Ancient
Near East
The
ancient Near East was a male-dominated culture in which, therefore,
women were marginalized and treated more or less as property. Note,
for example, Boaz’s question “Who does that young woman
belong to?” (Ruth 2:5). Women, of course, produce children, and
this power was prized. Women were also fit to engage in various
mundane tasks, but they were not trained for war or educated for
service in the royal court. Their role in society was subordinate and
secondary.
In
the Epic of Gilgamesh, the wild and powerful Enkidu met a “wise
woman” who seduced him. Thereafter, Enkidu was tamed and
weakened. She made a civilized man of him. In the Ugaritic legend of
Danil, Danil was unhappy because he had no sons. With the blessing of
the gods, he married Hurriya, and had sons and daughters. Thus, sons
fulfilled Danil as much as they fulfilled the woman.
But
the power to reproduce, which resides in the woman’s womb, also
was mysterious and seemed to belong in the same category as other
forces of nature, such as the rebirth of life in the spring following
sterile winter. Thus, the ancient world was filled with goddesses of
great power. These goddesses at times also took on masculine
characteristics, such as displaying great prowess in war; this is
especially true of Anat of Canaanite mythology.
Throughout
Israel’s sojourn in the Promised Land, there was an
undercurrent of Canaanite-style goddess worship. In the period of the
judges, the Israelites worshiped the goddess Asherah (Judg. 6:25).
Led astray by his wives, Solomon also worshiped the goddess (1 Kings
11:1–8). The “fertility cult” included ritual sex
in places of worship. This eventually took place in the temple of
Yahweh. Much of this seems to have been homosexual sex (2 Kings
23:7).
Creation
of Woman
In
the Bible, woman is first encountered along with man in Gen. 1:26–28.
God created “man” in the plural, male and female, and
commanded them to reproduce and to fill the earth and subdue it.
Being created male and female is set in parallel to being created in
the image of God. In the ancient Near East, perhaps the king would be
thought of as the image of God. But in Genesis, not only is the first
man the image of God, but the first woman participates in the image
as well. This is all but unthinkable in the ancient world, and it
suggests an unparalleled dignity and worth in womankind.
Genesis
records that the human race fell through the instrumentality of a
man, a woman, and the serpent. The serpent approached the woman, not
the man. The woman was convinced by the serpent and ate the forbidden
fruit. She gave some to her husband, who also ate it without saying a
word. Thus, the woman can be blamed in part for the fall of the race.
Adam was condemned because he “listened to [his] wife”
(Gen. 3:17). Her judgment, for heeding the serpent, was pain in
childbirth and a desire for her husband, who would rule over her
(Gen. 3:16). The exact parameters of this judgment are unclear, but
it appears that her desire will be for his position of leadership and
will be perpetually frustrated.
Throughout
the remainder of Genesis, this judgment does not seem to unfold as
expected. Instead, men are shown to desire women. Jacob was willing
to work seven years to get the beautiful Rachel as his wife, and when
he was fooled into marrying her sister, Leah, he was willing to work
another seven years for her (Gen. 29:16–30). And women exploit
men and their desire in order to get what they want, in effect
mastering them. Lot’s daughters contrived to get what they
wanted from him (19:30–38), and Tamar manipulated Judah’s
desire (38:13–26).
Reproduction
Often
in the Bible, women are motivated by their desire to have children.
Rachel demanded of Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll
die!” (Gen. 30:1). She saw herself in competition with her
sister, Leah, in this respect (30:8). The “fruit of the womb”
is a reward, and like arrows, the blessed man’s quiver is full
of them (Ps. 127:1–5). Note also the beatitude of Ps. 128:3:
“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your
children will be like olive shoots around your table.”
In
Genesis, the reproductive capability of slave girls is at the
disposal of their owners. Thus, Rachel and Leah’s maidservants
became surrogate mothers for a number of their sons (Gen. 30:3–10).
Sarah also became frustrated at her inability to conceive, so she
gave Hagar to Abraham. The result was great familial turmoil, finally
resulting in the banishment of both Hagar and Ishmael, whom she bore
to Abraham.
In
the beginning, God joined one man and one woman together as husband
and wife. But soon this idea was corrupted, and Lamech, a man from
Cain’s lineage, is credited with the first polygamous marriage
(Gen. 4:19). Although the patriarchs (such as Jacob) did have more
than one wife, the household discontent and strife are what is
highlighted in those stories, such as with Hagar. In the NT, an elder
is to be, literally, a “one-woman man” (1 Tim. 3:2;
ESV, KJV: “the husband of one wife”), meaning
monogamous.
In
the Bible, women are described as having a number of different sexual
relationships with men. There were wives, who enjoyed the closest
relationship and had the greatest privileges. There were concubines,
who were not wives but were bound to a single man. The greatest
deviation from the norm of creation was the institution of the harem,
whereby a king took to himself any number of consorts. The law of
Moses restricted this practice (Deut. 17:17).
Legislation
The
Torah contains significant legislation regarding women. The daughters
of Zelophehad argued that their father died without sons, so in
Canaan they were disinherited. God agreed and decreed that in Israel
daughters would inherit land in the absence of sons. Only if there
were no children at all would the land pass to other kin (Num.
27:1–11).
When
a man made a vow, he must fulfill it, but a young woman’s vow
was subject to her father. If he remained silent, the vow stood, but
if he expressed disapproval, then she was freed from it. If she was
married, her husband governed her vows, but if she was divorced, then
there was no responsible male over her, and her vow was treated as a
man’s (Num. 30:1–16).
Sexual
intercourse was also regulated in the law of Moses, insofar as the
act rendered both parties ritually impure (Lev. 15:18). Both must
bathe and were unclean until evening. A woman’s menstrual
discharge also made her unclean for a week. Everything she sat or lay
upon was unclean, as was anyone who touched these things. She must
wash and offer sacrifice to become clean again (15:18–31).
If
a man discovered on his wedding night that his bride was not a
virgin, he could accuse her publicly. If her parents provided
evidence that she had in fact been a virgin, then the man was
severely punished for lying and not allowed to divorce her
(otherwise, it was simply a matter of writing a letter to divorce her
[Deut. 24:1]). If her virginity could not be proved, she was to be
put to death by stoning (Deut. 22:13–21).
In
the case of a rape of a betrothed virgin, if it occurred in the city,
both the rapist and the victim were stoned, since apparently she had
failed to cry out for help and thus, the law assumed, consented to
sexual intercourse. If she was raped in the countryside, only the man
was killed. But if he raped a woman who was not spoken for, his
punishment was that he must marry her without possibility of divorce
(Deut. 22:23–29).
Numbers
5:11–31 treats cases where a husband was suspicious that his
wife had been unfaithful—that is, a matter of covenantal
jealousy. The unprovable was left to God to punish.
The
Status of Women
In
the Bible, women sometimes are afforded dignity beyond what is
expected in an ancient Near Eastern provenance. Hagar is the only
woman in all ancient Near Eastern literature who gave a name to a
deity (Gen. 16:13). In Judg. 4:4, Deborah “judged” Israel
(despite the NIV’s “leading,” the underlying Hebrew
verb indicates “judging,” as in the NRSV). Even as judge,
however, she did not lead the army against the enemy general Sisera;
Barak did so. But Barak was unwilling to undertake this mission
unless Deborah went with him (4:8). Thus, God ensured that the
prestige of killing Sisera went to a woman, Jael (4:9, 21). Another
prominent woman was Huldah, to whom the priests turned for guidance
when the law was rediscovered (2 Kings 22:14).
Many
biblical stories feature heroines. Mighty Pharaoh was undermined by
two midwives in his attempt to destroy Israel (Exod. 1:15–21).
Ruth the Moabite woman gave her name to the book that recounts her
trek from Moab to Israel, including her famous oath of loyalty (Ruth
1:16–17). Esther too was a courageous woman whose book bears
her name. Heroines are especially prominent in the Gospels, and the
women there have the distinction of being the first to witness the
risen Lord. Luke’s birth narrative is largely organized around
Mary. Priscilla (with her husband) taught and helped to shape the
early church (Acts 18:26). Paul lists many women in Rom. 16, calling
them “deaconess,” “fellow worker,” and
possibly even “apostle.”
Scripture
also at times portrays various women as being temptations to men. Eve
handed the fruit to Adam (Gen. 3:6). In the wilderness Israel
worshiped Moabite gods in conjunction with sexual activity (Num.
25:1–9). Later, Israelites intermarried with Canaanite women,
directly leading to worship of their idols (Judg. 3:6). Bathsheba was
a temptation to David, and this began a series of events that marred
his career as a man after God’s own heart. Solomon loved many
foreign women, who turned him to worship their gods. After the exile,
the Israelites were admonished by Nehemiah to put away their foreign
wives lest history repeat itself (Neh. 13:26).
Song
of Songs
Song
of Songs, while acknowledging the great power of sexuality to move
people to act against their own best interests, nevertheless portrays
love in a very positive light. The love between a man and a woman is
shown in Song of Songs to be not primarily about generating children.
Offspring are not at issue in the Bible’s great love song.
Rather, relations between man and wife rest on a deeper foundation,
that of sexual enjoyment and desire. In the words of Hannah’s
husband, Elkanah, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten
sons?” (1 Sam. 1:8).
In
Gen. 3:16, God pronounces judgment on the woman that her “desire”
will be for her husband, but that he will master her. The Hebrew word
for “desire” occurs only once outside Genesis, in Song
7:10, where the woman says that her lover’s “desire”
is for her. This seems to be a direct reference to Gen. 3:16. Thus,
in Song of Songs the judgment on the woman is rolled back and
reversed in love. In Song of Songs it is the king who is enthralled
in love and thus subdued (7:5). He would not have it any other way!
Thus,
sexuality is celebrated in Song of Songs. What proves to be such a
grave temptation to men elsewhere is shown to be an essential part of
God’s good creation, albeit a potent and dangerous facet of
life. Women do not exist simply to produce children; they partner and
revel with their lovers, together enjoying that particular part of
God’s creation that requires two sexes to explore.
Imagery
Women
and marriage are used in the Bible as images for spiritual things.
Paul writes that marital love mirrors the church’s relationship
with Christ (Eph. 5:32–33). A man should love his wife as
Christ loved the church. Revelation portrays the climax to human
history in the figure of two women: the bride of Christ, adorned with
righteous deeds for her husband (19:7–8), and the whore
Babylon, drunk on the blood of the saints (17:5–6). The
consummation of the age is when one is judged and the other enters
her eternal marital bliss.
The
book of Proverbs also separates humankind into two groups, symbolized
by two women. Along the path of life, the youth hears the voices of
Woman Folly (9:13–18) and of Woman Wisdom (1:20–33)
calling out to him. Folly is incarnated in the flesh-and-blood
temptation of the immoral woman (7:6–27), whereas Woman Wisdom
has her counterpart at the end of the book in the detailed
description of the woman of virtue (31:10–31). There, the woman
who fears God is set as a prize far above earthly wealth—the
highest blessing of the wise.
Paul
uses two women from sacred history to help explain his gospel of law
versus grace. Hagar the slave woman represents the Mosaic covenant
given at Sinai, and the earthly Jerusalem—that is, a mind-set
of slavery that futilely attempts to earn God’s favor by works
of the law. Sarah was the free woman, and her son was the promised
son, who represents the heavenly Jerusalem, the new covenant, and
freedom from the requirements of the law (Gal. 4:21–31). Again,
two women symbolize two paths and two peoples—one being slaves,
the other being God’s free people.
Church
Government
Throughout
most of Christian history, women’s roles in the church have
been comparable to their role in the general culture. Women
participated little in the institutional life of society, and the
church was no different. A number of Bible texts can be used in
support of women’s marginalization as leaders. For example, in
the OT, the cult was managed by the priestly caste, and no woman was
ever a priest of Yahweh. In the NT, the local churches were overseen
by a company of elders. Elders are described by Paul as men, the
husband of one wife, who were apt to teach and who managed their own
families well (1 Tim. 3:1–7). Immediately before this
description, Paul notes that women were not to teach or have
authority over men (1 Tim. 2:9–15). Women were the “weaker
partner” (1 Pet. 3:7). Thus, women’s subordinate
role throughout most of church history has some biblical
justification.
However,
as women participate more and more in the institutional life of
society, the normative value of the aforementioned texts has been
questioned, and other texts have been put forward to provide an
alternative biblical conception of women’s roles in the church.
Perhaps 1 Tim. 2:12 is only against teaching a specific heresy,
and the Greek verb translated “to assume authority over”
(authenteō)
may refer to a specific kind of authoritarian or domineering
behavior. As noted above, in Rom. 16 Paul considers women to be
leaders in the church. Since it is true that in Christ there is no
male or female (Gal. 3:28), how far does this extend? Today’s
challenge for churches is to decide these matters in light of the
whole of Scripture rather than a few proof texts.
