“Thus you have made the commandment of God of not effect by your tradition.”
(Matt 15:6, NKJV)
When we examine Paul’s radical statements about women, and which, at points, seems like a scurrying back to Jewish prejudice and the resulting discrimination against women, it is very important to place it within the context of Jesus’ everyday dealings with and statements about women. Jesus had ultimately been the one who laid the foundation for the New Covenant way of thinking.
Jesus comes with an explicit assignment to bring about the new order of the New Covenant, and He is not frightened by human traditions. Have a look at his direct confrontations of human teachings and interpretations of the Old Covenant – “He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? … Thus you have made the commandment of God of not effect by your tradition … And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matt 15:3, 6 and 9).
Many of these traditions and commandments seem to be linked to the Jews’ world view on women. It would thus be a good starting point to examine these sexist prejudices which the Jews believed, so that the impact of Jesus’ ministry – to eradicate these spiritual malpractices – can be fully appreciated for its worth.
Let us first examine one aspect of discrimination which gave rise to a myriad of other prejudice – the fact that women were not allowed access to the Torah. There is no Scripture which forbids women from reading and being taught from the Torah. Yet it is a fixed Jewish custom which originated from the dominant group within this cultural community: the men. The Tosephta, a Rabbinical commentary, categorically makes it clear – “A woman is not to come forward to read [from the Torah, the law].” The Encyclopaedia Judaica points out that Jewish teaching takes place almost exclusively from the Torah and that women thus receive little, if any, teaching. Statements such as the following, made by the authorative Rabbi Eliezer, was widely believed – “Whoever teaches his daughter the Torah is like one who teaches her obscenity.” (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddyshin, 70A). He also made the following strong statement, which is still today considered as wise counsel – “Rather should the words of the Torah be burned than entrusted to a woman.” (Mishnah Sotah, 3.4).
Women were thus generally illiterate, and not allowed to partake of these spiritual matters. This led to all kinds of derogatory assumptions and statement within the exclusive male domain, where a woman was seen as a “pitcher full of filth” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 152a); “she is greedy, slothful, and envious … prone to steal and is a gadabout” (Midrashim Rabbah 18.2). Rabbi Johanan had warned men to not speak to women if it wasn’t strictly necessary, not even to your wife or sister – “He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Law and at the last will inherit Gehenna (=hell).” (Mishnah Aboth1.5).
Our references to the Jewish laws are given to point out that these were the legal view points, and which carried as much weight in the eyes of the Jews as the laws of God.
- Sela: Ask the Holy Spirit to point your traditions out to you.
- Read: Gen 37-39
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Gen 38:28-29 (tip:the importance of the name and Micah 2:13).
- For a deeper understanding: Read Leonard Swindler’s Women in Judaism.
