In the days when Jesus walked on the earth there was animosity towards women - they weren't treated as equals.
I was reading a couple of quotes written by rabbis during that time period and they didn't look favourably upon women. In the Talmud, Rabbi Judah ben Elai (c. AD150)
'A man is bound to say the following three blessings daily: "[Blessed art thou...] who hast not made me a heathen", "...who hast not made me a woman"; "...and who has not made me a brutish man"'
It was common thought that women were incapable of learning about religious things, some rabbis forbade them to be instructed in religious affairs.
Women were looked upon as second class citizens, but when Jesus came to earth, He turned that thinking upside down. He treated women with the dignity and respect they were created to receive.
I will be writing a series about women encountering Jesus and how He turned their lives and the thinking of others on their heads as they showed society what God intended for women, not how men misinterpreted the role of women.
Firstly we have to go back to Genesis with the creation of woman.
Genesis 2:18-22
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Matthew Henry in his famous commentary has something beautiful to say about the creation of woman (I'd recommend reading the whole exposition of the creation of woman):That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and without any diminution to his strength or comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed without a scar); but in lieu thereof he had a help meet for him, which abundantly made up his loss: what God takes away from his people he will, one way or other, restore with advantage. In this (as in many other things) Adam was a figure of him that was to come; for out of the side of Christ, the second Adam, his spouse the church was formed, when he slept the sleep, the deep sleep, of death upon the cross, in order to which his side was opened, and there came out blood and water, blood to purchase his church and water to purify it to himself.
Woman is to be a help meet to man - someone equal but with different roles. Woman wasn't created to be inferior to man, but to stand alongside him, making him complete. Matthew Henry's commentary again:
If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one remove further from the earth.
Unfortunately after the fall of humanity, God's plan for humanity became skewed, throughout the ages women have been treated like second-class citizens, used and abused. These days it seems that women are now wanting the same roles as men. Men are the bad guys, women are the victims etc but this isn't how God intended our relationships to be with one another. Misogyny, misandry, feminism and chauvinism aren't what God intended for humanity. Jesus Christ came to fix broken relationships, show us how we should treat one another as God intended.
I'm calling the series:
Rending the Veil: Women Encountering Jesus.
