The Importance Of Women In The Hebrew Bible

2675 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women in the bible essay

The importance of women in a society in which the family, rather than the individual, was the basic social, economic, and religious unit. Discuss.

Name of lecturer: Rev. Dr Paul Sciberras

By: Christine Sammut

ID: 169393(M)

Course: B.A in Theology and Psychology

Date: 16th January 2014

The importance of women in a society in which the family, rather than the individual, was the basic social, economic, and religious unit. Discuss.

In the Hebrew Bible, women are viewed as minor and inferior figures. Women are given a secondary place in society, nonetheless they play a crucial role and have a number of vital figures in the Biblical history.
The Apostle Paul, urged wives to obey their husbands and husband to respect their wives. This sums up the traditional idea of the family throughout Jewish history as pictured in the Bible. The man was the head of the house, however both man and woman worked together for the benefit of the family. In Ancient Israel, it was the parents who used to find a suitable match for their daughters’. One the suitable match is found, the bride’s family gives the daughter to the groom’s family and in return they were given a gift – a dowry. A married couple was an economic partnership, that is, if the man ended up penniless, his wife would be sold in slavery along with him. The wife’s first duty in the family was to give birth. A boy would’ve been preferred in order to continue her husband’s name. Children were taught by their mothers’ the required technical skills needed to participate in and eventually take over the productive and processing tasks of the family household. If a wife couldn’t conceive, she would give the family’s slave to her husband and any offspring would give the wife the ...

... middle of paper ...

...re involved in the male’s productive task. It was the mother’s role to teach her children how they should behave, the cultural trends and social values. Women taught their young ones the social skills and cultural forms and norms in order to get along with society and guided them on how should they behave not only in the household but in the larger community. Women brought up the children who represented the future of the household and society.
Women did not have say on administrative level but on domestic level they had a great influence. Women were treated differently from men and also had different roles. However, Jesus treated men and women the same, and talked to foreign women. Nowadays, women still have great importance in the family domain. Women, now have a say on both level, however there is still a lot to be improved especially when it comes to equality.

Show More
Related

  • Exploring Women’s Role in the Bible

    2412 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Religion, Barnard College Women, War, and Evangelical Biblical Interpretation after 9.11

    2488 Words  | 5 Pages

    The trope of Israel as a woman gets taken up in salvation history oriented interpretations of the Hebrew Bible in predictable ways. Israel is commonly read as woman who must alternately be punished and saved, and then ultimately led into dominion over other nations. For instance, I’ve documented some examples of these kinds of reading in my work on

    Read More

  • The Year of Living Biblically, by A. J. Jacobs

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the purpose of the Bible is to teach us the right way to live with its numerous rules, the book “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs, exposes the less publicized rules and how contradictory some of them can be. The main propose of the author of this book is not to criticize or make fun of religion in his quest to “follow the Bible as literally as possible”, but to demonstrate that he enjoys the learning experience. A.J. Jacobs suggests that people claim to be religious when in fact, they only take the rules and ideas they want, this is the reason why I think gender inequality continues to penetrate society today.

    Read More

  • Martha Stewart Gender Roles

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the biblical days, society was very structural with the role of the “Man” and the “Woman.” This concept came to be known as the term gender roles, referring to the significant differences between men and women due to an established role and expectation created by society itself. Society’s expectations of the man’s character were assertiveness, analytical, and unemotional. These characteristics, collectively, coin the term masculine for men. And society’s expectations of the woman’s character were sensitivity, nurturing, and emotional, which together coined the term feminine. Along with the standards of feminine and masculine came responsibilities both the man and the woman. The male had economic responsibilities and the female had domestic

    Read More

  • The Biblical Antiquity and Prejudice towards Women

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the Bible was written in the early years of civilization, society held a severe prejudice towards women. This prejudice is reflected in the written word of the Bible. While these sexist ways may have been accepted by society at that time, they are definitely not appropriate today. I find it unbelievable that women are “supposed to live” by the same discriminatory fashion they were about two thousand years ago. According to Lu Ann Bransby in Woman: A Formula for Victorious Living, the Bible dictates how women should look, live, and even love.

    Read More

  • History of Paternalistic and Maternalistic Views on Women's Livelihood

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, a woman’s role was clearly defined to be a mother and dutiful wife to her husband. There was a time where women were considered to be less intelligent than men simply because they were women. However, this changed during the nineteenth century. Although women were still considered to be defined as mothers, they also sought out work as workers in factories and became more than just mothers and wives.

    Read More

  • Hamurabi´s Code And The Social Structure Of Hammurabi's Code

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in the Epic of Gilgamesh

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    It can easily be seen that while men were considered to be the most powerful and wisest humans and gods, women had the power to significantly influence these men. From Uta-napishti's wife who convinced Uta-napishti to tell Gilgamesh about the plant that would make him young again to the examples mentioned above, several women were put in roles that had important effects on the men they encountered. Of course, this is not much different from the society we live in today. While many may believe that women have still not reached the point of true equality, it is hard to say that they are inferior and the significance of their roles in society is undeniable.

    Read More

  • The Position of Women in Religious Scripture

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    The position that women have in religious scripture has given them a lesser spot in society. When God created a man it made sense to create his partner, the female. Because the man is created first and then the women from his rib, the female gender in religious scripture has been discriminated on. This is shown in the various books of the Old and New Testaments, teachings of Jesus Christ, and the Qur’an. First, the Old Testament illustrates women as the corrupter of men. Next, the teachings of Jesus show more equality among genders even though the New Testament does not. Finally, the Qur’an depicts women as having a subservient role to men allowing men to take advantage.

    Read More

  • Mummy Research Paper

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Men and women had equal power even though males were still dominant. Women had the same legal rights as men. They were allowed to own property, serve in trails, and establish divorce. Although having these rights considered them equal, they still had a social role. Women would stay home and manage their household. Worship was also very important. Religion outside the temple was a big part of her lifestyle. She would pray and perform rituals daily.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal Of Eve In The Hebrew Bible

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arguably the first, most notable, account of womanhood in humanity, the portrayal of Eve in the Hebrew Bible has had a lasting effect on the place of women in society. Last in the string of creation in Genesis 2, Eve is portrayed as a lowly derivative and is often wrongly associated with temptation, lust and materiality. Further, the depiction of Eve has continued to impact the representation of women to this day. In modern day films like The Tree of Life and Noah one witnesses the damaging effects of this portrayal. The female characters in these films parallel the misconceptions particularly found in Genesis 2 and 3, which ultimately prove the detrimental effect of this text.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal Of Women In The 19th And 20th Century

    339 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the 19th and 20th centuries, women were supposed to stay at home to cook, clean, and take care of the children while their husband went to work. They were especially expected to have dinner ready, look nice, and devote all of their attention to the husband when he got home. Women were often seen as the “family nurturer”; however, the father enforced the rules and disciplined the children. Also, women

    Read More

  • Comparing 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel And 1 Kings

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women are choose by the man and are submissive. They do accept her husband to have more than one wife. We can say that the women represent more a reproductive and sexual symbol, which we can see in 1 Samuel 1:2-3 and 1King 1:4. But women are also very important for the family and respected by their son we can see this in 1 Samuel 1:5 and 1 Kings 2:19. The interesting thing about women in this society was that the women were respected and treated good only during times when the Lord was protecting the people, but when God was not too happy with what people were doing or when the King was not following the will of the Lord,c we can see that women were mistreated as we can see in 2 Samuel13:

    Read More

  • Understanding Women's Role in Traditional Judaism

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    misunderstood. The position of women is not nearly as lowly as many people see it; the position

    Read More

  • Women Should Not Fight On The Frontline Research Paper

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of time, humans, have been raised in very similar ways. One way our society has been raised similar, is the way people view men and women. Our society has always said that women and children come first. In the biblical stories, men had the job to be leaders, fighters, and warriors. Women would bear and raise children, cook, farm, and anything else that was home-related (Sherrow). Most of our nation has grown up in church and heard multiple bible stories. We hear the stories of God doing amazing things through men, like David and Goliath. God also did great things through women as well, but in a very different way. One example of what God did through women is when he sent his only son to be born of a virgin, Mary. What God does through men is just as important as what he does through women. Since the beginning, men and women have been doing very important but different jobs.

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Women In The Hebrew Bible

Open Document