Gilgamesh And The Inevitable Essay Research Paper

Gilgamesh And The Inevitable Essay, Research Paper

The Hebrew Bible and Sexism

The Hebrew Bible is a book of wisdom. Within its pages are many noble and just intentions that, in practice, would benefit all of mankind. The Ten Commandments, for instance, are generally altruistic in aim. If everyone obeyed them, the world would certainly be a better place. And although these passages serve to benefit mankind there are many within the scripture that simply don t. Many of these segments support and even advocate sexism, both in belief and in practice. The role of women in the Old Testament establishes that women are inferior to men. It presents the concept that women must live their lives in such a manner as to preserve this inferiority. The Hebrew Bible is sexist towards women.

This is definitely not the path less-taken . Feminist writers have supported this view of the Hebrew Bible for years. Phyllis Bird writes: women are portrayed as objects in the Book of Genesis (3). Alice Bach states that: [women] are man s ruin – it is Eve who causes humanity to be expelled from paradise (4). Feminists often argue that women are portrayed as a commodity. Men offer their daughters for other men to have sex with a number of times in the Hebrew Bible. Feminists claim the Old Testament is sexist in its description of women. Women are generally described by their physical characteristics and not their intelligence. Many view the Hebrew Bible as sexist in its concept of a woman s purpose, which is to serve under man. These are just a few of the arguments made by those who see the Hebrew Bible as sexist. They are claims that are repeatedly supported throughout the text.

The Hebrew Bible presents five distinct judgments of women: 1) Woman are deceitful and/or lustful 2) Women are foolish and less intelligent than men 3) Women are property 4) Women are made to serve men 5) Woman can only survive with the aid of men. These aspects appear again and again in Genesis and Exodus.

The Old Testament conveys that women are deceitful and lustful. The Original Sin is a consequence of Eve s actions. This is significant in that it presents the concept that woman is the heart society s ruin. Even though the serpent tricks Eve, she ultimately deceives Adam by not telling him where she got the fruit. Her negligence establishes that women are untrustworthy because it is the first account of a woman in existence. Woman is therefore portrayed as deceptive from the very beginning. The portrayal of women being misleading continues throughout the Bible. Sarah attempts to lie to the Lord after she laughs at the thought of her being able to have a child: Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, I did not laugh. (Genesis 18:15). Women are again shown to be dishonest when Lot s daughters conspire to sleep with him without his knowledge: Let s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him to preserve our family line through our father (Genesis 19:32). These examples clearly show that the Hebrew Bible views women as deceptive in that they mislead men to commit sins. Women are also presented as conspiring/deceitful in that they divide men from one another. Rebekah , for example, divides men by giving birth to twins who must compete for their father s blessings. Rebekah also promotes this division by conspiring to trick Isaac into believing that Jacob is Esau: she also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. (Genesis 27:16). Her actions lead to the dispute between the two brothers. This shows that the Bible views women as responsible for dividing the relationships of men.

Women are depicted as less intelligent than men in the Hebrew Bible. Eve for example is foolish enough to be tricked by a snake. This is significant because GOD gave man the right to have dominion over all animals. It could be argued that she was able to be tricked because she had no concept of good or evil, and therefore was unaware that anyone would attempt to deceive her. If this is true then, Eve should not of know that it would be good to have knowledge in the first place. This, in effect, shows that woman is foolish and easily tricked by that which she is supposed to rule over. Sarah is foolish enough to think she can lie to the Lord about laughing over the possibility of bearing another child (Genesis 18). She is shown to be intellectually inferior to man because she does not grasp the power of God and his relationship with her husband. The best example of women being portrayed as less intelligent is when Lot s wife looks back at Sodom and Gomorrah: But Lot s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26). The Bible essentially is saying that only man is wise enough to avoid disaster and that woman is not. Women are illustrated as only being intelligent enough to serve as objects.

The Hebrew Bible depicts women as possessions. From the very creation of women, we are told that women are property. Woman is created out of an object: Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man (Genesis 2:21). This concept of a woman s creation forming from an in-animate thing clearly puts the woman as property of man. She is made from part of the man and therefore belongs to him. She is objectified like a sheep in a flock. One could, of course, argue that Adam was made from in-animate material as well. This is true, but Adam is not created f