The Intimidating Female in Genesis
In the narrative in the book of Genesis, there are two main objectives. The first is a general goal to create a complex world designed for ideal human existence according to divinely legislated principles. The second is God's desire to establish a great nation within this world. According to the narrative, God aims to achieve these goals by constructing frameworks for his goals and then enlisting carious humans to help see them to fruition. However, as amply demonstrated in Genesis, the human variable is volatile and frequently confronts God with instances of insubordination.
As a Collective human element, women in Genesis often appear as obstacles to these broad-overriding goals through nonfulfillment of their particular roles in the divine scheme. From the Garden of Eden right through to the story of Joseph, women, as wives, mothers, and daughters, are typically unreliable, inadequate, deceitful or, simply by virtue of their womanhood, an outright liability, and they frequently threaten to undermine God's will as it is expressed in the opening book of the Bible.
God's first instruction to a human being occurs during the initial telling of the creation story in Genesis. Adam and Eve have the mutual responsibility to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it"(1:28). However, it is really the second narrative, detailing the creation of man and woman that establishes God's structure of the world. In this structure, Eden is created for the first man, Adam, who has one basic function, to work and guard Eden (2:15), and only one prohibition, to abstain from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (2:16).
Starting right from Genesis, in this additional description of t...
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...he text to prove God's boundless and all-encompassing power. With their actions, they draw attention to the Genesis value system, prevent its immediate success, and allow for eventual divine triumphs that dramatically reinforce those values and their consequences.
Refernces:
Calloway, Mary. Sing O Barren One: A Study in Comparative Midrash. New York: Society of Biblical Literature. 1986.
Graetz, Naomi. "Dinah the Daughter" in A feminist Companion to Genesis. Ed. Athalia Brenner. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic press, 1993.
Bibliography:
Refernces:
Calloway, Mary. Sing O Barren One: A Study in Comparative Midrash. New York: Society of Biblical Literature. 1986.
Graetz, Naomi. "Dinah the Daughter" in A feminist Companion to Genesis. Ed. Athalia Brenner. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic press, 1993.
Across all barriers, women have always brought pain, suffering, and aguish to the men as demonstrated in both Homer's Odyssey and the Bible. With their beauty and grace, temptresses like the Sirens and Delilah lure men into their grasps, only to later steer them to their ruin. Other times, they use their cunning abilities and deception, as Circe and Jezebel did, in order to entice men into doing things that they normally would never accede to do. Moreover, most tragedies, disasters, and misfortunes are essentially caused by women as demonstrated by Helen, who caused the Trojan War, and Eve, who caused the exile of all mankind from the Garden of Eden and is the mother of all sin. The women of the Odyssey and the women of the Bible, through astute manipulation and seduction, inflict many tribulations, which in due course cause the pains and destruction of mankind.
Females in both texts, Gilgamesh and Genesis/Exodus, are not talked about very much at all and I think that in its self says a lot. When women are brought up they are either being used or doing something great. Even though they are only talked about a few times, when they actually are talked about it makes an impact on the story. Women are put into this story to make a difference to one of the other characters in the story.
The book of Genesis in the Bible presents many important people, events, and ideas that have been often been referenced to in literature and other arts. The novel Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, published in 1980 is considered to be one of the most prominent books of the recent era. The novel is a generational saga that is told from the point of view of Ruthie, who along with her sister Lucille is abandoned at her grandmother’s house after their mother kills herself. The novel explores abandonment, society, and transience. The story takes place in a small town in Idaho during the 1950s, and contrary to the normal male dominated society, Robinson presents a story that revolves around several generations of women,
The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
We are all familiar with the creation story in Genesis of the Bible—a rib was taken from Adam (man) in order to create Eve (woman). Did this set the tone for women’s submissive role in society? History shows us that this is not true, since women dating as far back as the 6th century had power and were taken seriously. Strong women, such as Perpetua of Carthage, used their faith as a means of helping others and asserting their power in a male-dominated culture. As the years went on, though, women experienced a loss of power and control. A woman’s worth was directly associated with h...
In her article, “Feminist Hermeneutics and Biblical Studies”, Phyllis Trible discusses the issues centered toward women in the bible (Trible). She addresses issues not just concerning equality, but also how men viewed women in biblical times. Trible examines the role of women in the bible, and the misconception they carry, that leads many into harms way.
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
In her book, The Red Tent, Anita Diamant attempts to expound upon the foundations laid by the Torah by way of midrashim. In doing so, parts of her stories tend to stray from the original biblical text. The following essay will explore this and several other aspects of the book as they relate to the Torah and modern midrash.
Elizabeth A. Johnson draws attention to how, despite being considered equal in Genesis, women had their worth ignored “Consistently subordinated and demeaned in the theories, symbols, rituals,
Response to Sherif Abdel Azeem's "Eve's Fault" and "Eve's Legacy" N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec.
In our present era, there is no doubt that the evolution of women's rights has come a long way. It is in the Western Culture that these values for which women have fought for generations, are in conflict with Genesis 1-3. The events that occur in this "creation story" are crucial in that it begins when God creates man in his own likeness and man is given domination over all living things. The significance is the prominence given to men; God is male and his most important creation is male. The biblical account underlines the supremacy of man while making it clear that women play an inferior role. Furthermore, the biblical account also describes how woman are disobedient and yield to temptation, the result of which is the expulsion of both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In the poem "How Cruel is the Story of Eve", Stevie Smith's castigation towards the biblical story of Eve demonstrates how women have been victims of despair and suffering since the beginning of time. She holds it responsible for cruelty towards women in history, she implies that the values derived from the story of Eve were forced upon women without choice, and finally, she challenges the authenticity of the religious tale on a whole. Without a doubt, women have fallen victim to an untrue, religious tale from the beginning of time, and the poem is an outcry representing the suffering of women throughout history.
McElvaine, Robert S., (2000). Eve's Seed : Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of Human History. McGraw-Hill Trade
Sarah Pomeroy. Goddess, Whores, Wives and Slaves. (New York: Pantheon. 1975, 1976. Print. P. 80
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant illuminates one of the greatest testimonies to women’s strength: childbirth. On a creative level, Diamant did something extraordinary. She took a small passage from the Bible about the character Dinah, and made her story into an unforgettable testimony to women’s strength and power. Overlooking women’s role in Biblical life is easy because there is practically nothing written by or about women. Even though Diamant’s story is fictionalized, there is truth in showing that women did exist, that there was a very important role played by women of that time period, and in showing the power and strength of women in a way that can never be forgotten.
... a merely a reflection of Hebrew society of the time (Stanton). Jesus Christ, being a reformer, should have improved the status of women with his message of love and acceptance. However, there is no denying that the stigma is carried with women into the present day. Women’s position in society can be greatly attributed to their depiction in religious text. Holy word is still a factor in making women more susceptible, more culpable, and more sinful an impure than men. Even as women move up in the social order, religion is timeless and ever bearing on the struggle women fight for sexual equality.