Chronicling Biblical Women: Redeeming "lost" voices

04/20/2019

At first glance, the Bible reads like a text concerned only with the male voices and the patriarchy. Genealogies are chronicled with mostly male names, as though these offspring were begotten without mothers. While this patriarchy appears to drown out the female voices, it does not entirely do so. This series of posts on women in the Bible is an attempt to highlight their achievements, struggles, obedience to God, and their humanity. I titled this “redeeming the lost voices” but I am only trying to collectivize the scattered mentions, works, and narratives of these women. I am particularly excited at the opportunity this presents to learn about those that are "unusual" (for their times) - outside of the tasks of being a wife and rearing children not because I want to appeal to being progressive or a feminist. Rather, as evident in their lives, I want to emphasize the reflection of God's glory. So we will proceed!

To do so, the first condition we must abide by is that the Bible is the absolute truth because it is the Word of God and inspired by God. With that, we can be confident in the fact that the Lord allowed for the chronicling of Scripture by the biblical authors just the way we have it. We cannot take away from it and we cannot modify it. We can only attempt to understand it with the help of the Holy Spirit, as our human reasoning alone is not sufficient to do so.

With that condition, we must also realize that not all biblical events that occurred were recorded. I write this looking at John’s ending remarks on the life of Christ. He mentioned that there would be numerous books to fill if he had to complete the task of recording every single thing that the Lord did during his time on earth. And so that leads me to believe that it is also likely that there were many people -- both men and women who did things for the Lord during their time that were not recorded. Those that were recorded still demonstrate teachings, lessons to be learned, correction, revelation, and such to be derived from by the readers to help in their walk with God--to learn about the human condition: to emulate the good and repent from the bad.

Lastly, we have to be mindful of the historical and cultural contexts. Biblical authors were for the most part male. The way of life in ancient times, as we’ve termed it “the patriarchy,” to most modern viewers looks villainous but in those days were fitting as it is now in the right way God has instituted. The involvements and responsibilities of each sex were and are of importance to the family and societal structure. So, the fact that women were raising children, being wives, rearing sheep, etc does not make their role less important than the men who were fathers, husbands, soldiers, prophets, or scribes. As with the human body, where many parts differ from the other but are all necessary for the functioning of the whole structure, so are the roles of both men and women. These roles may not appear to be of equal value, as some perceive, but they are of equal importance.

Furthermore, God is greatly concerned with the lives of both men and women. He created both and called them good. He called ‘good’ what was manifested excellently from the grand design He had envisioned. However, He is more concerned with our place in Himself than he is about what sex we are, or what race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, for that matter. He reminds us in his word that “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” because, in Christ, those identities are non-existent. Instead, we all find our identity in him, thus creating a harmonious body that is in union with God again. So whether most of the books were written by men and happened to talk about male characters should matter less to us than the fact that the Lord cares for, listens to, and provides for both His sons and daughters.