OG

I was reading Genesis 2 this morning, when I just happened to get curious about something.

The best advice that was ever given to me about the Bible was to learn how to go straight to the source — the original Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic — if I had any questions or curiosities, rather than relying primarily on other people’s interpretations or translations. I emphasize the word primarily because of course I do respect the work of professional linguists and other scholars throughout the centuries. But anyway, I did form a habit of checking the original languages (there are free resources online), so when I got curious this morning, I decided to look up the original Hebrew form of the following line that was said by God: “It is not good for the man to be alone, so I will create a companion for him, a perfectly suited partner” (Gen 2:18).

I already knew that the Hebrew word for man (adam) was the generic term for mankind, and it became the proper name Adam. What I got curious about was the term for companion/partner (other English translations use helpmate or counterpart), so that’s what I looked up. You know what I found? The grammatical gender of that Hebrew term (ezer) is masculine. You could probably argue that it’s generic or gender-neutral, like adam. Therefore, both adam and ezer are technically grammatically masculine and contextually gender-neutral.

Six verses later, the Bible says this: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). This is one of the verses that are often cited when traditionally conservative Christians argue against same-sex marriages. But do you know what I learned when I looked up the original Hebrew word that was used there for wife (ishshah)? While it is most often translated into English as wife or woman, there are 21 instances wherein the highly reputable NASB translates it as a gender-neutral term for a married person. And there are 14 additional instances wherein the NASB translates it as a gender-neutral pronoun for just a person (specifically: each / each one / every / everyone / one). I think 35 instances are not insignificant.

The perfectly suited partner for Adam was Eve. But the same might not be true for every other adam.