"18 Yahweh God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I will make for him a helper suitable for him.'
19 So Yahweh God formed from the dust of the ground every kind of wild animal of the field, every kind of bird of the sky, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call each; whatever the man called each living creature, that was to be its name.
20 The man gave names to all cattle, birds of the sky, and to every wild animal of the field; but by Adam no helper suitable for him was found.
18 Everything thus far in Genesis that has been scrutinized by God has been given a positive assessment. Every situation has come through as either good or very good. For the first time we encounter something that is not good: man's lack of a corresponding companion. The skies without the luminaries and birds are incomplete. The seas without the fish are incomplete. Without mankind and land animals the earth is incomplete. As a matter of fact, every phenomenon in Genesis 1-2, God excepted, is in need of something else to complete it and to enable it to function.
In this particular case we should note that it is God who makes the judgment about the unsuitability of man's aloneness. Man is not consulted for his thoughts on the matter. At no point does the man offer to God any grievance about his current circumstances.
God is not only evaluator; he is also rectifier. He is not long on analysis but short on solution. His remedy is to provide a helper suitable for him (i.e., for man). The last part of v. 18 reads literally, 'I will make for him a helper as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him).' This last phrase, 'as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him)' (kenegdo), occurs only here and in v. 20. It suggests that what God creates for Adam will correspond to him. Thus the new creation will be neither superior nor an inferior, but an equal. The creation of this helper will form one-half of a polarity, and will be to man as the south pole is to the north pole.
This new creation which man needs is called a helper (ezer), which is masculine in gender, though here it is a term for a woman. Any suggestion that this particular word denotes one who has only an associate or subordinate status to a senior member is refuted by the fact that most frequently this same word describes Yahweh's relationship to Israel. He is Israel's help(er) because he is the stronger one (see, e.g., Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29; Psalm 33:20; 115:9-11; 124:8; 146:5; etc). The LXX translation of ezer by boethos offers further support for this nuance. The LXX uses boethos forty-five times to translate several Hebrew words, and except for three occurrences (1 Chronicles 12:18; Exekiel 12:14; Nahum 3:9) the word refers to help 'from a stronger one, in no way needing help.' The word is used less frequently for human helpers, and even here, the helper is one appealed to because of superior military strength (Isaiah 30:5) or superior size (Psalm 121:1). The verb behind ezer is azar, which means 'succor,' 'save from danger,' 'deliver from death.' The woman in Genesis 2 delivers or saves man from his solitude.
19 Yahweh parades before Adam members of the animal world so that the man may confer on each its name. This is the first fulfillment of God's directive to humankind in 1:26, 28 to exercise authority over the animal, the fish, and the fowl. For to confer a name (qara' le) is to speak from a position of authority and sovereignty.
Many commentators have maintained that in this verse one finds a classic illustration of a major conflict between the sequence of creation in 1:1-2:4a and that in 2:4bff. In one (1:24-25) animals precede man. In the other (2:19) animals come after man. It is possible to translate formed as 'had formed' (so NIV). One can, however, retain the traditional translation and still avoid a contradiction. This verse does not imply that this was God's first creation of animals. Rather, it refers to the creation of a special group of animals brought before Adam for naming.
20 The animals are creatures but they are not helpers. Adam must look elsewhere for his complement. Here God is creator, but not namer. In the preceding chapter it was God who conferred names on 'light' (1:5), 'darkness' (1:5), 'the vault' (1:8), 'dry land' (1:10). There 'called/named' is expressed by the formula qara' le, the same formula used in 2:19, 20, though v. 20 adds the plural noun semot, 'names, as the direct object of wayyiqra'. It is clear that when God confers a name on something he does so in his capacity of sovereign ruler, but qara' le does not by itself suggest superiority. So it is stretching the point to suggest that in naming the animals man exercises sovereignty over them. For that to be clear, one would need a parallel to the 'subdue' and 'have dominion over' of ch. 1. In naming the animals, man exercises God-given initiative. God gives to him the task of assigning labels to the only other living creatures who join him in the garden. We are told that the man obediently followed through with the assignment, but we are not told the names he conferred on each creature. In acting as name-giver, the man exhibits a quality of discernment."
-Victor P. Hamilton
from: http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-International-Commentary-Testament-Series/dp/0802825214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371524536&sr=8-1&keywords=the+new+international+commentary+on+the+new+testament+the+book+of+genesis
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