Women in The Hebrew Texts of The Bible
Christianity developed as a sect of Judaism in the First Century AD. It therefore inherited the depictions of women already existing within the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as The Old Testament) and through history, the women of these Jewish texts have been important in the development of Christian theology, art and attitudes to women.
In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were said to be the first man and the first woman. Adam was created first, and Eve from Adam's rib. Some commentators have suggested that Eve being God's second Creation indicated female inferiority, but in calling Eve "flesh of my flesh" others say a relationship of equality is implied. In a later episode, Eve persuades Adam to join her in eating from forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil - angering God, who casts them out of the Garden of Eden. These accounts were drawn upon by Christian theologians in the development of the doctrine of Original Sin.
Elsewhere, earthy depictions are given of the bearers of the children of Abraham, the Father of Judaism. His Egyptian slave girl Hagar bore Ishmael, while his wife Sarah bore Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael were banished, but with God's promise that Ishmael's descendants would found a great nation (the Arabs). Isaac's descendants meanwhile were to become the Israelites.
Others appearing in the texts include Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, who tricked Issac into blessing her second son as heir; Delilah, who brought down the mighty warrior Samson; the Queen of Sheba who was overwhelmed by the splendour of King Soloman's court; and the cursed Jezebel, who conspired with her husband to have an innocent man killed and was in turn killed for her crime.
Some women were praised in the books of Ruth and Esther. The book of Ruth is about a young Moabite woman's loyalty to her Jewish mother-in-law and her willingness to move to Israel and become a part of their culture. The story ends with her praise and blessing as she is married to an Israelite and subsequently King David comes from her lineage. In the Book of Esther, a young woman named Esther of Jewish lineage is praised for her bravery as the queen of Persia who saved many from being killed by her pleas to the king.
Read more about this topic: Christianity And Women
Famous quotes containing the words the bible, women in, women, hebrew and/or texts:
“The religion of the Bible is the best in the world. I see the infinite value of religion. Let it be always encouraged. A world of superstition and folly have grown up around its forms and ceremonies. But the truth in it is one of the deep sentiments in human nature.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to accept—and in their acceptance seem to reinforce—these roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
—Ellen Lewis (20th century)
“The My Lai soldier lifts me up again and again
and lowers me down with the other dead women and babies
saying, It’s my job. It’s my job.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness
of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep
his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes (l. XII, 13)
“I know that I will always be expected to have extra insight into black texts—especially texts by black women. A working-class Jewish woman from Brooklyn could become an expert on Shakespeare or Baudelaire, my students seemed to believe, if she mastered the language, the texts, and the critical literature. But they would not grant that a middle-class white man could ever be a trusted authority on Toni Morrison.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American scholar and educator. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B2 (July 27, 1994)