Ilumination
The Ishah Phenomenon and The Church
The Ishah Phenomenon and The Church
by GSW
(Adam) said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman (ishah), Because she was taken out of Man (ish).” For this reason a man (ish) shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife (ishah); and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24)
The creation story has many profound things to say about God’s intention for our lives. We can be enriched just by looking closely at the Hebrew words that are used to describe the first human Adam, and then the creation of man and woman.
It may surprise English readers that the word adam is a neutral term meaning “human,” not specifically a man. In the original Hebrew text, all references to Adam are neutral until God takes some of Adam’s flesh and makes a woman: ishah, in Hebrew. Only at that point is Adam called ish, a man. The Hebrew word ishah hints at her origins from within the ish, something that we can mimic in English, with the words “man” and “woman.” But interestingly, Adam is never called an ish until the ishah has been separated from him. It is as if the text is implying that male and female cannot define themselves fully as human without the other.
There is something I call the “Ishah” phenomenon. Many believers do not know it but it is evident in the church in a way that is becoming endemic. When God made man, what did God call him?
Adam
“Ish” – man
“Ishah” – woman in Hebrew
Adam (male) could not think or conceive the concept of Adam (Female). Adam (Female) was not in existence.
God decided that Adam should not be alone.
God brought him a wife.
Adam did not even know it was possible.
The first time Adam (Male) saw Adam (Female), he accepted her as his equal.
(The word Adam was gender-neutral, it is neither male nor female
That was what God created in Genesis 1:27 when he created them male and female)
As his image! Not as a wife but as Adam (female). They were both of the same kind. Like a person will see a person. Gender has nothing to do with this reality.
He did not see long hair and boobs. He saw himself, his kind, his type, his companion.
Do you know when Adam changed her name to Eve? Or named her Eve? After the fall, he called her “Ishah” meaning “Woman” and named her Eve.
Woman!
The name was given to her after the glory had lifted and they had been thrown out of God’s presence. Adam redefined her. Sin redefined Adam. So the reality they projected was the fallen reality. It is like being thrown out of a mansion into a slum and trying to make the best of the situation. From the moment they fell and God said the woman must always seek the seal of approval of her husband for everything, the “Ishah” became an undefined, unnamed, and unrecognized agency in this world. Her decision to take the fruit first took from her the ability to make decisions for herself. She became a second guesser, malleable and easy to control, always seeking validation from external places. Not sufficient in herself in almost every culture and civilization.
Until Jesus came!
In summary, Adam (female) ate the fruit and was therefore considered unsuitable to make decisions henceforth without the ratification and validation of her husband or her father. In the Old Testament, a woman cannot buy any property without her father or husband ratifying it. If there was no husband or father, she must go to the elders in the city gate and find a kinsman who will determine the validity of her action.
When Jesus came, He decided to restore the original concept in the mind of God. A situation where Adam male and Adam female will live a life of full expression to the glory of God. One will not have to be subservient to the other, taking away the yoke of the “Ish” and the “Ishah”. Restoring Adam in His full glory!
So some people came to Jesus asking what the fate of a woman who married seven brothers will be when she gets to heaven. It was a trick question. They were expecting Jesus to answer it in the context of its simplicity. They expected an answer like
“She will marry husband one since he was the original husband while the others were just kinsman redeemers”.
That should be the right answer in that context. The bride restored to her original husband. Jesus here took away the yoke of the forbidden fruit and its consequences. In another portion of scripture, Matthew 19 vs 7 and 8:
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart; but it was not this way from the beginning…”
The issue of divorce was raised. Look critically at the response of Jesus. Adam (Male) could not have divorced Adam (female). She ate the fruit and he could have backed out but He did not. He ate it with her (deliberately), sharing the same fate with her. They were one flesh and bone (Not blood). And as a result of this, what the one did was considered to have been done by the other too. That was how Adam male and Adam Female were from the beginning. They were one in every way, sharing the same fate and destiny. But Adam male was not ruling over Adam female. Until God pronounced that curse upon the woman that her desire shall be for the “Ish”, as she had become the “Ishah”. Eve made her decisions independent of Adam. Imagine that the serpent came to “Ishah” to tempt her and she ate the fruit, it would not have been binding according to the Laws of Moses, because unless the “Ish” ratifies her decision, any decision she made can easily be invalidated by her husband or her father.
If Adam (Female) had been subservient to Adam (Male) in the garden, she would have eaten the forbidden fruit and the devil would still not have a hold on her or on mankind because Adam would have said to the devil,
“Her decision is not final and I choose not to eat the fruit so whatever you thought you achieved was zero”
The law binding the “Ish” and “Ishah” therefore was medicine after death because we never saw Eve make another erratic decision in the scripture and yet the first one she made plunged her and her husband into eternal darkness.
In Christ we regained our full Adamic nature and authority, both Adam male and Adam Female. We are defined by the Holy Spirit. We follow His leading and He defines our path. The “Ishah” phenomenon however was not reversed by the church. It should have been but it was not. So you see the female Adam living in the reality of the cursed “Ishah”
It is not “It is a man’s world” that caused this please, it is the inability of many to understand the gospel and live it appropriately. The society however opened the door to the freedom of the “Ishah” without redemption or salvation. Can you get the picture now? The free Adam female is living a life of the bound. It is a contradiction. Without salvation, the “Ishah” is still cursed! And her freedom will only upset the order of God and the balance of nature and life is all that will result from it. And we can see this all over the world. The Bible says “Cursed is any city whose king is a slave”. As long as the “Ishah” is unredeemed, her freedom is the kind of freedom that will destroy destinies and ruin lives. A born again cannot be a feminist please. Anyone claiming that is confused. A born again is the female Adam! She was born free in Christ. The free lives free. The feminists are bound and they acknowledge this by the claim that are feminist, bound under the curse of the “Ishah”!
The Church therefore must show the world the way in this. Wives and husbands are equals. I do not just preach this, I practice it!
Why then did Apostle Paul say 1 Timothy 2: 14
And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.”
If she had been redeemed and she is already a member of the church, why is she still bearing the consequences of the deceit of the devil and the fruit she ate (after she has given her life to Christ and has been fully restored)
How does that make any sense?
If she had been redeemed and she is already a member of the Church, why is she still bearing the consequences of the deceit of the devil and the fruit she ate (after she has given her life to Christ and has been fully restored)? How does that make any sense?
If you continue to call a woman dumb, she will be dumb as a result of confession and prevalent beliefs. If Apostle Paul wrote “She has the mind of Christ and she is full of the Holy Spirit, trust her judgment”, that is what we will be reading now.
Apostle Paul knew that kind of assertion will not be accepted by the Jews, they were too religious. So Apostle Paul pandered to culture and used “wisdom”.
We must read every scripture as guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our model.
So knowing what we know, how do we then raise a Christian home? How do husbands and wife relate in love? Should there be rules asking one to submit and the other to love? Should we use written words to judge our performance? Should culture, age and other factors determine how our marriages are?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The answer is No!
We have to teach this! We have to learn this and we have to live this. Adam the male and Adam the female were naked and not ashamed. They shared everything.
They even shared each other’s sin.
They bore the consequences together.
While we cannot share sin in this new reality, we share life.
We share eternal life and joy!
We share love!
We share supernatural experiences!
We share our finances and our material possession!
Neither is subservient.
Did you see how the scripture said the man
would leave his father and mother and cleave
to his wife? That was Adam male and Adam
female’s relationship.
Many of us brought a lot of stereotypes into
the gospel and as we are here saying,
“Yes! Ride on! Go on! I can see the subtle hardness in some of us. I will not say so much.
You know your area of weakness, work on it.
Become the fullness of the gospel.
Remove self from the equation.
Somebody is asking me how headship in the home will work, since it has now been established that both Adams are equal
Let us look at Jesus through Adam
(21-22) God makes the first woman from Adam’s side.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
(This image here, of Adam sleeping and Adam Female being brought out of his body is symbolic of the death of Christ and the bringing forth of the church through this sacrifice)
Can you see the example?
Jesus remains the head of the church
Adam Male remains the head of the Adam female
But just as we are joint-heirs with Christ, Adam (Male) and Adam Female are joint-heirs too
The headship of the Adam male has nothing to do with gender but predestination
He came first and she was taken out of him
Just like the right of the firstborn, he will be given a double portion as his birthright
Adam female should not try to usurp this role or feel threatened by it
for she is one with him and all He has is hers!