Eve

As you probably all know, the first woman mentioned in the Bible is Eve who incidentally is not called Eve until after the fall.  In the beginning, Eve is just called "the woman." In fact, as I flip through my copy of the New American Bible I am surprised to discover that the first time the man is called Adam is Genesis 4:25. What does Adam mean? Here is the link to an interesting article written by a Rabbi on the meaning of Adam's name: The Meaning of "Adam":Insights into the Hebrew Language.

God creates the woman for the man because "it is not good for the man to be alone" (2:18a). From the beginning, we see that God intends man and woman to be together, complementing each other. It is possible that God is not speaking here only about marriage although he certainly is speaking of that as well. It is possible that God is speaking of life in general. Modern science has proven that men and women think differently. In male dominated nations like China where women are aborted, there are great deficiencies. The same is true in male dominated corporations. Men by themselves are in a handicap. As I write this post on a woman, I find that it is impossible to speak solely on Eve. Humanity only begins when the man and the woman are together. Adam alone is lost. Eve is not just important because of the Fall (after all Adam ate the fruit as well) but because she is the "mother of all the living" (3:20). It is because of the fact that she is the mother of all the living that the Fall is so significant. Eve's choice affects the rest of the world, eternally. What a powerful role it is then to be a mother!

Genesis 23-25

I find Isaac's story so interesting. Firstly, Abraham trusts God in everything, and must choose a woman for his son who is from his own family. He cannot choose a Canaanite. Secondly, once Rebekah is chosen to be Isaac's wife, she is the last person who knows that she is to be his wife. It was very customary for marriages to be arranged in secret without the knowledge of the man and woman in question. Though Isaac probably knew what Abraham's servant was off to do, Rebekah did not know that she was to be his wife until after everyone else in her family knew.

(Tomorrow's reading is Genesis 26-28)

Genesis 16-18

It is very easy to read the Old Testament, and the New Testament for that matter, and forget to put the characters in their respective historical periods. I can't help but think about the role of women in Abraham's time. I was saddened to read that when Sarah found out that she could not bear her husband a child, she allowed Abraham to take her maidservant, Hagar, as his wife. Sarah knew that in her society she was not a fit wife because she could not have children, let alone a son, and so because she was probably afraid that her husband would leave her, she allowed Abraham to sleep with another woman of a lower social status.

After Hagar became pregnant, she became proud and started to mistreat Sarah whom she was under. Sarah, of course, felt angry because Hagar had forgotten her role in the household and threw Hagar out of Abraham's household.

There is more, though. God in his compassion saw what befell Hagar, and made a promise to her and her offspring, Ishmael. God promised Ishmael that his descendants would be a great people. These people are, of course, the Muslims. I am convinced that God called forth the first leader of Islam. He heard Hagar's cry for mercy and showered his love on her and her offspring. Although we never hear anything about Ishmael ever again for the rest of Biblical history, let's remember that our Muslim brothers and sisters worship the same God.

(Tomorrow's reading is Genesis 19-22)

Mary Magdalene: The Disciple

I was reading up on recent news and was angered to find that when Vatican City found out that most of the Anglican priests that wanted to join the Catholic Church were women, the bishops got really angry and of course prevented them from entering the Church. I wanted to understand why the Catholic Church does not allow women priests. They say that it's because Jesus only appointed male disciples (He could have appointed His mother but He didn't) and that He himself was a man, and since all priests are representatives of Jesus on Earth they must be men. But I think that Jesus did have women disciples that were not mentioned in the Gospels for obvious reasons: most notably Mary Magdalene. When Mary saw that Jesus had resurrected she went to the disciples' homes and told them. When Jesus was killed, all the disciples, it says in John, went into hiding and locked the doors in fear of persecution by the Romans and Jewish leaders. Mary Magdalene, though, not only knew where they all lived, but was able to give them this important message. In addition, she follows Jesus in Luke 8:2. Obviously, the disciples recognized her as one of Jesus' important followers (maybe even disciple) although the Gospel writers were too afraid to mention her involvement. Another woman disciple was the Samaritan woman at the well who, upon hearing Jesus' self-proclamation as the messiah, spread the Good News around Samaria.