highlight the NT calling that wives subordinate themselves to their husbands.
Helper in this sense is also inadequate because it seems to make women lesser in value compared
to men. What is the intention meant for the term? How can the concept indicated by woman as
ezer to man elucidate gender identity and relationships?1 I will argue that the meaning of ezer for
woman as necessary ally may be derived from comparison with usage of ezer for God, and the
biblical cases of women functioning in relationships with men.

II. Lexical evidence

The root ‘zr is common to Semitic languages with the same meaning as in the Hebrew
Bible for “help” in the senses of “rescue” and “save.” These broad meanings are common in the
128 uses of the root in the Bible, most frequently in military circumstances, whether in praise of
God’s salvation or criticism of failed aid when Israel looked to an ally like Egypt. God’s rescue
is in view in 30 cases, mostly in the Psalms, and mostly for military aid (in parallel with God
being described as a “shield” to the people).2
Beyond the military cases, God’s rescue and saving action are also described in parallel
with giving strength or protection to the poor (Ps 72:12), the orphan and the oppressed (Ps 10:14,
18), and delivering the righteous from the wicked (Ps 37:40). The most dimensions of God’s
rescuing help show in Psalm 146:5-9 as support in the forms of justice for the oppressed, food
for the hungry, freedom for the prisoners, opening the eyes of the blind, protecting the strangers,
supporting the fatherless and the widow, and thwarting the way of the wicked. An important
pattern of use is the direct individual reliance on God’s help, as in a messianic passage in which
“The Lord GOD helps Me” marks God’s help to the Messiah (Isa 50:7, 9).3 Examples of direct
appeals are Pss 38:2; 40:13; 59:4; 86:17; 109:26; 118:7, 13; 119:86, 173, 175.
In Genesis 2, the Septuagint supplied boethos to translate with the meaning of “helper,
who aids our weakness,”4 used also in Heb 13:6 to translate ezer in the quotation of Psalm 118:7.
Ross interprets the meaning in Genesis 2 this way, “The word essentially describes one who
provides what is lacking in the man, who can do what the man alone cannot do.” 5 The question
raised by this incompleteness of the man is the sense of how the woman completes him. Despite

1
I am aware that the term gender has shifted in meaning to refer to the cultural patterns of feminine and masculine
expressions, which are distinct from the biological sex distinctions of women and men. I will be using the term
gender to refer to this the second sense of women as distinct from men.
2
‫ עזר‬ʿzr, Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (Peabody: Hendrickson,
1997), 872.
3
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from NASB.
4
“Boethos,” William Arndt et al., BAGD (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 144.
5
Allen Ross, Creation and Blessing (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 126.
 2

the prevailing meaning in the Bible of ezer for military aid, some other meaning must be sought
for how the woman is ezer to the man (since military aid is not the right option).

III. The Meaning of Ezer in Genesis 2

Translators have tried several different options for ezer kenegdo in Genesis 2: “an help
meet for him” (KJV), “a helper suitable for him” (NASB, NIV 84), “a helper fit for him” (ESV,
RSV), “a helper comparable to him” (NKJV), “a helper as his partner” (NRSV), and “a helper
who is just right for him” (NLT). For translating the whole phrase, I propose that a better option
is available in the term, ally, instead of helper, to identify the woman as a necessary ally
corresponding to him.
The two terms of the phrase ezer kenegdo must be taken together for the intended
meaning. Ezer appears both times in Genesis 2:18, 20 with the compound phrase of preposition,
root, and a pronominal suffix, kenegdo (from the root, ngd). Genesis 2 contains the only two
times that this phrase kenegdo occurs in the Bible. Brown-Driver-Briggs gives the meaning for
the phrase as “according to what is in front of,” and suggests the meaning as “corresponding to
him.”6 Wenham notes the literal meaning is “like opposite him, [meaning] …the notion of
complementarity rather than identity” (as in “like him”). Wenham suggests the meaning of the
whole phrase is “a helper matching him.”7 Alter translates the meaning, “a sustainer beside
him.”8
The meaning intended by kenegdo is rooted in a spatial correlation of nearness and
distinction. When joined with ezer, kenegdo tells what sort of ezer the woman is in relation to the
man. While kenegdo tells that she is the sort of ally who is counterpart and corresponding to the
man, the work of ruling together entails that the woman is fully necessary in relation to the man.
This interpretation draws on the functional dimension of meaning for ezer by what God is to
those He rescues, saves, helps, or is allied with. What sort of ally is the woman to the man? She
is a necessary ally to him, the sort without which he cannot fulfill humanity’s mission.
Certainly the woman as a necessary ally fits for the mission of family building. The
pairing of the two terms brings a meaning that is larger than gender complementarity and union
for building a family. Necessary ally brings into view the joint mission for which the male and
female are created to rule God’s earthly kingdom (Gen 1:26-28). Bloesch has a similar idea of
necessity for mission: “Man is incomplete without woman…Man is dependent on woman for the
realization of his God-appointed goals…”9
The meaning of ally draws on the functional dimension of meaning for ezer by what God
is to those He rescues, saves, helps, or is allied with. The pairing of the two terms ezer kenegdo
brings a meaning that is larger than gender complementarity and union for building a family.
Necessary ally brings into view the joint mission for which the male and female are created to
rule God’s earthly kingdom (Gen 1:26-28). The term necessary ally better gets at the goodness of
God’s solution to the problem of Adam being alone, that Adam needs the woman so as not to be
in a situation that is “not good.” By analogy with the usage of ezer for God, without God’s
involvement, people are lost. God’s presence and action is necessary to their survival.

6
Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and
English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon, 1977), 617.
7
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, WBC vol. 1 (Waco: Word, 1987), 68.
8
Robert Alter, Genesis (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), 9.
9
Donald G. Bloesch, The Church: Sacraments, Ministry, Worship, Mission (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002),
225-26.
 3

The term “ally” is more appropriate for ezer when applied to the woman in Genesis 2:18-
24. This English word is more appropriate than other terms because the dictionary meaning
expresses the relational union, cooperative action, and military aspect that we find for ezer in the
Bible. The dictionary meaning of the noun is “a person or organization that cooperates with or
helps another in a particular activity.” The verb is “to combine or unite a resource or commodity
with (another) for mutual benefit.” The antonyms of ally are also helpful to describe what a
woman is not to be to man: enemy, opponent.10 The sense of ally is clearly in view in the
example of Daniel 10:13, where the angel Gabriel tells that Michael “…came to help me, for I
had been left there with the kings of Persia.”
Ally includes the concerns of some scholars who desire to affirm the equality of the
woman; however, the issue in ezer is neither equality nor subordination, but distinction and
relatedness. She is to be for the man as an ally to benefit him in the work they are given to do
(Gen 1:26-28). Just as ezer tells of God’s relatedness to Israel as the necessary support for
survival in military perils, the woman is the ally to the man without which he cannot succeed or
survive. Unlike “helper” that could seem optional and allow the man to think he is otherwise
adequate for his task without the woman, the distinction of ally marks the man’s dependence
upon her contribution. This dependence is plain when we consider Israel’s need for God’s
contributions as her ally.
The term ally includes the ideas of dependence and interdependence of men and women
together that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 11:7, 9, declaring that “the woman is the glory of
man” and that the woman was created “for the man’s sake,” by which Paul is likely referring to
ezer in Genesis 2 and the woman’s distinction to contribute to the man. But this is not to devalue
women as compared to men, since Paul continues in verses 11-12, “…in the Lord, neither is
woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates
from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from
God.”
John Walton has also recognized this meaning of ally for ezer. Walton proposes, “…the
woman is not just a reproductive mating partner. Her identity is that she is his ally, his other
half.”11 In Walton’s view, since Genesis 2 is about Adam’s priestly role to preserve the sacred
space through subduing and ruling, the woman’s role as ezer is not about procreation or
companionship so solve Adam’s aloneness: “Rather, God is stating that the task is too large for
him to do on his own—he needs an ally to help him in sacred space. Because of the nature of the
task of serving in sacred space, the only appropriate ally would be one that is Adam’s ontological
equal.”12 Walton takes Adam’s recognition that the woman is “bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh” as indication of “ontological pairing.” Further, “it is shown that woman was not just
another creature but was like the man, in fact, his other half sharing his nature, and was therefore
suitable as his ally. She joined him as guardian and mediator with the task of preserving,
protecting, and expanding sacred space.”13 “As an ally, she would not have the same roles as
man, but little more can be said given the lack of information provided in the text. The text
comments only on her ontological identity as man’s other half rather than delineating her role in

10
“ally” New Oxford American Dictionary, electronic edition.
11
John H. Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2015), 81.
12
Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, 109.
13
Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, 111-12.
 4

sacred space.”14 Walton is in agreement that the term ally does a better job to convey the
meaning of the woman as ezer to the man.
Another proponent of the interpretation of ezer for the woman in Genesis 2 is Tremper
Longman. “We should be very careful not to read the idea of subordination into the word
helper here, since it is used elsewhere to refer to God who is the ‘helper’ of his people. In
another context this word could be translated ‘ally.’ They will be partners in the business and,
after Genesis 3, the battle of life.”15 While Longman’s expansion of the term ally with the idea of
partners seems to lose the distinction and does not compare well to God as ezer to the people he
saves and supports, Longman is another witness to the appropriateness of ally for the meaning of
ezer in biblical usage.
I am not saying that this is the only way to translate the phrase. This interpretation has
been fruitful as a conceptual framework to shed light on the how we should understand woman
as ezer to man. By looking at other male-female relationships displayed in the Bible, we can
have a broader understanding of what is intended in Genesis 2. God is the ultimate ezer to all
people in need, but woman is God’s provision of a necessary ally to men for the good of both
and all that depend on their synergy.

IV. Alliance for What?

Woman was created as ezer kenegdo in her relatedness to the man, but how should we
understand that calling? Without the woman, the man is alone; with her, he is complete. What
does the woman add to the man? Focusing the meaning of ezer on the necessity of a woman for
procreation is surely part of the intention.16 More is probably in view for spiritual and relational
dimensions of companionship and dominion since the woman is provided as solution to man
being alone (and procreation does not seem to be in view in Genesis 2). When the first mention
of children (besides the curse in Genesis 3) occurs in Genesis 4:1 at the conception and birth of
Cain, Eve points to God’s support in the accomplishment, rather than pointing to her own
contribution to Adam. Family building does not seem to exhaust the intended meaning of ezer.
Likewise, gender interdependence expressed in the one-flesh union and producing children is
important, but we should not reduce it to procreation. The goal for the woman being ezer must be
more than family building. We can also keep in mind that the essence of maleness and
femaleness will continue in the resurrection without marriage and family, so these vocations that
are temporary are unlikely grounds for God’s intentions in creation. 17
Michelle Lee-Barnewall argues that the woman was formed and called to help the man
keep the command from God regarding the tree of knowledge. The support for this claim is the
repeated narrative emphasis on the command (five times) and the attention to Adam’s
disobedience (underlined by NT commentary in Rom 5 and 1 Cor 15). “While Eve is also
responsible for keeping the command, her role is not identical. Instead the narrative stresses her
role as Adam’s helper and the way in which she helps or hinders his ability to fulfill this

14
Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, 112.
15
Tremper Longman III, Old Testament Essentials (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2014), 18.
16
Stephen B. Clark, Man and Woman in Christ (Ann Arbor: Servant, 1980), 28. Stephen Clark argues for a
traditional view that the complementarity is for family building: the woman “was created to be a complement to
him, making a household and children possible.”
17
Similarly, we should avoid grounding the essence of women and men in the functions of marriage or children
since this would exclude the many people who are not called to these functions from being full women or men, such
as Jesus.
 5

commission.”18 Lee-Barnewall notes the way that God charges Adam and Eve differently in
judgment for what they have done, and concludes: “Although Eve was to help Adam obey God,
she not only failed in helping Adam keep the command, but ironically was also a principal player
in his disobedience.”19 Lee-Barnewall reminds that the echo of this ironic slip in Eve’s mission
shows in the NT references to her having been deceived, as an example for the church to avoid
by holding to God’s word faithfully (2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:13). This note broadens the meaning of
ezer beyond merely family building (as part of the charge to fill the earth) to that of mediatorial
function in the man-woman relationship under God. The specific application of ezer kenegdo in
Genesis 1-3 is to the specific command regarding the tree of knowledge. As a revelation of the
primordial theological situation of the man and woman, we can look for application to men and
women in general from the actual cases in the Bible of how women function as ezer to men, and
examples of the failure to do so. Men and women have a common vocation for which they are
gifted and called distinctly to varying occupations for that joint mission.
I propose that the positive and negative examples of women and men working together in
biblical examples illustrate the meaning of ezer kenegdo for the woman as a necessary ally to the
man in responding to God for daily life occupations. This proposal includes mutual contributions
from women and men to each other, and beyond the marriage relationship. Gender collaboration
and interdependence counts for much more than marriage so that where men and women do not
give and receive the distinct gendered contributions to each other, the result is that individuals,
families, churches, and societies suffer great losses.20 Bonhoeffer is another witness to the
implications of gender collaboration beyond the family: “The grace of the other person’s being
our helper who is a partner because he or she helps us to bear our limit, that is, helps us to live
before God—and we can live before God only in community with our helper…” 21 God is the
ultimate ezer to all people in our need, but woman is God’s provision of a necessary ally to men
for the good of both and all that depend on their synergy.

V. A Biblical Theology of Women as Necessary Allies in Relationships with Men

Unfortunately, once Adam and Eve failed in their joint mission, all that we see and
experience of relationships between men and women are under the curse. I am following an
intuition that the biblical examples of relationships between men and women have been
presented in the canon at least partly by the Holy Spirit’s agenda to demonstrate positive cases of
women functioning as necessary allies to men, and negative cases of women as enemies.
Accordingly, we see this pattern in the way that the book of Proverbs personifies wisdom
as a woman to be sought for the way she will protect and contribute to the listener. In contrast,
folly is also personified as a woman to be avoided for the way she functions as an enemy and
opponent, contributing to the listener’s destruction.

18
Michelle Lee-Barnewall, Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical
Gender Debate (Grand Rapids: 2016), 129.
19
Lee-Barnewall, Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian, 139.
20
Thomas Finley, “The Relationship of Woman and Man in the Old Testament,” in Women and Men in Ministry,
eds. Judith K. TenElshof and Robert L. Saucy (Chicago: Moody, 2001), 54-55. “It is not good for men to function
alone; they have to recognize that they need women in order to carry out their task of ruling and subduing properly.
Women were designed to help men, and it is to the detriment of both women and men when their help is rejected or
not sought.”
21
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, Martin Rüter, Ilse Tödt, and John W. de Gruchy, trans. Douglas Stephen
Bax, vol. 3, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004), 99.
 6

The historical examples of real women in the Bible show that when they function as
necessary allies to men, and are received as such, things go well for everyone involved. When
women function as enemies and opponents to men, things go badly for everyone involved. Many
of these examples are between husband and wife, but others are not. The point is not to say that
everyone must be married, but that men need influence from women, and women from men, as
we see Jesus and Paul working closely with women and influenced by them in a feminine mode.
We will consider seven ways that women function as necessary allies to men in the biblical
accounts.22

1. Warning Men to Turn Away from Evil

We see multiple occasions when God worked through women of courage and wisdom to
warn men when they were set to follow some evil path. Like the patient wife who urges her
stubborn husband to stop and ask for directions when lost on some adventure in the car, these
women are highlighted for their role to avert men from going over the edge in revenge, folly, or
some other evil. This is a prophetic role by which God reached to kings and other male leaders
who otherwise lacked the sense or openness to God to see their own peril. These examples show
that women are necessary to men in their lives as a means God uses to warn stubborn or dull-
witted men from painful paths.
One of David’s weaknesses was revenge. Abigail averted him from this great evil, as
noted in 1 Samuel 25:2-42. The description of her in verse 3 as “intelligent and beautiful” is
enhanced by the forbearance she must have exerted towards her husband who was “harsh and
evil in his dealings” and by her word, “this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he,”
that is, a fool (v. 25). Abigail’s warning to David is in view of his kingship to be established in
honor, as she urges him to avoid imminent evil so that later, “this [revenge] will not cause grief
or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having
avenged himself” (v. 31). David responds by praising Abigail and recognizing her as God’s
persuasive agent to him: “God sent you this day to meet me” (v. 32), “you, [Abigail] who have
kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand” (v. 33). David
credits God as the one who “kept back His servant from evil” (v. 39); we can see it was God-
acting-through-Abigail. She was necessary to approach David in humility, wisdom, and a firm
warning that he must stop from evil retaliation. It seems that David’s mercy displayed in the
chapter before by sparing King Saul had now run out. Apart from Abigail’s intervention, David’s
mercy might not have revived for a long time, and it is unlikely that he would have been merciful
with Saul a second time, as happened in the next chapter.
Similar to Abigail is the unnamed “wise woman” of Abel Beth-maacah. When the traitor
Sheba launched a revolt against David and then fled justice to hide in this woman’s city, Joab the
military commander laid siege and began pulling down the city in retaliation (2 Sam 20:14-15).
The “wise woman” saved her city by warning Joab, “Why would you swallow up the inheritance
of the LORD?” (v.19). Then she persuaded the city to execute the fugitive and throw down his
head so that Joab spared the city further attack.
Other women called men back from a destructive path, though sometimes they were not
heeded as Abigail was. Deborah told Barak of God’s command to lead the soldiers in a
deliverance from enemies Sisera and Jabin. When Barak shrank back from responding to God as

22
Finley’s chapter was helpful for me to identify many of these examples. Thomas J. Finley, “The Ministry of
Women in the Old Testament,” in Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementarian Perspective, eds. Saucy and
TenElshof, 73-90.
 7

he was commanded to, and pleaded for Deborah to accompany him, she warned him that “the
honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera
into the hands of a woman” (Jdg 4:9). Huldah prophesied to Josiah that God would spare him the
coming destruction upon the nation (2 Ki 22:14-20), but her fierce message of judgment was
apparently ignored by Josiah’s successors, since Jehoiakim “did evil in the sight of the LORD”
and God’s wrath came soon after with Nebuchadnezzar (2 Ki 22:36-37). An unnamed woman
broke through the wicked deliberations of her husband, Pontius Pilate, and urged him against
crucifying Jesus, but he disregarded her (Matt 27:19).23
In contrast to these courageous and wise women who functioned as necessary allies to the
men around them by warning them to turn away from evil, other women are examples of failing
to do so. The examples show the importance of women as a great power for good or evil in their
relatedness to men. Eve, Achan’s wife, Jezebel, and Sapphira were each with men facing evil
decisions, and neglected to warn them away from the evil course. In each case, lives were lost
that might have been saved had these women responded with courage and tact like Abigail and
others. Women are God’s gift to men in this prophetic role to warn them away from evil. Gender
distinction includes their unique perspective and wisdom as women for gaining a hearing and
persuading men to choose life instead of death.

2. Co-Belligerents Against Evil Enemies

A second way that women function as necessary allies to men is when women stand with
men in solidarity against evil.24 Men need women to align with them when evil comes near, so
that as a combined force they may be able to resist it. During the exodus, Rahab’s betrayal of
Jericho enabled the Hebrew spies to scout the city’s defenses and escape safely (Joshua 2).
Rahab’s role is honored by including her in the Messiah’s family line. We have already seen that
Deborah went with Barak to rally the people of Israel for battle. Her support was so important
that he would not proceed without her (Jdg 4:8-9). Accordingly, Deborah’s name is mentioned
before Barak’s in Judges 5:1, showing the importance of her contribution as Judge. Prominent in
that battle was Jael’s conquest of Sisera, doing her part to pretend to give him shelter and then
she slew the enemy captain (Jdg 4:17-22). In the case of Abigail warning David, she joined him
as a co-belligerent against his own evil desire for revenge. When Israel was exiled and about to
be annihilated by Haman, Queen Esther collaborated with Mordecai’s plan by risking her own
death to save her people (Esther 4:10-17).
In contrast, men fail many times partly because of the lack for a woman to stand with
them in the face of evil. The woman enables the man to stand; without her contribution, men
frequently collapse and fail as Adam did. In the daily skirmishes of subduing the evil at large,
God’s grace is provided through women as necessary allies to the men around them, as both fight
together for the good of all. Neither gender is sufficient in ourselves to meet the challenges that
face us from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

3. Mediating the Word of the Lord

A third way that women are necessary allies to men is the prophetic role of conveying
God’s messages to the men in their lives, and to their community. Throughout the biblical

23
Aimee Byrd, No Little Women: Equipping All Women in the Household of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2016), ch.
8.
24
Bloesch, The Church, 226, “…even in the single state man and woman need one another as coworkers in the
cause of the kingdom, as cobelligerents in the battle against evil.”
 8

history, God speaks to and through women. Every healthy marriage includes husbands being
receptive to their wives’ function as God’s voice with warnings, encouragements, and reminders
(e.g., when a husband forgets his calling, or fails to see God’s work in his own life). Women are
sisters in the faith to their brothers in the faith, with ongoing contributions as God’s prophets.25
The Bible presents several examples of God speaking through women as His prophets.
Miriam is identified as a prophet (Exod 15:20) and also a leader with Moses and Aaron (Mic
6:4). Deborah was prophet and Judge for the nation (Jdg 4:4-5), resolving the people’s disputes
and offering a particular prophecy to Barak (Jdg 4:6-9). Deborah also likely composed the song
celebrating Barak’s military victory (Jdg 5:1-31).26 Hannah composed a hymn of praise that was
included as Scripture (1 Sam 2:1-10). King Josiah sought Huldah as a prophet by high
reputation, and God spoke through her (2 Ki 22:14-20). The anonymous book of Ruth is
attributed to Samuel in rabbinical tradition, but it may have been written by a woman since the
story reflects “a female perspective and a female assertiveness which drives the story’s action.” 27
Further biblical composition shows in the proverbs from the mother of King Lemuel (Prov 31:1-
9, possibly vv. 10-31), and Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55). Other prophets noted are Anna (Luke
2:37), and Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21:8-9).
Finally, God seems pleased to have announced the resurrection of Jesus through the
women who went to care for the Lord’s corpse at the tomb. 28 This last speaking role regarding
the resurrection was dismissed by some of the men who heard it (Luke 24:22-24), to which Jesus
responded sharply, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken!”
(v.25). Indeed, men who ignore the messages that God provides through women in their lives are
likewise fools if they disregard these valuable contributions. Accordingly, Paul gives his
approval to the women delivering prophecies in the churches at Corinth, urging only the minor
correction to restore the practice of wearing a head covering (1 Cor 11:3-16). Besides these
examples, women also functioned to teach and advise men, but that is a separate category.

4. Wise Instruction and Counsel

A fourth aspect of how women function as allies necessary to men is giving wise
instruction and counsel to them. This contribution is different from the prophetic roles noted
above in that women speak to men in situations that do not involve fighting against enemies or
authoring praises and prophecies of Scripture. These women taught men valuable things, and
likely in ways that had much to do with women’s gifted perspective and experiences to speak
from their strengths for relationship, empathy, and nurture.
Deborah has already been mentioned for her function as prophet and Judge for Israel. She
had the reputation as a wise woman so that men traveled to hear her instruction and counsel for
their situations. Other women noted as wise had reputations in their cities of Tekoa (the wise
woman employed by Joab to influence David to bring back Absalom, 2 Samuel 14:2-23), and the

25
Joel 2:28-30; 1 Peter 4:11.
26
Notice that v. 7 in the song is first person, “I, Deborah arose… I arose, a mother in Israel.” Finley observes that
her name is listed first, for prominence, indicating that she composed the song that Deborah and Barak sang together
(“The Ministry of Women,” 76). By contrast, Finley argues that Miriam did not compose the song of Exodus 15,
since v. 1 credits Moses for it, and Rev 15:3-4 “contains language that echoes Exodus 15 and labels it “the song of
Moses…” (78).
27
Finley, “The Ministry of Women,” 78. Finley comments on the argument from Robert Hubbard with measured
approval: “Nothing seems inherently improbable about Hubbard’s conjecture.”
28
The impulse to nurture Jesus’ body even in death is something I never would have noticed, but my wife saw this
as the natural thing to do.
 9

wise woman of Abel Beth-maacah who saved her city (2 Sam 20:15-22, noted above). In the
book of Ruth, Naomi is important for coaching Ruth to respond to Boaz in a way that he would
move quickly to marry her, taking heed of Naomi’s indirect counsel (3:1-5, 18). When Israel had
kings, the queen mothers were frequently named to honor their influential role. David’s wife
Bathsheba interceded for Solomon to be made king and likely saved him from assassination by a
rival among his brothers (1 Ki 1:11-31). Negatively, queen mothers led their sons into evil (1 Ki
15:13; 22:52), which influence shows the contribution they might have made in the other
direction for good. An example of the queen’s influence on the king is Esther, how she gained
the king’s approval to make new laws empowering the Jews to defend themselves on Purim.29
The book of Proverbs repeatedly associates wisdom with the woman. The author also
exhorts sons to listen to the wise instruction of their mother (Prov 6:20). Wisdom is to be valued
and held close as a “sister” and “intimate friend” (7:2), and as a woman calling out to men to
learn from her knowledge, prudence, righteousness, understanding, discretion, and the fear of the
Yahweh (8:1—9:12). By contrast, the adulterous woman misleads the fool to destruction (7:5-
27), and folly is personified as a woman misleading the naïve to death through lies (9:13-18).
The exasperation of Job’s wife was a similar failure by resorting to folly, urging Job to “Curse
God and die!” (Job 2:9), when she could have offered him comfort and wisdom. Such are the
powers of women as necessary allies to men, that they can instruct and counsel men for great
good.
In the New Testament, women’s teaching and counsel to men was valued in the churches
at Corinth, where gatherings of the disciples were characterized by “each one has a psalm, has a
teaching, has a revelation…let all things be done for edification” (1 Cor 14:26), and likewise at
Colossae, where Paul told them to “let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all
wisdom teaching and admonishing one another” (Col 3:16). One particular benefit that women
offer to men is instruction in nurture, gentleness, and compassion, whether at home with children
or in responding to relationships in the church and society. Many women are born experts at
caring for others.30 Since men are called to relationship and care as well, the best people to learn
these functions from are the women they know.
For the churches at Crete, Paul urged Titus to pass on guidance that older women to teach
others “…what is good, that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to
love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own
husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored” (Tit 2:3-5). This focus on women
teaching women is natural, since men could not very well teach women to be wives and mothers.
These older women could instruct others to benefit their husbands as necessary allies in the
home.
The book of Acts gives an important example of a woman contributing theological
explanation to a man. Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, “took [Apollos] aside and explained to
him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Luke’s mention of her role in this stands out
as a case expressing Paul’s teaching elsewhere that women and men taught each other in the
churches at the level of instruction and counsel (which I take to be different from teaching done

29
Finley, “The Ministry of Women,” 76. Finley compares Esther’s role to that of Joseph in Egypt.
30
I make the generalization here and am aware that some women are examples of not doing so well at caring, and
some men are very good at caring. My experience is that most women are better at caring for others and facilitating
relational connections than most men are. I mean to say simply that women are gifted relationally in some ways that
men are not, or not as much. I have experienced that groups do better in relational warmth and connection when
women are involved.
 10

by the elders of the church).31 When women are excluded from contributing instruction and
counsel to men, the necessary allies are cut off from giving what God made them to be, and men
are cut off from these contributions that are provided by God.

5. Collaboration in Service to Others

A fifth function of the woman as necessary ally to the man is to share in their common
mission by doing different aspects of the work. Women are good at many things that men are
not, so a synergy of women working with men results in accomplishment that is not otherwise
possible if men worked independently of women. Within the marriage, women contribute to the
household economy and the broader society in several valuable ways described in Proverbs 31:
making things of wool and linen, importing food, providing food and clothes for her household
and the poor, buying a field, and planting a vineyard.32 For her work, the man praises her (31:28)
and her own contributions “praise her in the gates” (31:31). Indeed, family building is impossible
without the necessary and self-sacrificial work of women.
Beyond the home, some women in Israel “served at the doorway of the tent of meeting”
(Exod 38:8), collaborating with the Levites who were responsible for the sanctuary.33 Miriam,
having earlier watched over her brother Moses in the river as a baby, joined with her brothers in
leading the people out of Egypt, likely working with the women (Mic 6:4). Miriam also led the
women in praise of singing, making music, and dancing when God triumphed over Egypt (Exod
15:20). During Jesus’ years of ministry, wealthy women funded and joined the preaching and
discipleship as part of Jesus’ ministry team, noting also the presence of many other women in the
apostolic band (Luke 8:1-3). That these women traveled with Jesus among his students was “an
unusual occurrence in Palestine of the first century.” 34 In addition to their money, these women
likely did for Jesus what Miram did for her brothers Moses and Aaron, as Michael Wilkins
explains:
This diverse collection of women had received healing themselves, and so they were
powerful witnesses to the reality of Jesus’ ministry. Perhaps in that cultural setting it may
have been easier for these women to speak personally with the large throngs of women
who were also in attendance at many of the public appearances of Jesus (cf. Matt. 14:21;
15:38). Both the women and the Twelve played essential roles as those who would later
testify to the reality of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection.”35
In the work of reaching an audience of men and women, Jesus needed these many women in his
team. An outsider woman of Samaria led Jesus’ ministry to her town for a major episode in
John’s presentation of Jesus’ outreach (John 4:4-42). This positive reception through the woman
stands out in contrast to the Samaritan’s hostility towards Jesus when they would not allow Jesus
even to travel through and provoked the apostles’ desire for revenge (Luke 9:51-56).

31
See the distinction of several levels of teaching manifest in the NT, as argued persuasively by Robert L. Saucy,
“Paul’s Teaching on the Ministry of Women,” in Women and Men in Ministry, 291-310.
32
Finley, “The Ministry of Women,” 85. “Perhaps the Proverbs 31 woman could be placed alongside Eve in the
garden, filling out some of the details about a woman that were not mentioned for Eve. The Proverbs 31 woman
clearly reflects the image of God as much as her husband. She participates not merely in procreation but in the
broader task of subduing the earth.”
33
Finley, “The Ministry of Women,” 75, notes that this practice was not repeated for Solomon’s temple, “…possibly
to avoid the…scandalous activity that took place in the days of Eli (1 Sam 2:22).”
34
Michael J. Wilkins, “Women in the Teaching and Example of Jesus,” in Women and Men in Ministry, 103.
35
Wilkins, “Women in the Teaching and Example of Jesus,” 107-8.
 11

Similar dimensions of women’s contributions in ministry continued in the early church.

Prominent women hosted churches to meet in their homes (e.g., Acts 12:12; 16:40; Rom 16:3-5;
Col 4:15). Women supported men through hospitality in their homes (e.g., Martha, Peter’s
mother). Women Deacons served the churches (1 Tim 3:11) and continued beyond the first
century until the patristic church ended the diaconate of women. Most prominently, the only
person identified as a deacon in the NT also delivered Paul’s letter to Rome—the highly
esteemed woman Phoebe (Rom 16:1).36 Many women served in ministry teams with their
husbands (e.g., Priscilla and Aquila, Peter and his wife, Junia and Andronicus), and four women
served with distinction noted by their label as co-workers with Paul (Rom 16:6, 12; Phil 4:2-3).37
In particular, Phoebe is described as Paul’s prostatis (Rom 16:2). The term is translated
“helper,” which recalls the concept of ezer, but has a stronger meaning of patron, the role of
providing money and social connections because of one’s strong position.38 For Paul, Phoebe
was a necessary ally in ministry. Finally, the widows are mentioned multiple times for their
service to the church, caring for the sick, praying, and providing hospitality for Christians
traveling distances (1 Tim 5:10).
In all these ways, women are allied to men in essential ways of ministry to the whole
church and moving outward to make disciples of others. Robert Saucy reports this necessary
contribution: “Clement of Alexandria expressed an early tradition that the wives accompanied
their husbands as ‘fellow ministers’ that the gospel might penetrate ‘the women’s quarters
without any scandal being aroused.’”39 We have a long tradition of women as necessary co-
laborers to men in the mission of service to others.

6. Responding to God as Examples of Faithfulness

A sixth way that women are necessary allies to men is that they demonstrate faithfulness
to God, being models to the men around them to the entire church of later centuries. Men also
serve as examples of faithfulness. Women are distinctly positioned in biblical accounts to show
how all people are called to respond to God in abject humility. Children also are highlighted as
analogies of our actual condition before God: dependent, humble, and trusting. The violent and
patriarchal conditions of the ancient world put women in a situation of vulnerability to male
dictates, exclusion from decision-making, disadvantage to pursue one’s desires, physical
weakness, and dependence upon men who could protect them from other men. Women know
how to be weak, vulnerable, and receptive in their neediness for God in a way that men do not
experience so much in daily life.
Biblical examples of women responding to God highlight their willingness and reckless
devotion to cooperate with God’s purposes. Rahab sold out her city in proper fear of the true God
conquering his way through Canaan. Deborah went to the battle as a support for Barak (who was
intimidated). Ruth, the foreigner, clung to Naomi’s God. Also in a foreign land, Queen Esther
entrusted herself to God’s care in prayer as she interceded with the king for her people.

36
Phoebe is not identified as the carrier of the Epistle to the Romans, but many scholars agree that she is the most
likely person to have done so in view of the way Paul urges them to receive her. Since Paul wrote the letter while at
Corinth, which is nearby the location of Cenchrea where Phoebe is a Deacon, we can be confident that Phoebe
travelled as Paul’s messenger from Corinth to Rome and presented his letter them as Paul’s trusted agent.
37
If Junia is to be identified here as a female apostle or a woman of high reputation among the apostles, then we
would have even more evidence from the early church of the heavy contributions from women.
38
Robert L. Saucy, “The Ministry of Women in the Early Church,” in Women and Men in Ministry, 171.
39
Saucy, “The Ministry of Women,” 164.
 12

In the New Testament, Mary embraced God’s promise that she would bear a miracle
child. Gospel accounts honor women for three occasions when they did not want to be honored.
On two occasions, Mary of Bethany showed her devotion to Jesus, who strongly defended and
affirmed her both times. First, took a place “at Jesus’ feet” in the posture of a disciple, Jesus
defended and affirmed her in that relationship to him against the pressure from Martha that Mary
withdraw to a culturally-expected hospitality role (Luke 10:38-42)40. Second, she anticipated
Jesus’ death and burial by anointing his head with perfume (John 12:3-8). Similarly, when Jesus
was being dishonored by a host, an unnamed woman intruded to right the wrong. Jesus pointed
to her as the example of a person who loves because of having experienced God’s love for her.
Jesus’ parable shows the host who failed to love, and the woman is the actual case of God’s love
in action (Luke 7:37-50). Acts of honor and devotion are not limited to women or men, but the
biblical presentation of women exemplifying these acts show how God values them as
demonstrations to all people.
Similarly, the trait of diligence that men or women can show is highlighted in a woman
of Jesus’ parable of the lost coin. He chose to show God’s commitment to seek and save his lost
ones by casting a diligent female character in his parable of her searching for and finding a
precious coin (Luke 15:8-10). Luke’s gospel also includes Jesus’ praise of the widow who cast
herself entirely on God’s care by giving away the little money she had left (Luke 21:1-4). Some
of the women showed their commitment to Jesus was greater than the rest of his students and
apostles by remaining at the cross (Luke 23:55-24:11; John 19:25; Mark 14:50; 15:40-41).
Everyone fled from Jesus at the cross, except for the several women who persevered to stay with
him and followed his body to the tomb. These women were also the first see and report the
resurrection because they were the first to return to the tomb two days later. At Pentecost, many
women were among the 120 in Jerusalem, and they shared in the ministry alongside the men
every step of the way (as noted above). At the Roman city of Philippi, Lydia was the first convert
in Europe, and she led her household in baptism to become Christians (Acts 16:14-15).
Finally, Paul emphasizes the important influence that Christian women have on their
unbelieving husbands, “For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband?”
(1 Cor 6:16), and Peter says a similar thing: “you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so
that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the
behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior” (1 Pet 3:1-2).
Women are necessary allies to men by being models of faithfulness to God, so that men can
respond with similar energy.

7. Influencing Men from a Gift of Empathy & Relatedness

A seventh way that women are necessary allies to men is their ability to influence men
from the feminine side of experience and perspective. This is similar to the distinction of
instruction and counsel that God offers to men through women. Consider the superior ability that
women have to connect with others. Many of the things already mentioned are examples of
women working out of this gift of empathy, emotion, and intuition. As a broad generalization
cognizant of exceptions, women are good at relationship, being attentive to others’ needs, and
responding sensitively with support, encouragement, and consolation. Some men can do these
things too, but most women typically do them better, and naturally. The examples considered
here show women contributing to men in ways that other men cannot because they are not gifted

40 Luke’s intention by the phrase “sitting at Jesus’ feet” is parallel to the man from Gerasene who sought to be
Jesus’ disciple (Luke 8:35) and Paul’s self-description as a student of the rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
 13

in the way that women are. Women are able to hold another emotionally; just as they can hold
and carry a baby within their bodies, they also do this relationally through empathy and nurturing
support to men. After long observation and experience of woman’s contributions to men in
relationship, one therapist has observed that many women function “…to be a mediator to man
of his own creative inspirations, a channel whereby the riches of the unconscious can flow to him
more easily than if she were not there.”41
Among Jesus’ disciples were women and men who provided him companionship and
support. When various enemies slandered Jesus and plotted against him, and the crowds
remained fickle in their interest, the disciples’ trust in Jesus was likely a needed support to him.42
An example of this is Mary, Martha’s sister, who was commended by Jesus when she chose “the
good part” of sitting at Jesus’ feet to learn as His disciple (Luke 10:39-42). The women among
Jesus’ disciples have been noted above for their perseverance with Jesus at the crucifixion and
the tomb (when the men had all fled). Despite the mounting skepticism and opposition towards
Jesus, He always had a family of women and men who believed in Him.
Two of Jesus’ miracles were provided in response to sensitive women’s influence on him.
First, at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11), Jesus’ mother perceived the problem of a wedding
celebration without wine and implored her son to fix it. Jesus responded to her empathy and gave
the first miraculous sign of his identity. Second, Jesus initially dismissed the Canaanite woman
who pleaded with him on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter; Jesus called the woman a dog
(Matt 15:21-29 || Mark 7:24-30). When she further bowed before Jesus and begged for Israel’s
crumbs, Jesus completely reversed in His attitude, commended her faith, and healed her
daughter. Responding to her humiliated and impassioned influence on him, Jesus showed a rare
glimpse of how his salvation would extend beyond Israel.
On two occasions women anointed Jesus with immensely costly perfume, an
extravagance of honor that was shocking. These women sensed who Jesus was and what he
deserved as the Son of God. First, in the Pharisee’s house, an unnamed woman expressed her
gratitude to Jesus by washing His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointing
them with perfume (Luke 7:36-50). Jesus understood that she had loved him much because she
had been forgiven much. The woman valued Jesus as highly as possible, and scandalously
expressed her devotion to him in a way that only a woman could in nurture and affection.
Second, at Bethany in Simon the leper’s house, Mary anointed Jesus’ head with “very costly”
perfume, an extravagance that even provoked the indignation of the male disciples who saw it
(Matt 26:6-13//Mark 14:3-9//John 12:1-8). Jesus declared that she had prepared his body for
burial (John 12:7). Mary’s empathy for Jesus as he anticipated the cross became nurture and
worship to support him in his passion—and this in contrast to Peter who tried to denounce Jesus’
for saying he would be crucified. The value of Mary’s sacrifice for Jesus shows in his declaration
of what she had done, that her act would always be remembered. Mary was aware of and
supportive of Jesus in his passion in a way that it seems none of the other disciples were.
The same Mary had another influence on Jesus of helping him to experience and express
his own grief at his loss of Lazarus to death. Jesus came to Bethany and responded first to
Martha’s doctrinal words of faith and hope in Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and Son of God
(John 11:20-27). When Mary came to Jesus, she received an entirely different response than the
declaration of hope in the coming resurrection. Mary unwittingly pulled Jesus into her emotion:

41
Irene Claremont de Castillejo, Knowing Woman: A Feminine Psychology (New York: Harper Colophon, 1974),
55.
42
Wilkins, “Women in the Teaching and Example of Jesus,” 108.
 14

“When Jesus…saw her weeping,” and then Jesus was helped by her grief to connect with His
own human grief: “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled…Jesus wept.” The people
saw his love for Lazarus because of what Mary had done for Him, as they said: “See how He
loved him!” (John 11:33-36). We see Mary’s relatedness to Lazarus, her grief, and Jesus, so that
her influence on Jesus was that he could experience that relatedness and his own deep emotions
also.
Likewise, the apostle Paul frequently indicates the rich relationships of his ministry teams
comprised of men and women. Like Jesus who was unmarried and deeply influenced by several
women close to him, Paul lived and worked in close friendship with many women he counted as
his valuable co-laborers: Priscilla, Euodia, Syntyche, Phoebe, Junia, Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa,
Julia, Nympha, and Olympas, among others.
Women are necessary allies to men for mediating emotion and relatedness to them,
helping men such as Jesus and Paul to relate to others in ways that are much more natural to
women. When men ignore or otherwise avoid women’s contribution to them in these ways, both
men and women are diminished in dysfunction that is far beneath what God intended in rich
complementarian relationships.

VI. Conclusion
God has given us a unique phrase for understanding the woman’s identity in relation to
the man. I have argued that ezer is best interpreted as a necessary ally. This proposal fulfills the
clear correspondence of the woman’s function to God’s function as a necessary ally to Israel and
other people God supports, delivers, encourages, and provides for in various ways.
God has also given an array of examples in which women proved themselves to be
necessary allies to men in seven ways. The mutual implication between the examples and the
meaning of necessary allies has been a fruitful excavation of God’s intention that we recognize
the high value of woman displayed in the Bible.