Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. – Joshua 17:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 13, 2019): Joshua 17

Oscar Wilde argued that “Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them.” Wilde’s comment today would likely draw the anger of our egalitarian society. How could Wilde make such a comment? Anything a man can do, a woman can do, and probably do better. But a close examination of Wilde’s comment reveals an egalitarian mind at work. Wilde believed in breaking down traditions and borders. His comment does not argue that women should be forbidden to do certain things, but that they can have more fun because they have more barriers that they can cross and more walls that they can, and should, knock down. Wilde seemed to be arguing for the feminine revolution that we have experienced over the last century. And maybe, by this time in our history, we should have arrived at gender equality. But the truth is that even after a century there are still more battles that need to be fought.

Of course, the gender fight has not always been pleasant. And the other side of the question asks why a woman should have to fight and knock walls to receive things that men get automatically on the basis of their sex. It is a good, and very appropriate, question. 

One of the problems that we have in reading the bible is that we read the book with 21^st Century eyes.  We read with our morals, our beliefs.  But it wasn’t written in a time that reflected our values. When taken as a whole, we do see movement – books written later do reflect more of the things that we believe – but the most recent books in the Bible were still written over 1900 years ago. And it is unfair to impose our morality on these writings.  One of these problem areas is the role of women. Women in the Bible often seem to exist as second class citizens, and we are continually reminded that in the Bible, women did not seem to count. When we read the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, we understand that the underlying truth is that it was five thousand men that were counted on that day. Women and children were present, but they didn’t count.

But there is another reality that we need to understand when we read the Bible alongside the mores that we know existed from other writings. If we are willing to do that, we find something very surprising.  The Bible is a step ahead of its time. The Bible is actually shaping the culture of its day. 

The story Zelophehad’s daughters is a good example.  In the ancient world in which the daughter’s lived, men dominated the social and political scene.  When it came to dividing up the land, these ladies weren’t even considered.  But God changed the reality of their lives.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like much to us – but in the ancient world, it was huge. Here, women could receive an inheritance and own property (as long as there were no men to inherit). And this was a dynamic change from the norm. In other cultures, even ones much more recent in world history, women were forbidden to inherit and own property. But here we see a spark of equality. Much more needed to be done, but with the daughters of Zelophehad, at least the process could be started.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 18