When I used to read the Bible as a teenager, I was often confused
by the actions of men towards women in the Bible. There was Sarah whose husband
said she was his sister, putting her at risk of being raped or taken as another
man's wife. There was Tamar, who was raped by her half-brother Amnon, who
desperately needed her father, King David, to comfort, protect, and defend her
honor as she struggled with the deep shame that follows rape and incest. But
he, with his loud silence, betrayed her as well. Then there were many women in
Israel who had entered covenant marriages, hoping to be companions to the young
men they married. But, instead they were betrayed by their faithless
husbands.
In my confusion, I began to pray that God would show me how He
views women because I wasn't sure I wanted to follow after Him, if he didn't
view women any better than the men whose stories filled the pages of His Word.
Then I came across Malachi 2:14-15,"But you say, ‘Why does he not?’
Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom
you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by
covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their
union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So, guard yourselves
in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your
youth." I began to see that God cares about women and the treatment they
receive and over time, I saw other things from His Word that revealed how He
loved, rescued, healed, and redeemed women broken by both life's circumstances
and the hurtful and abusive actions of others.
One of the things I saw from God’s Word was His inclusions of
women in Christ’s genealogy. Right, smack, in the middle of it there are three
women closely related. One was Rahab, who was a prostitute from Jericho. She
saved the lives of Israel's spies by hiding them and then helping them escape.
She had heard of their God and asked to be spared. So, they told her to hang a
scarlet cord in her window when the battle began and she would be spared. She,
by faith in the one true living God, hung that scarlet cord in her window and was
saved. An Israelite named Salmon took her as his bride and they gave birth to a
baby boy named Boaz.
There was Naomi, who had moved to a foreign land, whose sons
married Gentile women. Naomi's husband died and then her sons, leaving them all
to grieve. Naomi became bitter and longed to return home and Ruth, her
daughter-in-law, loved her and refused to stay behind. They traveled to Naomi's
home town--the town where Boaz lived and he became a kinsmen redeemer, taking
Ruth as his bride and they bore Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who
became the father of King David, who was in the lineage of Jesus. I'm sure
there was great joy in the grandma shaped hearts of Rahab and Naomi the day
Obed was born.
Those women are in the family line of Jesus by God's design. It is
a long line of broken, sinful, weak and needy people. I love how God put Rahab
who, as a prostitute, asked to be saved and trusted God enough to hang a
simple cord in her window--an act that made no sense apart from God. I love how
the Gentile, Ruth, even in her pain chose to love a bitter mother-in-law all
the way home, trusting the God who holds life and death in His hands for
something bigger.
I found it comforting that God called a young woman to bear His
son, Jesus, when Jesus could have entered the world in an infinite number of
ways. I found it comforting that He tenderly cared for the mom pregnant with
Hope by giving her many validations that the Child she carried and birthed was
the Promised One--through Elizabeth's baby leaping in the womb, through the
Shepherds seeking to worship the Babe, through Simeon and Anna proclaiming Him
in the temple, and the Magi who came from afar to worship the King He gave her
big grace for her Mama's heart to hold onto as she watched her Son, her Savior
die on the cross.
I also found it comforting that Christ crushed social barriers
that had made women second class worshipers. He even went out of His way to
meet a Samaritan woman publicly rejected by men five times, offering her Living
Water. She accepted Him and got to bring the community that judged her so
harshly to sit at His feet.
He taught men that the woman who could only give two mites had
performed a mighty and acceptable act of worship that meant more than the all giving
that wasn't sacrificial.
He healed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve long years,
fully reconciling her to Himself and restoring her to her community.
He stood up for a woman thrust at His feet by an angry mob of men
who claimed they caught her in the act of adultery. In the face of His
righteousness the men one by one dropped their stones and He, the only one who
had a right to judge, graciously dealt with her sin.
He stayed in the home of Mary and Martha, allowing Mary to sit at
his feet, learning with all His disciples. He also revealed Himself to these
sisters as the God who has power over life and death by calling their brother
from the grave helping them understand He was laying down His life.
He silenced the men who criticized the woman whose pure worship
was displayed by her anointment of his feet with expensive oil and her own tears,
allowing her to dry His feet with her hair. And, after the resurrection, He
chose a woman to be the first to see His face.
The Scriptures show us that women have been victimized for long
time, but they also show us that God has a tender heart towards us and does not
view us as second-class citizens. I believe the public outcry going on right
now is exposing the depth of the sin of gender contempt, harassment, and abuse
in this world and it is proof that the Lion of Judah is moving on our behalf.
We need to remember abusers' actions do not reflect the heart of our God, they
reflect only the hearts of the abusers.
We can trust a God who places broken, hurting women in the lineage
of Christ. We can trust a God who uses a woman to give birth to His Son. We can
trust a God who let women sit at His feet, and listen to his teaching. We can
trust a God who revealed Himself as the God over life and death to a woman. We
can trust a God who defended a woman caught in adultery and a woman worshiping
with her tears and her oil. And, we can trust a God who reveals Himself in
resurrected form to women first. We can trust a Savior that left the glories of
heaven and bore God's wrath for our sin when He died in our place on the cross.
We can trust a God who sealed us with His Spirit and gifted us with spiritual
gifts, declaring that we are as valuable to the body as our Christian brothers.
We are not second-class citizens. We are the beloved daughters of the King of
kings.
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