Does 'helper' mean the woman is inferior to the man?
No — the Hebrew word for 'helper' is used more often for God helping Israel than for any human being.
The word translated "helper" is the Hebrew עֵזֶר (ezer), and the most important thing to know about it is who it usually describes.
Ezer appears 21 times in the Old Testament. Thirteen of those times — more than half — it refers to God as the one who helps his people. Not a human helper. God.
"Our soul waits for Yahweh; he is our help (ezer) and our shield." — Psalm 33:20
"My help (ezer) comes from Yahweh, maker of heavens and earth." — Psalm 121:2
Moses named his son Eliezer — "my God is ezer" — because God had rescued him from Pharaoh (Exodus 18:4). Deuteronomy 33:26 calls Yahweh the one who "rides through the heavens to your help." Hosea 13:9 rebukes Israel: "It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against your ezer." In the Psalms alone, ezer is applied to God six or seven times.
So the word doesn't carry any implication of being weaker or lower. When Yahweh is Israel's ezer, no one concludes that Yahweh is subordinate to Israel. The helper is often the stronger party coming to the aid of someone who needs it.
In Genesis 2:18, God says he will make the woman to be Adam's ezer kenegdo — "a helper corresponding to him." That second word, כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (kenegdo), is worth unpacking too. It comes from a root meaning "in front of, facing, opposite." The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) renders it kat' auton — "according to him," "facing him." The image is of two people standing face to face, not one person standing above another.
What Genesis 2:18 is specifying is not rank — it's complementarity. The woman is the one who corresponds to the man, who faces him, who is equipped to help where he needs help. That's a description of relationship and vocation, not a hierarchy.
The argument for subordination from Genesis 2 usually rests on sequence (Adam was made first) or material (the woman was made from Adam). The word ezer itself doesn't carry that freight. When the Bible wants to describe a subordinate role, it has vocabulary for that. Ezer — the word that describes God helping Israel — isn't it.
The full study on Genesis 2:4–25 works through the ezer kenegdo phrase in detail, including the complete count of all 21 Old Testament occurrences and where each lands.
Is Genesis 2 a contradictory second creation account?
No — Genesis 2 is a deliberate zoom-in on Genesis 1, not a competing retelling.
What does 'one flesh' mean in Genesis 2:24?
It's covenant language — the same Hebrew verb used for marital union is the verb the Old Testament uses for Israel's faithfulness to Yahweh.
Why was Eden called a garden if it was a sanctuary?
Because in the ancient world those categories overlapped — and the Hebrew verbs given to Adam for tending Eden are the same ones used for Levitical priestly service.
Why was the woman made from Adam's rib?
The Hebrew word almost certainly means 'side,' not 'rib,' and it's the same word used for the structural sides of the tabernacle and temple — which tells you something about what the narrator is doing.