Women: A Biblical Perspective
11/02/1997 - Women in the Old Testament
It had broken into their weekend like a thief, stealing their love and leaving as quickly as it came. Afterward, Charles cried. He knelt down on the floor next to his wife, Claire, and sobbed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I lost control. I promise it won't happen again." He took her in his arms and they sat together in silence. Charles gently touched Claire where she had been hit. It was as if he believed his touch could now undo the brutal blows he had unleashed moments before.
After a time Claire stood up, not saying a word, and went into the bathroom to wash away any traces of the violence. She dressed so her bruises wouldn't show, but the shock and pain in her eyes couldn't be concealed. She hoped no one would notice. Then Charles and Claire quietly got into the car and drove to church just in time for the Sunday morning service. During 18 years of marriage, Charles had beaten Claire hundreds of times. But only toward the end did she ever seek help.
When I read that account this week I couldn't help but think of the things we discussed last Sunday as we began this series on Women. Charles and Claire's abusive marital relationship is a far cry from God's design for marriage. He created the male and the female together in his image. He intended the man and the woman to live in harmony, community, and intimacy. He expressed that desire in Genesis 2:24-25 when he said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
That's God's intent for marriage. A place of mutual companionship between two equal partners reflecting his image. A safe place where a husband and a wife are free to be transparent and vulnerable with each other. Where they can be naked and feel no shame.
Why is that harmonious oneness so difficult to achieve in a marriage relationship? Why would a Charles so violently abuse a Claire? Because sin entered God's perfect creation in Genesis 3. And with that sin came devastating consequences. And the fallout from the atomic apple affects us to this very day.
Last week, we looked at Woman in the Beginning . And we concluded that God created the woman equal to the man. Someone said it this way. "Woman was created from the rib of man. She was not made from his head, to top him, nor from his foot, to be trampled by him. She was made from his side, to be equal to him. From under his arm, to be protected by him. From near his heart, to be loved by him." God created the woman to be the corresponding partner to the man.
Any hierarchy we see in the first two chapters of Genesis is given to God as ruler over the man and the woman and the man and the woman together as rulers over God's creation. In Genesis 1:26 God says, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
But the catastrophic effects of sin recorded in the third chapter of Genesis rearrange that hierarchy. The man's life becomes subject to the ground from which he was taken. And the woman's life becomes subject to the man from which she was taken. So in Genesis 3:16 God says to the woman, Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Now the order becomes God over creation, creation over the man, and the man over the woman. Was that God's desire? No. Was that the way God wanted it to be? No. But like death itself, it was the horrific effect of sin.
And since that time the man has turned a good thing like dominion into domination, which is sometimes expressed as the physical abuse of a Claire by a Charles. And the woman has turned a good thing like intimacy and a desire for her husband into enmeshment, which can keep a woman like a Claire silent about the abuse of her husband for 18 years.
Which brings us to our topic for today and that is Women in the Old Testament. When you work your way through the Old Testament of the Bible you quickly become aware of the ongoing conflict between God's original intent for his creation found in Genesis 1-2 and Satan's perversion of that intent sourced in Genesis 3. It reveals itself in many ways, but often the conflict is most clearly seen in the relationships between men and women.
For instance, it doesn't take long before God's original intent for marriage is perverted. God designed one male and one female to be united as one flesh in Genesis 2:24. But because of sin that relationship of mutuality is twisted into a ruler/subject hierarchy with the man ruling over the woman. And in only six generations, from Adam to Lamech, in Genesis 4:19, the hierarchy degenerates even further into polygamy, with one man ruling over two women.
In Genesis 4:19 we read that, Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. So the man, designed by God to be the partner of one woman, because of sin, becomes the ruler of one woman, and in six generations the ruler of one woman becomes the ruler of two women.
The ideal continues to degenerate until the family becomes a mini-monarchy. With male rulers in a patriarchal society adding female subjects until King Solomon sets the biblical record, if not the world record, with a regal harem of 1,000 women. Some wives, some concubines, all owned as property clearly in disobedience to God. In 1 Kings 11 we read, And Solomon had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines . So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely.
So God's original design of one man as partner to one woman becomes one man as ruler of one woman, which becomes one man as ruler of many women, which then becomes one man as owner of many women. And God is not happy about it! In fact, in many ways the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament is God's way of curbing some of the abuses of a male dominated society by placing restrictions on divorce, adultery, prostitution, and extra-marital affairs. God didn't approve of the abuse of women. Instead, he tried to curb it.
In his excellent book Beyond Sex Roles, Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian writes on page 68, In its time, the old covenant provided the best possible situation for God to establish a community that would be responsive to his will. However, the ravages caused by the fall were so severe that they defiled the life of God's people in some of its most sacred expressions. The marriage ordinance provides a case in point. All the advantages of divine revelation and of moral guidance available to God's people did not suffice to help them recover the mutuality that had prevailed in marriage before the fall. Man continued to rule over woman under the cover of a depraved family structure that dehumanized them both.
As we read through the Old Testament we see the conflict between God's original design for male/female relationships and Satan's perversion of that design. Yet we also find evidence in the Old Testament that the rule of male over female, which began at the fall, would one day come to an end. Even in the male dominated, patriarchal system of the Old Testament we have example after example of godly women stepping up and taking significant leadership roles. Let's look at a few.
If you have a Bible turn to Exodus 15:19-21. In this passage we join the Israelites who are celebrating the Exodus. They've just crossed the Red Sea on dry ground while their enemies, the Egyptians, were drowned. Look at verses 19-21, When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."
In this passage, Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron is described as prophet who is leading the nation in worship. A prophet was a person who spoke for the Lord. Prophecy was the highest form of authoritative speech in the Old Testament and Miriam, a woman, functioned in that role. She was a spokes person for God. And apparently God didn't have a problem with it.
In Micah 6:4 God calls Miriam a leader. He says, I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. Miriam's leadership over the nation of Israel at the time of the Exodus was God given and apparently didn't violate any restrictions that God had placed on women in leadership, because he put her there.
The story of Deborah in Judges 4 and 5 is another example God giving a woman a significant position of leadership. This time the position was that of judge. Look at Judges 4:4-5, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.
Deborah, like Miriam, was a prophet, a spokes person for God. But in addition to that she was a judge. In Israel at that time judges were more than just judicial leaders. They were the military and civil leaders of the nation also. They were in charge.
And during Deborah's reign Israel was attacked by the Canaanites. So she called for the commander in chief of her army, a man named Barak, and gave him God's command to attack the enemy and assured him of victory. But with knees knocking this seasoned warrior pleads with Deborah in verse 8, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." 9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman."
So Deborah goes with him and on the day of battle she gives Barak another pep talk. And he goes on to defeat the Canaanites. But it's another woman, Jael, who ends up killing the enemy commander, Sisera, by driving a tent peg through his skull. Those are some pretty tough ladies in Judges 4! And they're immortalized by the Song of Deborah in Judges 5.
Deborah was a prophet and a judge in Israel. She taught the Word of God and made decisions necessary to lead the nation. And God blessed her ministry. Would God have called Deborah into a position of leadership if he were against women in leadership? I don't think so.
Let's look at one more example of a woman in leadership in the Old Testament. It's the story of Huldah found in 2 Kings 22. In 2 Kings 22 we have a new king on the throne of Judah. His name is Josiah. He was a good king who led a revival in the nation. And during his reign the Book of the Law was found, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. It had been lost and as a result the nation was lost, drifting far from God.
And after the Book of the Law was discovered it was taken to a woman to be interpreted. Her name was Huldah. In 2 Kings 22:14-16 we read, Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District. 15 She said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.
Huldah was another female prophet of God. And God used the spiritual leadership of this woman to teach his will to the King, Josiah, to the High Priest, Hilkiah, and to all the other leading government officials. Josiah could have sent the scroll to Jeremiah or Zephaniah who were prophets at that time too. But God wanted Huldah, a woman, to advise the king.
Throughout the Old Testament we see examples of women in leadership. Even in the male dominated, patriarchal culture of the Old Testament, women are sometimes leading. And when they're leading, they're not identified as exceptions to the rule. Instead, their leadership is accepted without comment. And God blesses their leadership with success.
In other passages, like Proverbs 31, we see women active in the marketplace as well, buying and selling real estate, making and marketing clothing, caring for they're families at home and pursuing careers outside the home. And God calls them virtuous women.
The only restriction placed on women in the Old Testament seems to be in the priesthood. Only males could become priests. And I'm not sure why that is given the fact that women were prophets and judges and sometimes even advised priests.
No explanation is given as to why women couldn't serve in that capacity. Some have suggested that it had to do with a woman's role in childbearing and laws about ritual purity. Some believe it reflected Israel's struggle against the Canaanite worship of fertility god's led by women priests. But one thing we do know is that the Old Testament priesthood culminated with the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. And now, the Scriptures teach that all believers, men and women, are priests in God's eyes.
The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:9 writes to the church and says, You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Women may not have been priests in the Old Testament. But in God's eyes women who believe in Jesus Christ are priests now.
So what can we conclude about women in the Old Testament? We can conclude that they suffered a great deal under a male dominated, patriarchal society. God's original design of one man as partner to one woman became one man as ruler of one woman, which became one man as ruler of many women, which then became one man as owner of many women. And God was not happy about it! So he laid down the Mosaic Law to curb some of the abuses of women.
Yet through it all God gave women significant positions of leadership. Without a doubt the majority of women referenced in the Old Testament are wives and mothers. And God highly values those roles. But women like Miriam and Deborah and Huldah were also leaders who helped to guide the nation of Israel. And they did it with God's blessing. They were prophets and judges, military and civil leaders. Women also had careers in business, as well as being mothers at home. The male dominated culture may have restricted the role of women. But God certainly didn't.
And the Old Testament draws to a close with a wonderful prophecy found in the book of Joel. In Joel 2:28-29 we read, 'And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
The apostle Peter quotes this passage on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:16-18 and sees its fulfillment in the birth of the church. A church where God's Spirit will inhabit men and women equally and both men and women will prophecy on God's behalf. But we're getting ahead of ourselves again. Next week we'll see how Jesus related to women.