Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s name was Maakah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters. – 1 Chronicles 7:15

Today's Scripture Reading (May 13, 2022):  1 Chronicles 7

The role of women in the Christian Church is still a matter of great debate. And I have to admit that I am more than a little embarrassed by that fact. I hate (and yes, I know that hate is a strong word) that there are churches in our modern world where some of my female colleagues simply don't feel safe. There has been a cultural shift in our world, and not everything about this cultural shift indicates a moral change. And we need to recognize that some things in the Bible are cultural and some things that are moral. And the role of women was a cultural belief, not a moral one.

One of the problems we have in reading the Bible is that we read the book with 21^st Century eyes.  We read it with our cultural expectations and contemporary beliefs and values.  But it wasn't written in a time that had our values. And when we look at the Bible as a whole, we see movement, especially in the areas of cultural beliefs. Books of the Bible written later seem to reflect more of the things that we believe. But the most recent books in the Bible were still written over 1900 years ago.

Therefore, it is unfair to impose our expectations on these writings.  And one of the problem areas in the Bible is admittedly the role of women.  But the reality is that when we read the Bible with the cultural understanding that we know existed from other writings – we find something very surprising.  The Bible is actually a step ahead of its time.  It was shaping the culture of its day. 

The passage about Zelophehad's daughters (Numbers 27) is a good example.  The ancient world into which the daughters had been born was male-dominated. When it came to dividing up the land, these ladies weren't even under consideration.  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. The decree made in the story of Zelophehad and his daughters is that women could receive an inheritance and own property (if there were no men to inherit).  This revolutionary decree changed the reality of their lives. And the ruling was a step in the direction of our cultural understanding of the role of women.

The decree surrounding the inheritance of Zelophehad's daughters was so important that the author of Chronicles felt that he needed to mention it here as he lists the descendants of Manasseh, reminding all who read it of the revolutionary God that we serve.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 8

(See Also Numbers 27:7)