159. Bible Questions: Does the Bible promote the poor treatment of women?

E159:  Bible Questions:  Does the Bible promote the poor treatment of women?

Does the Bible promote 1

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The poor treatment of women? There's no question. Throughout history, women have been treated poorly and the Bible doesn't sugarcoat this in episode 20, the consequences of sin I gave the Bible's answer to why women have been treated so poorly. In that episode, your husband will rule over you. One of the consequences of sin is the bigger one of the species. Most always the male. Now with a sinful selfish nature will push down and abuse the weaker one in word pictures, the old Testament theme I taught my students was guys and gals are gross, but God is gracious.

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There's no question in human history. And in the biblical narrative, women have gotten the short stick to answer this question. First, we need to understand much of what we read in the Bible is a description of how women have suffered in the wake of sin. That's both individual women and women in society. Episode number 12 is critical and understanding the answer to this question. In that episode, I've taught about the interpretive principle description or prescription is what's being reported describing what was or is what's being reported prescribing for us.

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What should be? I believe the vast majority of the old and new Testament is describing what gross sinful people have done regarding the care or abuse of half the population made in God's image women. If we're looking for prescriptions for how women should be treated, I suggest we back the tape up before sin and its consequences hit our planet. That's described in Genesis chapter two. We looked at this in episodes, 15, 16, and 17. Here's a quick bulleted list of God's prescription for men and women. First, man alone was inadequate.

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God said it is not good. It's incomplete. We were told woman was created out of man to answer back to, to complete his incompleteness and to be the helper he needed to make him complete. We were told the first woman was taken out of man. And since then every man has come out of a woman. God informed us. It was to be one man glued to one woman for life and exclusive covenantal relationship. God appointed them together to be rulers over creation. And we were told here in this temperate climate between the Euphrates and the tigers rivers, they were running around in their birthday suits naked.

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And more than that, metaphorically transparent, fully revealed to each other and to God and unashamed in it. All that folks is God's prescription for male and female for men and women. But that's not what we find reported in the Bible. After Genesis three, what we do find is a gross male dominated narrative, a narrative that describes men, even the main characters with more than one wife, some many more. It describes fathers like lot putting their daughters in jeopardy to protect their guests. You can listen to that one in episode 27, if you have the stomach for it, or Jeff, the, the judge making a stupid rash vow, which likely cost his only daughter, her life that's in episode 50, we see men like Onin in Genesis using a woman for sex, but not giving her the main blessing women had in those wretched times.

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Children. We see women having to prostitute themselves simply to support themselves when not cared for or abandoned by their men. And we see sons reported in the family lineage, but in some cases, no daughters reported at all. Gideon and Ahab were said to have 70 sons, but no daughters are reported. That's proof positive. The ladies were left off. And then we get to the back of the new Testament where there's teaching that seems to lock women, even Christian women, down to certain roles and functions. We're going to get to that one in the next episode.

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But despite the yuck toward women, we see described in the Bible, my students that I take cover to cover in the Bible, generally don't have this question. Does the Bible promote the poor treatment of women? You'd think they would, but they've wandered across a whole bunch of ways. God, through scripture begins to restore the role value and dignity to what was intended in creation. I want to give you just some of the things my students have discovered in our cover to cover overview. First God provides for divorce and Deuteronomy 24. This is striking since in Genesis two God's pattern in creation.

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It was to be one man. One woman glued together for life, but God tells Moses it's necessary for the protection of women being treated badly. In that culture. God was saying to husbands, you can't just dump your wife, find another one, try her out and then take the old wife back. You've got to make it legal and official. This woman needs to be protected. Paul in the new Testament adds a second reason for divorce. That is if a man abandons his wife in Deuteronomy 22, God adds protection women regarding rape. If a man and woman are out in the middle of nowhere and she claims to be raped, he is to be put to death.

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The presumption is she's telling the truth that she screamed for help, but in this isolated place, no one could aid her in Genesis 38. I've already mentioned Onin. He was the guy supposed to marry Tamar his dead brother's wife who was childless and to give her children were told he enjoyed her physically, but he refused to complete the act and God's response for using a woman for enjoyment, rather than treating her with honor and moving forward with responsibility. God takes his life in numbers. 27, a man named Zoloft had, has only daughters, five of them at the end of numbers.

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And in Joshua, there'll be dividing up the land. God promised to the Israelites Zoloft, aheads daughters come to Moses and ask a question. Hey, we don't have any brothers. Why can't girls inherit property? God seconds the motion saying to Moses. Yeah. Why can't they ownership of property by women? That's a big step forward. And perhaps unprecedented. We also meet many strong women and heroes in scripture in the middle of the cesspool of judges. We meet Ruth, she and Daniel get my vote for the most impressive characters of integrity in the entire old Testament.

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Then we meet Deborah, the judge in the book of judges, a shrewd leader and JL. Another woman who ends up assassinating Cicero, the Canaanite leader, who was oppressing Israel in Samuel. We meet Abigail. This insightful woman stops an angry David, the future king of Israel in his tracks. And through her wise counsel saves his reputation. In second, Samuel 20, we meet a wise woman of the village of Abel, this civic leader. Wondering why the city was being attacked was told a man named Sheba was inside. And he was a wanted man.

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She comes up with the immediate solution. She tosses his head over the wall situation solved. We meet the queen of Sheba visiting Solomon in second Kings. She is one amazing lady wise, wealthy a leader. It reminds me of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's meetings. When I was a young man in second Kings 22, we meet another shrewd woman Huldah the prophetess. The situation is king Josiah and the country is in a bad way. They've just found the book of the law Genesis through Deuteronomy and Josiah realizes we've really messed up.

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Find me someone who can guide us, who can counsel us, what God wants us to do. Who do they find Huldah the prophetess? And she guides them wisely. Speaking for God. In the book of Esther, we meet the woman, Hidatsa, renamed Ester, who saves the entire Jewish race by her unique position in the court. And by the wise way, she guides the situation. Then in Proverbs 31, we're given a picture of a virtuous wife. You just need to read this description. It describes a strong modern woman, this elevating of women, this restoring them back toward the prescription in creation continues in the new Testament.

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In the first book. Actually the genealogies that start Matthew for women are listed in the genealogy of the Messiah. No one would expect women's names in that Jewish genealogy before Jesus' birth. We have two women, Elizabeth and Mary full of the holy spirit speaking, worshipful words, and even prophetic words over the Messiah. When Jesus starts ministry, women are named as funding. The mission of the disciples when Jesus is accomplishing his mission there on the cross, one of the seven statements he's able to make when he lifts up on the nails and takes a breath, is to care for the needs of his mother.

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Standing before the cross at his resurrection, the gospel writers list women as the first eyewitnesses, that too is extraordinary in that culture. Women were not considered credible witnesses yet. God intentionally makes them the first eyewitnesses as we get to the book of acts Paul on his second journey picks up Timothy Timothy becomes his right arm. And the closest thing Paul has to his son, Paul says later, I've got nobody who comes even close to this man. And Paul tells us why his mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice these godly women were his mentors on the second missionary journey.

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We meet Lydia in Philippi. She's a business woman and she houses and supports Paul and his team on the missionary journey. A little later in Corinth, Paul is joined by Priscilla and Aquila. They become dear partners in ministry. The interesting thing is Priscilla is named first. That to is extraordinary. And it almost certainly means she was the stronger leader of the two. The spokesman we're told Priscilla and Aquila are also responsible for mentoring, another heavyweight evangelist and the new Testament apologists. And then in Paul's letters where we get the bulk of our doctrine for how to live our 24 7 lives.

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As followers of Jesus. Paul makes some striking statements. He says, men, you can't be a leader. If you're a polygamist, one wife only that takes us back to creation further. He adds you should love your wife as your own flesh and be willing to lay down your life for your wife. You should view her and treat her as Jesus views and treats the church. Does the Bible promote the poor treatment of women? Well, it certainly reports the poor treatment of women, but my students would argue it consistently pushes against gross guys and a gross guide, dominated world to move women back toward what God intended in creation.

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While that question doesn't particularly bother my students, there is one related questions. My students do have most of them attend churches that do not have women as elders or pastors. So they ask, we have women leading our countries and our major companies. How can churches justify not having women lead in the church? Spoiler alert, some churches justify it mostly on other things said in the letters of the new Testament and specifically the writings of Paul. We're going to look at Paul's writings. And I'm going to try and give an answer to that question. Why some churches do and some churches don't have women, pastors and leaders in our next Bible questions.