History of the Women of the Bible People are born into an existing culture which defines and limits our views, experiences, and roles in life. Children born in the first century into a royal family or slave family had vastly different experiences. Their culture defined their intelligence of gifts, opportunities and limitations. NOT FAIR??? Fair is irrelevant to the reality of a culture’s influence on an individual’s station or role in life. As we meet these women of the Bible, our task is not to speculate on what might or should have been, but rather try to understand what we can of the reality of a woman’s experiences in a given period of Bible history. • • •

male heads of the family of Hebrews women are of secondary importance and oppressed (?) a woman belonged to her father or husband

If unmarried, rape of a woman was an offense against her father. If father died and didn’t state (in writing) if the women could control her dowry, then brothers are responsible to provide for her and if they weren’t, then she could give her dowry to a tenant who would support her. She still was not independent and could not own property. Even though this provision protected a helpless single female from exploitations of her brother(s), there was no true independent ownership If her husband died, the property went to the son. If she was divorced (and no children), the dowry went back to her father to attract another husband. Women of that day didn’t see themselves as oppressed---that was just how it was. Old Testament Women Women of the Exodus & Conquest (Exodus-Joshua) Ten ancient law codes of the Era from 2200-1300 BC • •

women are responsible if they violate the criminal law (no magic or occult) children had to obey and honor mothers as well as fathers (Deut. 21:18-21)

Some law codes of the era were similar to biblical laws; protection of inheritance rights of sons born to a concubine when the father has acknowledge those sons; a Hebrew women sold into slavery to a fellow Hebrew could be freed after 6 years. Another code freed her after 3 years, and another took sides of the woman…”if a man divorces his wife after making her bear a child and he takes another wife, he shall be driven from his house and from whatever he owns.” (Law # 59). The Mosaic Law, God’s focus was on family---not gender. All laws were there to support a sense of unity…that men or women were not emphasized or minimized because of their gender. But laws were woven together to create a strong cord to bear the weight of an entire people’s sense of identity. Yes, it’s patriarchal and male dominated but not because God favors one sex

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over the other. It was simply necessary to accomplish God’s purpose and to strengthen God’s people. And for that purpose, Israel would have to retain its identity and racial integrity even when the Jewish people were torn from their homeland and scattered through a pagan empire, subject to many attractive and insidious influences. This powerful sense of ‘family’ and national identity had to be established and maintained! ! ! ! Law codes of the era were always similar to similar legal issues of inheritance, marriage & divorce, personal injury. When we try to compare one law to another, i.e., arguing that the Mosaic Law is more sensitive to women…someone else can make a similar one that Mosaic Law is less sensitive by comparing the position taken in the codes on another issue. Therefore, if the Mosaic Law was radically different from the other codes, those comparisons would not be possible!!! For today….arguing from Old Testament is irrelevant to contemporary concerns. The roles of men and women were subordinate to that purpose (economic, legal, & social relationships). So you’d like to take the approach that God might just have easily chosen the ‘matriarchal’ rather than ‘patriarchal structure? Ok, then look at Genesis 3:16 when God said to Eve….”you shall have increased pain from childbirth”…meaning the physical act of labor in delivering a baby. Did this mean ‘increased’ beyond the normal monthly menstrual pain”? “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you” is neither a curse nor punishment, but a statement of consequences…desires are not always sexual….but hunger craving…your desire will be for your husband (Hebrew translation for husband is “ish” which simply means “man”. Genesis 3:17-19 is for the man! The FALL had physical, psychological, societal, and spiritual impact on Eve and her daughters and womankind…not sex…but women “wanting and needing men’s approval”, seeking to please “men” in general. Eve would be ruled by her husband, not because she was inferior, but because sin had corrupted the relationship between man and woman. The equality was ‘ALTERED’! Ladies, the fall was our ‘downfall’!! [Great parallel of these impacts; satan, women & man and what they mean.] *scripture moved very faster through this era that the first, so there was not as much time taken to develop character, as God is doing for an entire population, not with just a single family. Women of Judges (Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel 1:11) (Caleb and Joshua--1350-1000 BC) after death of Joshua; land divided into 12 Hebrew tribes. There were cycles of unfaithfulness. Over and over again, the people would lapse into idolatry and immoral practices, God permitted the Israelites to be oppressed by foreign invaders, then the people would turn back to Him…and when they didn’t, God raised up a judge, a military, political, and spiritual leader…..who repelled the enemy and led the people into peace. However, the people turned away again to idolatry and these cycles (sin, servitude, supplication, and salvation) kept the people divided and impoverished. There was mayhem,

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murder, gang rape and overall chaos. “At that time there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” God was working thru these judges, but the people weren’t listening……. [Proverbs 31, written after the age of judges describes the role and tasks of the virtuous woman in OT society] Even though the women’s tasks were focused on the ‘inside’ and the men’s were ‘outside’, does not change the fact that there was no essential difference in the personal qualities needed to fulfill their social roles. Women were no less equipped for success by nature than were men, but remember….ancient Israel was a ‘patriarchal’ society. The males led. A judge in those days combines all branches of the government; executive, legislative, and judicial. Deborah was a prophetess, so why was she accepted as a judge? The gift of prophecy was never a qualification for public office in Israel, therefore, what restrained more women from serving was not inherent in the woman’s nature, but rather in the expectations embedded in society. When the chaos became overwhelming, and there was no stable rule, the people came to Samuel and said “Give us a king”. God tells Samuel to tell the people that a king will; take their gardens, take their women to be concubines, take their men to be soldiers, forced laborers, and slaves, and take their money for taxes. But the people want a king, nevertheless, “we want to be like other nations”. So God tells Samuel to “give them a king”. And so a theme begins that appears throughout the Bible; the ambivalence of the political order. If we were obedient to God’s law, we would not need a king! When we need kings, law courts, police and prisons, we have forsaken God, therefore we need ‘political order’ WHICH God warns us will be profoundly corrupt! ! ! Women in the Age of Kings (1 Samuel-Malachi) Women’s life didn’t change with the introduction of the monarchy in 1050 BC, unless they were of the royal family…a few privileges, but many duties and many disappointments. These women of royal were like pawns on a chessboard. The men were more concerned with policy than with the well-being of and happiness of wives or daughters. Deut 17:14-20 describes laws that applied only to Israel’s kings…..” neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away”. Other monarchs were absolute rulers, but Hebrew kings were to be ruled by God. The laws were designed to strip him of symbols of royalty, no increased wealth, no great chariot armies, no multiple wives to produce multiple sons and daughters. The limits were of course, ignored. Saul had one wife but also had a concubine Rizpah…..and he wasn’t really a typical Hebrew king. David was the first king to design one central government and establish Jerusalem as both a political and religious capital of the emerging Hebrew nations. He defeated surrounding nations and expanded Israelite territory tenfold. When his throne was established, he took more wives and concubines (2 Samuel 5:13). This practice was followed to excess with Solomon who according to 1Kings 11:3 had “700 wives (princesses) and 300 concubines”. He loved “many

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foreign women”. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. (Those princesses were marriages between royal families…like treaties between nations, gov’t. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had 18 wives, 60 concubines and beget 28 sons and 60 daughters.) Solomon gathers riches, power, women, gold, builds huge buildings, but he is hardly in his grave before it is all broken up and Jeroboam, his best leader carries away 10 of the 12 tribes to found a separate center of worship to replace the temple in Jerusalem. Future centuries are stories of wars with some good and bad kings ruling;

History of Women of the New Testament The Gospels The rabbis of Jesus’ had little use for women, “Talk not much with womankind, lest this lead you into adultery”. This dictum of the Talmud was intended for rabbis but it extended to include all males. “Do not speak to a woman in a market, even if she is your wife, because the public may misinterpret it”. The only women we know whom God spoke to was Sarah. Gospel writers portray women in a vastly different light. Jesus broke the rules when he interacted with women and the Pharisees were not happy! Jesus liberated women, lifting them to equality with men….unknown in this first century Palestine. Christ’s coming introduces a redemptive process designed to lift and restore women to the position they enjoyed in original creation! Each of the Gospels relates the words and actions of a Man who lives as a Jew in first century Palestine. Each Gospel tells us of Jewish thought and life so we can see the full significance of what Jesus did and said. Luke reveals Jesus as the ideal human being, paying close attention to the poor and oppressed. He often pairs women with men in ways that are flattering to the women rather than the males! i.e., Zacharias versus Mary, the peasant girl, Simon and the ‘sinful woman’, synagogue ruler vs. bent woman, rich man vs. poor woman. When we view Scripture as God’s inspired Word, we can hardly dismiss these incidences as irrelevant evidence that the Gospels mark a decisive shift in the way Jesus followers are called to view women. Luke continues in Acts to show us women ministry roles that they were denied in Judaism. We conclude that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke intended to portray some of the ways in which the gospel transformed the roles and the significance of womankind. We have the promise of restoration from every impact of the Fall. To ‘wrap this summary up”, with a few words of Paul: His letters to the first-century churches demonstrate that he valued women highly as coworkers and church leaders. While not challenging the patriarchal structures of society, he did promote the radical transformation of husband/wife relationships. He defined reciprocal duties owed by husbands and wives to each other. Looking closely at the passages, we see that each one should be understood to support

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the view that women are to be active participants with men in ministries in the church. Rather than limit women’s participation, these passages were intended to correct specific situations in Corinth and in Ephesus that prevented women praying, prophesying, and teaching effectively. I leave you with, Galatians 3: 26-28. ”26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Anita Kyle 9/12/2012

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