An Idea Borrowed

Years ago on a radio program someone shared that they read a chapter in Proverbs every day. Since there are 31 chapters and the longest month has 31 days it allows you to read through Proverbs on a regular basis. I use it as the launch pad for my personal worship time and branch out from there. On this blog I will try to share some of the insights I have in the Word. I will try to organize them in the archive by reference.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Context of Equality

(Proverbs 12:4 KJV)  A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

How does this look from the standpoint of history?  We are so ignorant and parochial when it comes to what has gone before us.  Many of the anti-God people try to paint Christianity as a patriarchal plot to keep women in their place.  Keep in mind that “modern” ideas of equality are a bump on the highway of history.

In reality the people who follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have set the standard for giving women a high place in society.  Make allowance that before the invention of the “great equalizer” (six-shoot revolver), muscles and hand-eye coordination were what gave power.  The woman who had both was extremely rare.  Human culture has taken certain paths based on that biological reality.

But Israel was known in the ancient world for allowing women freedom.  They were surrounded by cultures that locked respectable women up like the stereotype of a modern Muslim harem.  From ancient Greece to India women wore veils and did not go out unescorted.  Except in Israel.  And remember what Paul, everyone’s favorite chauvinist, said,
(Galatians 3:28 KJV)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Wouldn’t that make a good addition to the Constitution?

So?  Don’t feel like believers are old fashioned.  We have been setting the curve for centuries.  Hold your head up and pursue righteousness. 

No comments: