What Does the Bible Say About Women Pt. 2 - Patriarchy and Blood Laws
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Intro
Today, we’re going to talk about how the Old Testament, and more specifically the Torah, views women. When it comes to this topic there are a few areas that people point at the Bible and say, “Hey the Bible is oppressing women,” or “See, Christianity wants to put women down.”
What are some examples that you can think of where people have said that the Old Testament is oppressive, unfair, barbaric, or disproportionately unjust against women?
A Patriarchal vs A Patrilineal Society
One of the topics that come up has to do with the topic of the Torah supporting a Patriarchy. And I want to clear up some misconceptions as we dive into this topic.
We have to ask ourselves, “is there anything in Torah to suggest that women are excluded from the decision-making processes of society? Are they full participants or not?” or “Is Israel acting Patriarchal,” or “Does it look like the people of Israel are adhering to a patriarchal system?” If yes, then it is evidence that Israel is getting off track with what God had intended and His good design.
When you think about other ancient cultures and societies, how do they treat men and how do they treat women? Men are often treated better than women; women often are considered second-class citizens; Women can’t own land, represent themselves in court, are often the most vulnerable in society.
How would you describe an ancient culture that adhere to a patriarchy? Similar responses to the above with an emphasis that only men can: rule in positions of power, own land, vote, initiate divorce, court representation, go to school, etc. However, the Torah does something different from other ancient cultures. When you look at Torah and the people of Israel, you find that rather than being a patriarchal society, they were instead a patrilineal society.
Patrilineal means “male” and “lineage” means the lineage will go through the male. This was strictly for the purposes of property allotment (who owns what land) as how that allotment was passed down to the next generation.
The question is “why?” Why was it set up this way? Your thoughts?
Some may say that:
It's in the man’s name because it is men who rule society
Women don’t rule therefore it goes to the man
Men have the responsibility and the power therefore it goes to them.
But these are our assumptions and inferences on our end, and they are all wrong assumptions and inferences!
Instead, it was patrilineal for more economic reasons, not because of a strict power dynamic that we often assume on our end today.
What did people use to gauge their wealth?
Land, cattle, goods. Not strictly money/coins/ or currency.
In ancient societies, who held a majority of the wealth? A small, wealthy, ruling class ruled.
And where does everyone else sit? Below them, often unjustly
And it was the wealthy, ruling classes that hoarded land, wealth, power, etc. for their own benefit and control. So let me tell you how God set Israel up in such a way, that the rich and wealthy could not unjustly manipulate the system to entrench their wealth and power forever.
First, God set up the tribal system into 12 tribes, so no one tribe could rule them all.
Second, No one person could collect a massive amount of servants and slaves because of the sabbath year ever 7 years. Slaves would be set free and debts be reset.
Third, No one person could gobble up all the wealth forever because of the jubilee year that takes place every 49 years. Land ownership would revert back to the original families that owned that land.
If the land and the wealth in a family kept swapping back and forth between a man’s family and a woman’s family, this is going to cause issues. The issue becomes, “Who owns this land or that land?" or “No that’s our land, we owned it first.” Etc.
Keeping the wealth going through one singular lineage would eliminate these issues and confusion. Also the land would always be reset to its original owners and was a huge boon for those who couldn’t manage their land properly. Couldn’t manage property > would give to a neighbor and become their slaves > new owner would benefit from land while the servants wouldn’t become homeless and destitute and could survive > Then 7 years would pass and the servant would be released > then at 49 years the land would revert to the original family.
It was a HUGE bailout for those who needed it and was a safeguard against the wealthy people who wanted more wealth.
If land was swapping between lineages it would be extremely chaotic to track or manipulate.
Torah and Blood Laws
Guys, ladies, when it comes to laws in the Torah that talk about blood, what is the first topic that pops into your mind? Often a woman’s menstrual cycle comes to mind for many.
And how would you say the Bible describes a woman’s menstrual cycle? Clean or unclean?
And when you hear the word “unclean” what do you normally think about that word? We often see it as meaning sinful, dirty, contaminated, impure, etc.
What if I told you that that line of thinking is actually the exact opposite of what the Bible is trying to say.
First, because we often think of being “unclean” we automatically associate it with dirtiness. And because of this, this topic often is misunderstood and women are treated poorly because of it.
Blood is super important. The Bible says that, “Life is in the blood”
Gen. 9:4-6; Lev. 17:11; Deut. 12:23 are all examples talking about the sacredness of blood and life.
Blood is important for the sacrificial system, Atonement, life itself and it is extremely sacred! In fact, it’s so important, that God reserves the exclusive right to give and take life (Deut. 32:39; Job 1:21) so don’t shed it. Women have the unique ability to grow and produce life. Women are the ones associated with bringing life into this world (Eve’s name is interpreted as one who brings life). So a woman’s womb is a holy place where life begins and a menstrual cycle represents a time each month when life was not created and essentially represents a “life that will never be.” It can be understood as a “time of mourning” or even a “loss of life” as the womb “dies.” So, a woman is actually sacred during this time and can’t go in front of a holy God (being “clean”) because of the issue with life vs death, blood vs no blood issue going on there.
How do we often view blood? We usually see it as dirty, infectious, dangerous.
In the Bible, if life is in the blood, how does a dead body relate to this whole idea of sacredness in the blood? They don’t have blood in them, or their blood as been spilled, there is no life in them as life is in the blood. It is because of the sacredness of blood that coming into contact with a dead body makes a person ceremonially unclean. In fact, men could become unclean this way because of their contact with something sacred. Israel didn’t see blood as dirty, infectious, or dangerous like we do today. Instead, they saw it as a holy thing and respected a woman’s sacredness by giving them space each month.
Well then you might ask, “well why are women supposed to be separated after giving birth to a male or a female child?”
So let me ask you that question. Why would a woman who gave birth to a girl have to spend more time outside the camp than if they gave birth to a boy? The answer is because that girl child will in turn give birth themselves. A life giver is giving birth to another life giver, so there is extra sacredness around that and serves to honor women by giving them that space.
Women in Israel's army and as Isaelite Priests
So based on this conversation, why would you think that Torah doesn’t allow women to serve in Israel’s armies?
Mostly for logistical reasons: Women have to be separated for 1 week out of every month
Potential issues with the sacred blood of a life-giver coming into contact with the blood of corpses.
So based on this conversation, why would you think that Torah doesn’t allow women to serve as priests? Because of their constant contact with Blood through sacrifices, and their own sacred blood through their menstrual cycle
In the OT, women serve:
as judges (Deborah Judges 4-5);
Queens (Esther, Athaliah Queen of Judah from 841-835 BCE; Abigail-Davids wife; a bad queen Jezabel);
Sheerah who founded Beth Horon and Uzzen Sheerah in 1 Chron 7:22-24;
Prophetesses like Miriam, Deborah, Huldah (2 Kings 22:15); Noadiah (Neh. 6:14)
And important duties to the maintenance of the Tabernacle in Exodus 38:8
Nowhere else in Torah or the Old Testament do we see a law or a prophecy or a prohibition that women cannot serve in any other role other than in the army and as a priest. So, getting back to our main question: In Israelite culture, were women full participants of society? Yes! It was when Israel wasn’t on track that it started to get messed up.
Take Away
What stuck out to you most after today’s discussion?
How has this changed your views on how the Bible and culture views women?
Next week we are going to cover some more examples of Torah laws that help not only protect women within society but also serve to create a way of living that was revolutionary for the ancient world.