Lessons from Wisdom on How to be a Helper

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To excerpt from my guidebook, The Ultimate Guide to Eve-

The Holy Spirit (like God) has many different names, each reflecting an aspect of His nature. For example, He is called “the Spirit of truth,” (John 16:13; John 14:17; John 15:26), “the eternal Spirit” (Hebrews 9:14) and much more. However when Jesus first announced His coming, He addressed Him as “another Helper” (John 14:26; John 14:16) and outlined His role, which is basically to dwell within those that accept Jesus so that they might:

This is why on announcing the arrival of the Holy Spirit Jesus told His disciples that, although God’s presence had dwelt with them through Him up to that point, He would soon be in them (John 14:17). Through this indwelling of the Holy Spirit God is still able to manifest His powers through those who believe in Jesus, just like when He was present on the earth in human form. It is in this way that we are able to abide in Jesus as He abides in the Father and vice versa (John 15:5).

It is interesting to note Jesus’ use of the word “another” before the title Helper as it suggests that there had been a different type of helper prior to Jesus’ announcement, and there was- in the person of Eve- particularly in her role of wife (Genesis 2:18-25). The word “helper” is used to describe Eve specifically in Genesis 2:18, which suggests that Eve’s role as helper (and that of subsequent females) is actually symbolic of the Holy Spirit’s relationship to those who have accepted Christ (especially as marriage is a symbol of Christ's relationship with the church).

 

Wisdom is an emanation (product or fruit) of the Holy Spirit. This was seen in the lives of prophets such as David and Daniel but is demonstrated most explicitly in the story of Solomon- for Solomon prayed for wisdom specifically because he wanted to be able to carry out his purpose properly; according to God’s will. Given its supernatural origin, as detailed in this blog post, this element is also sometimes called Holy Wisdom (translated from the Greek phrase “Hagia Sophia”). 

The ancient Egyptian depiction of God was most commonly as a female in the form of the goddess Isis, who became more widely worshiped throughout the Roman Empire during the Greco-Roman period (332 BC-395AD). She was often depicted as an ideal mother and wife, amongst other things. King Solomon would have been aware of her existence and influence given that he “loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh” within his lifetime (1st Kings 11:1). Therefore within the book of Proverbs, which is mostly accredited to him, Solomon makes many assertions regarding what it is like to find a virtuous woman and describes finding Wisdom in almost identical terms. For example:

  • Both of them are said to be worth more than “rubies” to the person who finds them (Proverbs 31:10; 3:15; 8:11)
  • Wisdom promises to prosper and exalt the man who honours her (Proverbs 3:13-18; 4:8) similarly to a man who will have “no lack of gain” (Proverbs 31:11) in return for marrying a virtuous wife
  • Wisdom also “crowns” her lovers with grace and glory in the same manner that a good wife does her husband (Proverbs 4:9; 12:4)
  • A woman is seen to exemplify Wisdom by building her house (Proverbs 9:1-2; 14:1)

The aforementioned examples reveal that, aside from modelling how to be a helper, the purpose of wisdom is to help man carry out their particular role as steward. For example:

  • Solomon married the gift of wisdom with his talent for leadership which, not only caused his kingdom to prosper but, enabled him to build the temple of the Lord where his father (David) could not (1st Kings 3-10)
  • Solomon's wisdom set him apart from all the other rulers of his day (1st Kings 4:30-31) in the same way that it made Daniel “ten times better” than his peers (Daniel 1:20).
  • The manifestation of wisdom was also another important aspect of Jesus’ ministry, tending to show itself via His teachings (Luke 2:47).

This shows that wisdom is also the means by which we are able to use our talents to not only operate but thrive in our individual areas of giftedness according to God’s purpose. All of these benefits are further confirmation of the parallels between women’s role as helper (wife) and that of the Holy Spirit.

Ready to get some wisdom in your life, lovely? God’s word states that we can obtain her in two ways: 

  1. Fearing God and having a relationship with Him, for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7 Proverbs 2:1-5 & Proverbs 9:10) 
  2. Asking Him for wisdom in prayer (James 1:5) 
 

Nina Dafe