Introducing the “End Times” Ezer Kenegdo
The Patterns of Genesis and the Preparation for Messiah’s Return
“Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other… declaring the end from the beginning.” (Isaiah 46:9-10)
With all that is happening in the world, looking for end-time events makes for dynamic conversation. But if we want to uncover the end-time mysteries, we have to go back to the beginning. God declares the end from the beginning—and the patterns established in Genesis are the key to understanding what is coming.
Adam and the Servant of the Soil
In Genesis 1:26-28, man (adam) is created in God’s image, blessed, and commanded to take dominion over creation. Genesis 2 gives us more detail. There is barren soil where there is no food because there is no man (adam) to “till” the soil (adamah). The word for “till” (avad) means “serve” or “servant.” So the soil has no worker, no servant to bring forth fruit.
God forms man (adam) from the dust of the soil (adamah). The servant for the soil is made from the soil. God plants a garden and places man in it to work the soil and eat its fruit. Since man is made from the dust of the earth, our task is to serve the adamah, not worship the earth.
The Missing Piece: The Ezer Kenegdo
As perfect as the story appears, there is another missing issue. Just as there was no adam to serve the adamah, now adam does not have a helper (ezer kenegdo) to help him be all he is designed to be.
God fills the missing piece by forming a woman (ishah) from the man (ish). In both cases, a helper-servant was formed from the other. The difference between man (ish) and woman (ishah) gives us insight into what makes an amazing relationship and their functional roles.
Serve well, descendants of Adam (1 Corinthians 15:47).
The Fall and the Breakdown
In Genesis 3, after ishah and ish eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God points out to adam that he has failed to do what God said. As a result, all the relationships established in Genesis 1-2 begin to break down.
What happened? First, there is enmity between the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed (Genesis 3:15). Second, there is the opportunity for an improper mindset of man ruling over his wife (Genesis 3:16). The soil is cursed because of man’s action (Genesis 3:17). For the woman, there will be pain in birthing and raising children. For the man, he will labor by the sweat of his brow to raise crops.
There is a play on words: Avad (serve) + arur (cursed) = abur (because of). Though the ground is cursed, Adam is not cursed—but he is the reason for the curse. Instead of being a servant to the soil, he is the reason for its curse. How our choices affect so much.
After the curse, man is still the servant of the soil, but Adam loses direct access to the garden fruit—mankind’s special food. Instead, they are left with bread made from thorns and thistles. More specifically, Adam and his wife lose access to the Tree of Life.
Cain: The Failed Servant
Genesis 4 begins with Eve “ransoming” (qanah) a child from God. Instead of saying, “The Lord has given me a son,” she says, “I have gotten a man child (ish) from the Lord.” Ishah, taken from man (ish), has now given birth to an ish.
The man born to Eve is named Cain—so named because he was acquired (kayin) from the Lord. Cain became a servant of the soil, just like Adam. At an appointed time, Cain brings the fruit of the soil as an offering, but it is rejected. Like the first Adam, he fails to listen to God’s voice. He kills his brother Abel (hevel—vapor). Abel’s blood cries from the ground, and Cain is cursed.
Consequently, his relationship to the soil breaks down even further, and he is no longer able to serve the adamah. By ignoring his role as his brother’s keeper, he becomes like his father—a failed servant of the soil.
Abel’s blood, swallowed by the ground, cries out to God. Cain, no longer a servant of the soil, becomes a builder of cities.
This is followed by Lamech, who pronounces a judgment of vengeance in imitation of God’s judgment on Cain. Lamech is the first man to pronounce a judgment in the Bible—but it came from a corrupt ruler. He is an ish-slayer and an ishah-taker, taking two wives for himself.
The Genealogy of Death and the Hope of Noah
Genesis 5 is a genealogy noteworthy for its emphasis on death—each entry ends with “and he died.” Amazingly, there is a break with Enoch, who walked with God, but the phrase “and he died” begins again with Methuselah.
At the end of the chapter, we are introduced to Noah, the son of a new Lamech. Lamech prophesies that Noah will bring comfort from man’s toil, which comes from the soil which the Lord cursed. Then Lamech dies, and the chapter ends in the middle of Noah’s genealogy. This is a cliffhanger—we are not told how Noah will fulfill the prophecy of his name by reversing the curse on the soil.
The Hebrew names of the ten patriarchs from Adam to Noah reveal a continuous Messianic message: “Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the Blessed God shall come down teaching, and His death shall bring the despairing rest.”
The World Before the Flood
Adam was meant to be a servant of the soil, but failed, and now the soil is cursed because of him, yielding only thorns-and-thistles bread, not fruit—man’s original food. In losing access to the garden, man lost direct access to the Tree of Life, and death became a reality.
Mankind, in spite of their knowledge of good and evil, has chosen a life of disobedience. They failed to learn good judgment—the only judgment rendered has been from Lamech, a corrupt ruler.
Man has become an ishah-taker with Lamech. Hearkening back to ishah’s curse, ish is ruling harshly with ishah. Man has become an ish-killer, disregarding the necessity to be a brother’s keeper. The adamah is full of the blood of ish.
Is any of this sounding familiar to the time we live in?
The Days of Noah
In Genesis 6, we get a summary of mankind after they had “begun to multiply on the face of the adamah.” The sons of God see that the daughters of man are good, similarly to how the ishah saw that the tree of knowledge was good for food. So they take wives for themselves, whoever they choose, with an emphasis on using them however they want.
Instead of filling the earth God’s way, they have filled it with evil and violence (hamas). Like Cain, all the children of Eve have been mastered by sin. Lamech’s sin of murder and ishah-taking has spread over the whole earth. Because of this, the earth is now ruined (shahat).
God responds in kind; just as mankind has spread evil on the earth and ruined it, so God will ruin them. We see echoes of Genesis 1 here, but with a twist. God is going to blot out mankind, beast, creeping things, and fowl of the heavens—the same list of animals God originally created on days five and six.
The language in Genesis 6:12 also echoes creation: “God saw the earth, and behold, it was ruined.” What was good and meant to be filled with life is now filled with evil and violence and is ruined, and so God will ruin it all, undoing His creation.
The End Times Ezer Kenegdo
In order to understand the bride of the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47) and the end times, we need to know more about the first man, his role, his wife, and the patterns established in their obedient and disobedient behaviors.
The purpose of these short studies is to give us fruitful food for thought to live by and to long for the “garden” days where ish and ishah are naked and not ashamed.
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. The patterns of Genesis are repeating. The question is: will we be found faithful, like Noah, doing all that God commands? Will we be the ezer kenegdo—the helper, the servant—that God has called us to be?
The end is declared from the beginning. And the beginning is telling us what to watch for.
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:37)
May you be found faithful in the days ahead, serving the soil, guarding your brother, and longing for the garden restored.
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