“For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth
– a woman shall encompass a man.”
(Jer 31:22b, NKJV)
“The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it.” This verse in Jer 30:24 (ASV)speaks of the latter days, the end times which already started when Jesus was crucified. The very next chapter, Jer 31, is in many ways (as corresponding chapters in Isaiah and Ezekiel) an announcement of the new covenant which God would establish in place of the old covenant. An important part of this covenant is that which is spelled out in verse 22b – “For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth – a woman shall encompass a man.”
Any Jewish man would have felt as if with this verse God had given him the backhand. As we pointed out in previous teachings, women were seen as weak and unworthy to take up any responsibility outside the house. Here Yahweh prophesies that in the new dispensation that is coming, He would create something new in the earth, in other words – when it commences it will already be an established principle. We already know that God’s blueprint for salvation was not only for the Jews, but included other nations, although the Jews claimed it only for themselves. From the start God’s blueprint was for “man and woman”, because, “from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6). The Jewish men did however not take this seriously.
After Abram, the patriarchal arch father had a meeting with Yahweh, his name was changed to Abraham. Abram means “exalted father”, which emphasises his position as head. But Abraham means “father of a multitude”. The focus thus now lay on fatherly increase than on male headship. Selah.
After Yahweh changes Abraham’s name (Gen 17:5), He speaks to him extensively about the eternal covenant between them (verse 7), and about the circumcision (verses 10-14), which at that point was the physical sign of men’s covenant with God, and about which there were very explicit prescriptions about. It was of course a practice which only men could partake of. (It is also interesting that they carry the sign of their covenant on the male genitals, which is the iconic signifier of the father’s process of increasing.)
Immediately after the agreement between Yahweh and Abraham He speaks in verse 15 and 16 to him about his wife, Sarai, whose name also had to change – “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
It is very important to correctly interpret the sequence of events. Women were not circumcised, and the Torah does not explicitly explain how women thus became part of the covenant. In Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible he states that when comparing Abram’s first covenant (in Gen 15) with this covenant (in Gen 17), fourteen years later, “The present form of the covenant is not identical with the former. That referred chiefly to the land; this chiefly to the seed. That dwelt much on temporal things; this rises to spiritual things. That specifies only Abram; this mentions both Abram and Sarai. At the former period God formally entered into covenant with Abram; at present he takes the first step in the fulfilment of the covenant, seals it with a token and a perpetual ordinance, and gives Abram and Sarai new names in token of a new nature.”
Changing Sarai’s name thus also implied a certain covenant status.
The Jewish woman’s position in Christ (thus, in the new covenant) is prototypically beautifully depicted by Sarai, the wife of father Abraham, truly the mother of all nations and kings (Gen 17:16). She is the Old Testament typological manifestation of the New Testament emancipated woman (Gal 4:21-23).
Interestingly enough her original name means “dominative”, which can be linked back to its core word which means “a head person (of any rank or class): – captain (that had rule), chief (captain), general, governor, keeper, lord, ([-task-]) master, prince (-ipal), ruler, steward.” All of this the woman is. From the beginning she was called with man to be the head – “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:28).
Sarai’s name thus changes to Sarah, which means, “a female noble; lady; princess; queen”. She is still (also) the head, but in her submission, according to Yahweh’s ordination, she gains the acknowledgement of her queenly status. She does not have to claim her headship – through her submission she gains the authority! This interpretation is beautifully explained in 1 Pet 3:1-6, where Sarah’s example is specifically used – “Wives, likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid of terror.”
It is important to note that Sarah called Abraham lord, which according to Strongs means “(supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller; by implication Mr. (as a respectful title): – God, Lod, master, Sir.”
This example makes Godly authority and order clear without the thorny lines of gender division between them. It is about the woman’s inner strength and the knowing of her worth for God. Again – it does not mean that women necessarily need to be quiet – she must have a quiet spirit, knowing that because she and Yahweh know who she is, she is “indeed precious in the sight of God” (WNT). For this reason it is thus easy for her to submit to her husband. In this position she can truly fulfil Yahweh’s prophecy of the new covenant – “For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth – a woman shall encompass a man.” (Jer 31:22b). If we understand this mystery without chauvinism or feminism, without worn-out traditions or contemporary stereotypes, if we understand that these are the principles of His heart, the rest of the New Covenant will unfold before us.
With this we thus conclude the sub-theme which clearly showed – there is no longer male or female.
- Sela: In the light of this teaching, revise before Yahweh your relationship with the opposite gender.
- Read: Jos 12-17
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Jos 14:11 (tip: 1 Cor 1:24; 4:20)
- For a deeper understanding: Listen to Timothy Prince Olusegun’s teaching (available on CD) – Becoming co-heirs of the Grace of Life.
