Women don’t come out very well in the Bible. Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Female equality is a recent concept and is not taken into account in the Bible. Maybe sexism is right and the Bible is right. Maybe sexism is wrong and the Bible is wrong.

 

God not liking women

Maybe God didn’t like women because Eve caused Adam to sin. Maybe God preordained Eve to do this and Eve had no free will so was doomed either way. The Bible makes it clear we have no free will. Except for the parts that do.

 

Genesis 3:16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Exodus 18:2 Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 "When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

Leviticus 15:19-24 When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

Leviticus 15:25-29 "If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Ecclesiastes 7:28-29 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Nahum 3:13 Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned.

 

Solomon not liking women

The wise Solomon didn’t have much nice to say about the ladies either. Some of his proverbs may elicit a snigger, but to be included in a religious text that people are meant to live by? Either the Bible was meant to have a moment of comedy at the expense of women or, or, well I can’t think of an alternative.

 

2 Chronicles 8:11 Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, for the Ark of the Lord has been there, and it is holy ground.”

Proverbs 19:13 A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

Proverbs 21:19 It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.

Proverbs 27:15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike

 

Paul not liking women

Paul was picked by God to tell the known world about Him. Part of Paul’s ministry involved writing letters to churches, communities and his own helpers. His letters may be positive towards God, but they are misogynistic when it comes to women. Either women had wronged him in earlier life, or maybe he didn’t like them in the first place.

 

1 Corinthians 11:3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 11:7-9 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.

1 Corinthians 11:15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering.

1 Corinthians 14:34 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says.

1 Timonthy 2:11 Women should learn quietly and submissively.

Titus 2:5 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.