I would like to start with a prayer request. I’m not a fan
of the unspoken prayer request, but I imagine the person involved in the prayer
request would not appreciate strangers knowing about her business, so I will
not name any names. Please pray for a friend from quizzing. When I first met
her, she was a bright and bubbly Christian. In fact, she joined quizzing
because she just wanted to get to know better her Lord and Savior, who she
loved so much. The only problem, however, is that her Christian fellowship was
a Christian fellowship that thought to hold to certain religious beliefs, you
had to hold certain political beliefs, and no true Christian would hold to any
political beliefs contrary to what this Christian fellowship believed, which
was simply not true. She too did indeed know it was simply not true. Not only
did see conflicts between their political beliefs and their religious beliefs,
she saw how her differing political views actually correlated better with her
religious views, but her Christian fellowship refused to listen. Nevertheless,
she sought out a group of friends who would encourage and support her political
stances. Unfortunately, this group of friends further verified that indeed her
political stances did contradict her religious stances (again, not true), but
her political views were correct, and her religious views were incorrect, so
she had to abandon her religion to hold stronger to politics. At worst, I worry
she’s falling away from the faith, and at least, she’s stunting her spiritual
growth. Please pray for my quizzing sister in Christ, that Jesus will keep her
strong, that she may be a witness to both her Christian fellowship and her
friends, and that I may know how to counsel her through this rough time.
So far, my witness to her is to converse with her on the
lies the group of friends have fed her, and one sticks out as peculiar, which
fits well into a Mother’s Day sermon. One of the lies told by her friends is
that the Bible is misogynist. Merriam-Webster defines misogyny simply as “the
hatred of women.” Therefore, a misogynist hates women. Thus, to call the Bible
misogynist is to say the Bible hates women. Yes, this is what her friends have
claimed about the Bible: The Bible hates women. According to them, at best, the
Bible treats women like second-class citizens, at worst, the Bible treats women
like slaves, property to be bought, sold, and traded, so why would any
self-respecting woman read the Bible? It would not surprise if so many
Christian, both brothers and sisters in Christ, have heard this argument. So,
while the best thing to do is pray for my quizzing sister in Christ, the next
best thing to do is talk about how you can combat this lie.
Of course, there are some easy, low-hanging fruits we can go
to for easy retorts. Turn to the book of Judges, turn to the fourth chapter,
and read about Deborah, a prophetess, or a female prophet, who takes reign of
the army of Israel when Barak refuses to do so, and she leads Israel to victory
of Canaan. Turn to the book of Esther and read how the Jewish girl Hadassah
becomes Esther queen of Persia, and she uses whatever little power she has to
save her people from genocide across the empire. These women are hardly
second-class citizens or slaves. If this is too Old Testament for you, the New
Testament has lesser known but more important examples. Turn to Romans 16:1 and
read how Phoebe was a deaconess. Yes, I know that can translate into “servant,”
but the Greek term διάκονος (diakonos) is
literally where the English word “deacon” come from, so I will be brave to
enough to say, I think English Bible translations who translate it into “servant”
instead of “deacon” do so to avoid alienation from the churches who have a hard
stance against women leadership in church. Turn to Colossians 4:15 and read how
Nympha had a church meet in her house. Yes, while “church in her house” can
simply just mean she hosted a church, a lot of scholars now agree a person
hosted a church because that person led the church (cf. Acts 16:15&40).
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament praise women in leadership, which
highly contests the notion that the Bible makes women second-class citizens or
slaves.
Of course, like I’ve said, that’s easy, low-hanging fruit.
Graham doesn’t do easy, low-hanging fruit; Graham does hard, high-hanging
fruit. What is the high-hanging fruit of this topic? Let’s a pick a woman from
the Bible that opponents of the Bible would use to prove that the Bible is
misogynist. What a better character than Eve! How fitting for Mother’s Day, for
the name Eve means “mother of all living,” so she everybody’s mother. I have
heard some wild accusations of the Bible about Eve, and maybe you’ve even heard
crazy ones yourself. Some say, “Eve is created second, making her secondary to
man!” Others will say, “Eve is created differently, making Eve a lesser human!”
Still other will complain, “Eve is blamed for the fall of man, and Eve is
punished unreasonably harshly.” Those who oppose the Bible with these comments
truly have never read the Bible themselves, for those who have read the Bible
should see that, not only are all these statements false, but the Bible goes
out of its way to teach the opposite.
Without further ado, please turn to the book of Genesis. As
you turn there (like it would take anyone a long time, unless your Bible has a
massive introduction and/or preface), let me point out that, from the onset,
since an account of woman’s creation even exists in the Bible, the Bible cannot
be misogynist. Comparing the Bible with ancient creation myths around the world
will reveal the Bible is in the minority just solely in the fact it records the
how woman became living human. A majority of ancient creation myths do not
record any story about the creation of the woman; only a minority of the
ancient creation myths do. Some have tried to justify this by declaring that
the creation of woman is assumed alongside the creation of man, but others
rightfully state that the ancient creation myths without retelling the creation
of women subtly hint that the world has no need for women.
The minority of ancient creation myths that do mention the creation
of women have a habit of putting the creation of women in a negative light. For
example, look no further than the famous Greek myth of Pandora’s Box. According
to the Ancient Greeks, the myth takes place during the Golden Age, when there were
just men (and no women), when technology rapidly advanced, when no man had any
want or need because man shared all resources equally, and man had no enemies
or foes…except Zeus. See, with the help of Prometheus, the Greek titan Zeus
assigned to creating men, men had tricked Zeus into accepting offering of bones
instead of the fat of the meats, and men had stolen fire, sacred to the gods.
Now Zeus had already punished Prometheus by chaining him to a mountain and
having an eagle eat his liver daily. As for man, however, Zeus thought man had
it going too well, so he wanted unleash sorrow and suffering onto them.
Fortunately, he had a jar (yes, you heard me right: jar. Apparently, Erasmus
mistranslated it during medieval times, and nobody ever bothered to correct
him. Since, however, everybody is used to calling it a box, I will continue to
call it a box.) that held sorrows and suffering. Unfortunately, Zeus could not
open it on man, or else the suffering and sorrows would come back on him.
Furthermore, men were on edge because Prometheus warned them not to take
anything from Zeus, so men could not easily be tricked. Therefore, Zeus decided
to try creating a human himself, and this human would become the first women.
Zeus got all the gods involved. For example. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and
beauty, to make her beautiful. As another example, Hermes, the messenger god,
taught her an eloquent tongue to speak well. Hence, her name was Pandora,
meaning “all endowed” or “all gifted.” Finally, Zeus gave her 2 gifts: the gift
of curiosity and the gift of the box full of sorrows and suffering. Zeus told
Pandora, “Don’t open the box, for no mortal should look on it,” conveniently
leaving out what is in the box. Well, a box with unknown contents and a curious
woman are a bad combination, and it is only a matter of time before Pandora
opens the box and unleashes the curse of sorrows and suffering on man. The
moral of the story seems to be, “Darn those women and their curiosity! If it
wasn’t for woman’s curiosity, humanity would be cursed with suffering!” Now at
this point, one may think, “Well, that may explain why women suffer, but it
does not explain the suffering of men because a woman opened the box, not a man.”
That’s right! What you heard was the more famous, rated G version of the story.
There’s an alternative, rated R, version of the story in which Pandora says to
men, “Hey, if you can open this jar for me (maybe this is where the stereotype
of the woman not able to open the pickle jar comes from), I’ll do anything
with you,” to which the men say, “Anything?” and Pandora replies, “Anything!”
Yes, that’s exactly what you think it means. This is worse! At least with the
former legend, curiosity just got the best of Pandora. In this myth, Pandora
actively seduces man to bring curses upon humanity. The clear moral of this
story is, “Beware of women! They will use the sexuality to seduce you and to
curse you, which will always bring sorrow and suffering!” Now the reason for
man’s suffering falls less on the contents of the box/jar and more on the woman
herself. Why do men seek to become richer, so much so that they will make other
men poor in the process? To impress women, of course! Why do men seek to become
the most powerful kings and emperors, to the point of enslaving other men? So,
they can marry any woman they want, of course! Now that’s a sexist and
misogynist origin story! As stated earlier, and pointed out now, many ancient
myths do not mention the creation of the woman, and those that do, a lot of
them mention the creation of woman as a negative thing. The Bible, however,
does mention the creation of the woman, and as will be drawn out soon, the
Bible puts the creation of woman in a positive light.
Let’s dive into the actual text. The meat of the text will
come from Genesis 2, but the trip to Genesis 2 requires a pitstop in Genesis.
For those unfamiliar with the book of Genesis, Genesis has 2 creations
accounts. Commentators have different explanations on why, with some more
blasphemous or heretical others. Personally, I believe Genesis records 2
different creation narratives because it tells the same story from different
perspectives. Genesis 1 talks about the creation from God’s point of view, as
God lays out an organized plan to bring order to the chaos. Genesis 2 tells the
creation story from the human’s point of view, as God creates the perfect
habitat around man. Since Genesis 2 comes from the human’s point of view, most
of the theology about woman will come from Genesis 2, but Genesis 1 does have
an important fact worth noting.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
he created him; male and female he created them. ~Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
While so much can come out from this verse, pertinent to
this study, three words need extra highlighting. The “man” in “So God created
man in his own image” is the Hebrew term אָדָם (adam).
Now the “man” here in אָדָם (adam) is short for “human,”
which is short for “human being.” The last line of the verse states that God
created them זָכָר (zāḵār) and נְקֵבָה (neqēḇāh). Most, if not all, Bibles translate the two
Hebrew words as “male” and “female,” and rightfully so. Unfortunately, some
people living in the 21st century insist that that gender and sex
are not interchangeable, and they also insist that gender is a social construct
(which I actually understand to extent). Therefore, I must state this bluntly:
a זָכָר (zāḵār) has a penis, and a נְקֵבָה (neqēḇāh) has a vagina. For
proof, look further than a few chapters later. In Genesis 6&7, the Lord
commands Noah to bring animals in the ark, זָכָר (zāḵār) and נְקֵבָה (neqēḇāh), with the clear
intentions for them to multiply and fill the earth after the flood. There is no
way around it and for good reason. In this one little verse in Genesis 1:27,
God warns the reader, “Alright, when you go into the next chapter, you will
discover that I created the woman after the man, and you will also find out
that I created the woman in a different manner. This does not make her more or
less in the image of God. The woman is equally made in the image of God.” Thus,
the theology taught about the woman from Genesis 1:27 is that the woman was equally
made in the image of God. Now let’s advance to meat of the creation story of
the woman.
Now out of the ground the Lord
God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man
called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all
livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But
for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ~Genesis 2:19&20 (ESV)
Although the text does not paint the most vivid picture, it
has enough description to imagine what happened here. (Disclaimer: what you
read in the remainder of the paragraph consists of nothing original, as the
rest of the paragraph contains bits and pieces I have picked up from pastors and comedians alike.) The Lord says to Adam, “Okay, here’s the deal, I’m going
to bring these animals to you one by one, and whatever you want to name them,
that’s its name. Seriously, the first thing that comes to your mind, that’s its
name.” Adam responds, “Okay, no problem, I got this.” God brings in the first
in the first animal, “Alright, Adam, I got this animal. It's one of the larger
animals. It’s gray. It’s got a big jaw. It likes being in the water. What are we
calling it?” Adam announces, “Hippopotamus!” Picture a stenographer angel off
to the side, asking “How do you want me to spell that?” The Lord tells the
angel, “Oh, just sound it out.” Then God turns to Adam and says, “Okay, I’m
bringing in the next animal. This animal is also one of the large ones, and
it’s gray, too. This one, however, has a horn. What’s its name?” Adam is now
starting to get in the groove, and he declares, “Rhinoceros!” The poor
stenographer angel is mumbling under his breath, “Wow, seriously, where did he
get this guy?” Unfortunately, as time passes, and as the animals get smaller,
Adam is getting tired, and not one creative idea is left. “Alright, Adam,” the
Lord tells Adam, “Here’s the next one. What its name?” Adam replies, “Dog?” God
is like, “Hey, that’s just my name backwards…never mind, whatever, here’s the
next one, Adam. What’s its name?” Adam sighs and states its name, “Cat?” God is
like, “Oh, hey, wait, I didn’t make one of those…” (Just joking! Just kidding!
Just playing! I own a cat, and I love my cat!) If you think that’s bad, it got
worse when it came time to name insects! The Lord asks Adam, “Hey Adam, what
are we calling that insect hopping along the grass?” Adam takes a big sigh and
announces, “Grasshopper.” God proceeds, “Okay…well, what are we naming that
insect flying around that animal you named a horse?” Adam takes a deeper sigher
and declares, “Horsefly.” At this point, the Lord probably told Adam, “Let’s
take a break, before you name all the fishes swims…”
In all seriousness, though, something has to be going on
here, for the naming of animals interrupts the creation of the woman. Imagine
that the Lord is not merely brining Adam the animals to name one by one, but
rather, picture God bring Adam the animals two by two. Not only does Adam name
the animal species, but he also gives names to both the males and the females. (I
apologize in advance, for I am neither a zoologist nor a farmer, so I will
probably butcher this, but you should still understand the illustration.) Imagine
Adam saying, “Alright, this animal species we shall call a horse, which the
males we will call stallions, and the females we will call mares.” Picture Adam
stating, “This animal we will name bovine, which we will name the males bulls
and the females cows.” Imagine Adam announcing, “This animal species we shall
call pig, which the males we will call boars, and the females sows.” Picture
Adam declaring, “The animal we will name a chicken, which the males will be
named roosters, and the females hens.” As Adam goes through the process, he
comes to a realization. He must have realized, “I’m a אָדָם (adam),
or a human being, and the זָכָר (zāḵār)/male human is a אִישׁ (ʾîš), then
where is the נְקֵבָה (neqēḇāh)/female human being?”
All of a sudden, Adam becomes sad. All of a sudden, the
reader (and maybe the original audience of the Israelites? And maybe the angels
watching Yahweh create?) panics! In Genesis 1, with every day of creation, God
announces the day’s creation was טוֹב (tov),
or “good.” In fact, when the Lord overlooks everything that he created, he
declares the creation ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד (tov meod), or
“very good.” For the first time in the Scriptures, located right in Genesis
2:18, the Lord has to state that something as לֹא־ט֛וֹב (lo-tov),
or “not good,” and it’s the fact the man is alone. How can the very good
creation, the perfect habitat for humanity, have something that is not good?
Indeed, a good reason to panic! Before anyone can panic, God makes known that
he has a plan.
Then the Lord
God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a
helper fit for him.” ~Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
In the Hebrew, Yahweh announces that he will make a עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (ʿēzěr keněḡěḏo) for man. Depending on
your English Bible translation, the עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (ʿēzěr keněḡěḏo) will translate into “helper suitable for him”
(NASB), “helper fit for him” (ESV & RSV), “help meet for him” (KJV),
“helper comparable to him” (NKJV), “helper as his complement” (CSB), “helper as
his partner” (NRSV), “helper suitable for him” (NIV, both 1984 and 2011
editions) or “helper who is just right for him” (NLT). The כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (keněḡěḏo)
part literally translate into “like what is in front of him.” Most commentators
equate this to mean “corresponding to him” or “alongside him,” but I would even
equate it to mean “equal to him” or “similar to him.” More interesting,
however, is the עֵ֖זֶר
(ʿēzěr). From the root עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) comes the name Ezra, but most often עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) does
not refer to a human, but it refers to the Lord himself! In Exodus 18:4, when
Moses recognizes how God freed the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery, Moses calls
Yahweh an עֵ֖זֶר
(ʿēzěr). David names the Lord an עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) whenever David escapes from his enemies or wins
victoriously over his enemies (see Psalms 20:2, 70:5, 89:19, 121:1&2, 124:8
and 146:5). Between Moses and David, the common denominator lies within the
fact that God has brought salvation or deliverance, thus making Yahweh a savior
or deliver. This makes sense because the verb form of עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) is עָזַר (ʿāzar). The
verb עָזַר (ʿāzar) means “to deliver from death” or “to save from danger.”
Therefore, עֵ֖זֶר
(ʿēzěr) could translate “savior.” Thus, the Lord declares here that he
will make “a savior equal to him.”
My sisters in Christ, especially the wives and mothers out
there, I am going to give you some fuel to the fire on this Mother’s Day. I
imagine as the good Christian couples you are, you two don’t get into any
fights, or arguments, or even debates 😉.
You just sometimes get into some “intense discussions” 😉.
Ladies, next time you find yourself in one of these “intense discussions” with
your boyfriend, fiancé, or husband, if he starts getting a little mouthy with
you, you snap back and say, “Hey! Remember I am your savior! There you were in
your singleness! You were eating canned food and frozen meals because you
couldn’t cook. Your living quarters were a pigsty! Your fashion sense so out of
whack it was embarrassing to just stand around you! You had to get down on one
knee and beg me to marry you, and you even had to bribe me with a diamond ring!
You do not talk to your savior like that!” Now my brothers in Christ, I can
imagine what you’re thinking. You are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, my
girlfriend/fiancée/wife is not the perfectly sinless Son of God like my true
savior is.” That’s true, you’re right, your girlfriend/fiancée/wife is not the
perfectly sinless Son of God (sorry, ladies, you’re not getting away with that,
even on Mother’s Day). I would also imagine, however, that Christ’s will for
your life is not always how you wanted to go. I imagine you may have vented
your frustration to Jesus. After all, if prayer is simply communicating with
God, you may have prayed or communicated with God your frustrations. In venting
your frustrations, however, you probably never used foul language, you probably
never name called, you probably never used put downs or talked down, you
probably never resorted to logical fallacies. In the same way, your
girlfriend/fiancée/wife does not deserve foul language, name calling, put
downs, belittling or logical fallacies in your “intense discussion.” If anybody
gets anything out of this point, remember God created the woman to be your
savior, so boyfriends and husbands, thank your girlfriend or wife for something
that she saved you from, whether that be from loneliness, failure, lack,
processed meals, a dirty home, or an out of whack fashion sense.
21 So
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with
flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God
had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then
the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both
naked and were not ashamed. ~Genesis 2:21-25 (ESV)
According to Genesis 2:21 in the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh
created the woman by taking man’s צֵלָע (ṣēlāʿ), which better translates into
“side.” Quite possibly, somewhere along the translation line, somebody saw that
the Hebrew manuscript said “side,” looked at the human anatomy, wonder to
himself, “Now what side organ could the Lord have used to create the woman?”
and from that he somehow concluded “rib,” which tradition just stuck with, even
until now. Personally, I like to think this is the first recorded kidney
transplant. I know some Christians still refuse organ transplants, claiming an
organ transplant runs contrary to the Christian faith, but such an argument
falls flat when God himself performs an organ transplant. Ultimately, the
argument over which organ Yahweh used has no importance, for the symbolism
carries the significance of the Lord making the woman out of the man’s side. Now
I am going to do something I don’t quite often do: quote Matthew Henry. See,
Matthew Henry is like a Nintendo 64: it was really great in its date, but now,
it’s incredibly out of date and looks bad. This quote from Matthew Henry,
however, has aged quite gracefully. In his commentary on Genesis 2:21-25,
Matthew Henry comments, “the woman was made
of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over
him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be
equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be
beloved.” Everybody can let out an “aww” right now. Cuteness aside, Matthew
Henry hits on an important part. Even the body part the Lord chose to make the
woman out of reflects the woman’s equal status to man.
 |
| Matthew Henry |
Genesis 2:22 records that God brought the woman to the man,
just like he did with the animals. The text invites the reader to imagine
Yahweh approaching the just awoken Adam, saying in a sing-song voice, “Oh Adam,
I have someone else for you to name…” and Adam begins, “Oh come on, Lord, I
just woke up, can’t you give me just a bit more time, I just need…” but then
Adam sees God’s newest creation and says, “Woah man!” Yes, I couldn’t resist,
but there’s a point to that, which will become apparent soon.
At this point in Genesis 2:23, the narrative prose stops and
poetry begins. The shift in writing style probably intended to highlight the
creation of the woman. The first word to come out of Adam’s mouth is הַפַּ֗עַם (hapǎǎm),
or “at last” or “finally,” pointing back to conflict of Adam not finding his
equivalent when naming the animals. Adam’s first comments observe how the woman
has the bone and flesh and he does. On the surface level, by doing so, Adam
observes that Yahweh has made the woman out of the same stuff as him, which
already makes her his equal. This is why I included Genesis 2:25 as part of the
Scripture. Because both are naked, Adam can clearly see different body parts,
yet he states she is made of the same stuff. In Hebrew poetry, however, bones
typically symbolize strength, and flesh typically symbolize weakness.
Therefore, Adam’s comments observe how the woman shares in the same strengths
and weaknesses as he does, further emphasizing the equality. Even more to the
point, the ancient Hebrews used the phrase “my own flesh and bones” like modern
English-speakers say, “my own flesh and blood.” The saying emphasizes a
relationship, even more further highlighting equality.
To cap
everything off, Adam names the Lord’s newest creation “woman,” or in the Hebrew
text אִשָּׁה (ʾiššā).
The Hebrew term for “man” (as in male human) is אִישׁ (ʾīš), and now the Hebrew word for
“woman” (as in female human) is אִשָּׁה (ʾiššā). Even without knowing the Hebrew language, anybody can see
the terms are remarkably similar, almost the exact same word, with the
exception of the extra letter in the end. In fact, this will become a pattern
in the Hebrew language, for most, if not all, of the female animal names will
simply be the male animal names with a hey at the end. For example, for
horses, the male stallion Hebrew is סוּס (sûs), and the female mare is סוּסָה (sûsāh). Even
in the naming of the woman reflects the similarity of the woman to the man,
almost the same, which displays her equality.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in
childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your
husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice
of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
~Genesis 3:14-19
(ESV)
While I want to focus in
on Yahweh conversing with the woman, I put the Lord’s whole dialogue here, in
the hopes of seeing a pattern and a lack thereof. Note how God never explicitly
curses the woman. Literally, the term “curse,” or אָרַר (ʾārǎr) in the Hebrew text only applies to the serpent
(3:14) and the ground (3;17). Notice how Yahweh’s speech the serpent and to
Adam begins with “because you…” but the Lord omits this beginning when talking
to the woman. Between these two observations, it would seem that what God tells
the woman falls more under descriptive than prescriptive. In order words,
Yahweh does not actively penalize the woman here, but rather, the Lord
passively reminds the woman that sin has its consequences, God makes her fully
aware of those consequences. In all fairness to the woman, the serpent deceived
the woman, whereas the serpent and the men deliberately rebelled in their sin,
as evident by their punishment starting with “because you…”
A lot could be said about
Yahweh announcing a multiplication of the woman’s pain in childbearing, but
more pertinent to our point about the misogyny entering the world as a result
of the fall, Genesis 3:16b deserves more examination. The key words in Genesis
3:16b are תְּשׁוּקָה (tešûqāh) and מָשַׁל (māšǎl). Now תְּשׁוּקָה (tešûqāh) is an exceedingly rare word in the Hebrew Old
Testament, only appearing three times. The first one appears here in Genesis
3:16b. The last one happens in Song of Solomon 7:10, in which, ironically, the
man desires the woman, as opposed to Genesis 3:16b, in which the woman desires
the man. The middle instance occurs in Genesis 4:7, and this instance also
pairs with מָשַׁל (māšǎl). In Genesis 4:7, the Lord informs Cain of what
sin wants to do to him. Just as mankind and sin find themselves in a constant
struggle of control, as evident by Genesis 4:7, so the man and the woman will
find themselves in constant struggle of dominating and submitting, as evident
by Genesis 3:16b. What Yahweh intended to become an equal relationship, sin
would make a power struggle of dominance and submission. What the Lord intended
to become “to love and to cherish” became “to dominate and to submit.” What God
intended for reciprocal love would turn into marital stress and strain. Some
have used their verse to explain why, even in the most patriarchal societies,
despite a woman’s craving for independence, she would still succumb to a
marriage. Other have even gone as far as using this verse to explain why some
women will still stay with the most abusive husbands. Either way, even if these
points are true, the truth remains that sexism, misogyny and patriarchy are the
result of evil sin infiltrating Yahweh’s good creation.
The man called his
wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living ~Genesis 3:20 (ESV).
Scholars could and have
said much about the name of Eve. Without diving too much in the Hebrew
language, a few things deserve pointing out for the name Eve. First, note that
the Hebrew name for Eve, חַוָּ֑ה (havvah),
looks nothing like the Hebrew term for humans, אָדָם (adam),
or the Hebrew word for man, אִישׁ (ʾîš). Already, the sinful nature has
begun taking over Adam, and he has already begun distancing himself from Eve.
Second, notice how Eve’s name means “mother of all living.” No longer is the
woman “a savior equal to him,” but rather, Adam sees Eve as just “the mother of
his children.” Ouch! Again, the sinful nature in Adam desires to distance
himself from Eve. Together they reveal that, when Adam names the woman Eve, he
treats her no differently than when he named the animals, asserting his
dominance over the woman, demanding her submissiveness. Once again, the sexism,
misogyny and patriarchy came about as a product of humanity’s fall into sin.
Not only does Genesis 3 not direct the primary blame for the
Fall upon the woman Eve, the whole Bible does not direct the primary blame for
the Fall, especially including the New Testament. Take a look at a couple New
Testament verses-
12 Therefore,
just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed
was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there
is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
~Romans 5:12-14 (ESV)
21 For
as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall
all be made alive. ~1 Corinthians 15:22&23 (ESV)
Note how both Scriptures don’t say “the woman” or “Eve.”
Notice how both passages don’t even say “the man and the woman” or “Adam and
Eve.” Both Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 merely put the blame of sin and death
on the man, on Adam. The idea of woman solely bringing sin, death, sorrows and
suffering into the world would make sense to either the Old Testament Jew or
the New Testament Christian.
Before closing, let me briefly touch on some objections some
may have, but please note that these 2 exceptions I will bring up deserve a
close and thorough examination, each on their own.
3 But
I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a
wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God…7 For a man
ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman
is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but
woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman
for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of
authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless,
in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for
as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from
God. ~1 Corinthians 11:3,7-12 (ESV)
Please recall that the epistles are highly contextualized.
Paul writes to a certain people at a certain place at a certain time, to
address occasions that may arise out of that historical, geographical and
cultural. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, the Greek term κεφαλή (kephalē) literally means “head,” but figurately it means
“authority” or “source.” I prefer the latter because then 1 Corinthians 11:3
points back to Genesis 2:21&22. 1 Corinthians 10:7 reminds the reader that
Paul wants to address why he believes men should prayer and prophesy with heads
uncovered, while women should pray and prophesy with their heads covered. A
cult in Corinth allowed women to pray with their heads uncovered, which would
sometimes come off as sexual. Paul did not want the new and budding church in
Corinth to get mixed with the cult. Paul’s command here for women to cover
their heads intended to distance the church from the cult, and also quite
possibly prevent women from becoming a sexual distraction in the Christian
church. The idea of woman becoming the glory of man does not put her is a
submissive or servient role. To the contrary, the woman received glory by
giving glory to her husband. If anything, Paul presents giving glory to the
husband as another opportunity women could give glory to God. Paul recollects
the creation of the woman in Genesis 2 to remind the Christian women in Corinth
how God created the women to turn something not good to something good in the
very good creation, and likewise, Paul calls on the women to serve God in the
same exact way.
12 I
do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she
is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and
Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet
she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and
holiness, with self-control. ~1 Timothy 2:12-15 (ESV)
Again, please recall that the epistles are highly
contextualized. Paul writes to a certain people at a certain place at a certain
time, to address occasions that may arise out of that historical, geographical
and cultural. When Timothy takes over the church in Ephesus, a heresy known as
Gnosticism became quite popular. Gnosticism loved combining Greek and Roman
philosophy with Jewish, and sometimes Christian, religion. Mixed in with all
the heresy, Gnosticism at this time proclaimed a liberation and empowering of
women. Paul did not necessarily oppose the liberation and empowering of women.
Rather, he feared that message would lure in good Christian women, who would
buy into the heresy just to get a taste of the liberation and empowerment, and
then these women would proclaim the heresies back at the church. In other
words, Paul feared that Gnosticism would deceive the good Christian women of
Ephesus, hence why Paul emphasizes how Eve got deceived. At the current time,
as the best advice Paul could think up, he advised Timothy to put hiatus on
women teaching, until the church could determine the women remain uninfluenced
by any heresy. Likewise, a church should only hold back on a woman preaching or
teaching if they fear she will preach or teach heresy from the pulpit.
Otherwise, let her preach and teach!
To conclude, anybody who claims the Bible is misogynist lies.
First, while so many creation myth lack a creation of woman story, and for
those that do, a lot of them put the creation of the woman in a negative light.
To the contrary, the Bible does have a creation of woman story, and it does put
it in a positive light. Second, the Bible clearly announces the man and the
woman equally made in the image of God. Third, the Lord makes the woman with
the intention that woman will become “ a savior equal” to man. Fourth, by
calling her “woman,” man identifies his sameness and equality to her. Fifth,
because of the lack of “because you” or “cursed” in the woman’s penalty, Yahweh
deflect putting all the blame on the woman for the fall. Sixth, not until after
the Fall of humanity into sin does Adam assert his dominance by naming her Eve.
On this Mother’s Day, women thank the Lord for creating you the way he did, and
men, thank God for putting the women, whether mother, aunts, sisters, cousins,
wives, sisters or friends, into your life to serve as your “savior.”
