"But from the beginning it was not so": Yeshua's teaching on women, especially in the light of ancient Jewish thought
Yeshua pointing to the original order of creation in Matthew 19 gives us a clear indication about how He viewed women.
A blessed New Year to all of you! Love and light in 2024!
May mankind find its way back to love of God, love of Truth.
In Matthew 19, Yeshua introduces a new rule of conduct stricter than the law of Moses by indicating how God created man and woman in the beginning. This is very revealing about how He viewed the relationship between man and woman, especially considering ancient Jewish thought on creation.
Creation of man and the original order of creation according to Ancient Jewish thought
“Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית רַבָּה) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period. It was probably written down sometimes between 300 and 500 CE with some later editions. The text is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis.” (Wikipedia 25.6.2023) As the New Testament attests that Yeshua was well familiar with the Oral Torah, we can safely assume that He likewise knew essential Jewish thought on Scripture when walking on Earth.
From Genesis Rabbah:
„G‑d created the first man as a two-sided creature—one face male, and one face female. He then hewed him in two and made a back for each half.“
This Jewish concept of how mankind came into being is completely different from the Christianised understanding that developed in early Christianity. Let us remember for a second that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, HaMoshiach, completely adopted, not to say: usurped, by the Roman heathen world. All Christian denominations today go back to the Holy Scripture used by one of the various groups of early Christianity with their basis in Rome.
Generally, Christians understand the two creation stories in Genesis (the one roughly in chapter 1 plus chapter 2:1-3; and the other in chapter 2:4 ff) as meaning that God created first the male, then the female. After the male had been created, the female is formed out of the male’s, Adam’s, rib. (“Adam” in Hebrew means “human being” (neutral) and is then the name given to the first male human being.)
If you read the whole Midrash (Midrash Rabbah Chapter VIII 1) you will also find this question raised about the „rib“ (from which Eve is said to be “made“ in the Christianised version/translations of Genesis 2:21). In the Midrash it is explained that the Hebrew „mi-zalothaw“, which usually is translated as “one of his ribs” in Christian Bibles, actually means: One of his „sides“. Exodus 26:20 (the„side“ of the tabernacle) is given as an example in Midrash Rabbah.
Therefore, in Jewish Bibles today, „mi-zalothaw“ in Genesis 2:21 is translated into English as “one of his sides”.
The famous medieval Jewish commentator Rashi is also indicating these explanations given in the Midrash Rabbah in his comment on the verse.
I remember an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, saying that the Christian translation of the word mi-zalothaw as “rib” is simply wrong, mentioning Genesis Rabbah.
In other words: the „orthodox“ Christian claim that man was created first, then woman, does not correspond to the Jewish understanding of the creation of mankind. Man and woman were created simultaneously, and not woman after man:
“When the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam, He created him an hermaphrodite …” (Midrash Rabbah, ibid) (Adam meaning “human being” (neutral) in Hebrew). God then hewed the hermaphrodite in two, making a back for each part.
The soul was breathed into Adam the human being, the hermaphrodite, before being separated into to distinct beings (Gen 2:7).
Quintessence: According to Jewish thought, in God’s original order of creation, man and woman were created simultaneously and equal in dignity. Eve came to be subjected to man only after the fall in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:16).
Yeshua HaMoshiach pointing to the original order of creation before the fall of mankind as the new rule of conduct
Yeshua through His sacrifice saved us from sin. This includes redemption from original sin, the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden when they ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen 3:6,7).
Consequently, He is indicating the original order of creation before the fall as the new rule of conduct in chapter 19 of Matthew’s gospel, quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24,
“Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” … “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.“ (Mat 19:4,5;8,9)
In Matthew 19 Yeshua uses the original order of creation before the fall for changing the law of Moses, making it stricter, raising the bar so to speak.
In other words: Yeshua introduces a new rule of conduct more rigorous than the law of Moses by indicating how God created man and woman in the beginning. “…but from the beginning it was not so”: Remaining in the logic of His teaching, circumcision, only ordered by God after the fall, is no longer necessary for our salvation.
In God’s original order of creation before the fall, woman was not subject to man
Before the fall, in the original order of creation, woman was not subject to man; she became subject to man only as a consequence of the fall, Gen 3:16:
“To the woman He said,
‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.’”
Even without taking Jewish understanding of creation into consideration, God’s verdict in Genesis 3:16 is sufficient to unmistakably deduce that, before the fall, woman was not subjected to man. Otherwise, God’s ruling as a consequence of Adam’s and Eve’s transgression would make no sense.
But in particular when considering the Jewish understanding of creation that was handed down to us from antiquity, reflecting Yeshua’s undestanding of Genesis when quoting from it as narrated in Matthew 19, woman is to be considered as equal to man, not subjected to him.
Combining Yeshua’s teaching in Matthew 19 indicating the original order of creation as the new rule of conduct on the one hand with this understanding of man and woman originally created as equal on the other, shouldn’t we put equality into practice? In other words:
If we really honour Yeshua’s teaching, shouldn’t man and woman be considered as equal instead of banning women from being ministers?
Joyce Meyer (“Joyce Meyer Ministries”) for example had been called by God to preach. She was all excited and told her church, but instead of recognising the work of the Holy Spirit, she was thrown out of her congregation and lost all her friends.
You might rightfully ask, ‘Well, what about Paul? Didn’t he command women to keep silent in the churches?’
Let me give a brief answer with a question:
Whose teaching is the Church following: Paul’s, or Yeshua’s? Shouldn’t Paul’s writings be interpreted in the light of Yeshua’s teaching, and not, as is the reality in the Roman Catholic Church amongst numerous others, the other way around?
Taking this perspective as a starting point, it is very interesting to look into what modern Bible scholarship has to say about the epistles of Paul.
More about that in another post.