Genesis 3:16

[hindupridemn]

Man to rule over woman. How is this not sexist?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Golly gee ... another gotcha!

 

[Vouthon]

Man to rule over woman. How is this not sexist?

This is my specifically "Christian" view to the matter:

Because it isn't "ideal". God did not originally create it that way in the beginning. Its a result of the Fall, man's descent into sin. Humanity caused this un-egalitarian situation, not God who had created the sexes without this hierarchy in the beginning, as evidenced by the prior verses. While the ancient author describes it as a punishment from God, viewed symbolically, it is rather an accurate description of what happened to human societies after the "fall" from hunter-gatherer societies into agricultural ones. In the former, which were egalitarian, there was equality and high respect between males and females for their complementary roles. In the later, powerful men started to use women and marry multiple wives, as social hierarchies came into being based upon power.

This loss of social equality is spiritually brought to an end in Christ who through the grace of his crucifixion restores harmony between the sexes:

"...There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus..."

-Galatians 3:28

 

[Levite]

Man to rule over woman. How is this not sexist?

I suppose it would be if one read text in the most literalistic, rigid, simplistic way possible. Fortunately most people are not rabid fundamentalists.

 

[Shermana]

Man to rule over woman. How is this not sexist?

Considering that it's the way 99.999% of cultures have done so, perhaps its more natural and biological especially in ancient times, than "sexist".

Please keep in mind, the concept of "rule over" does not mean "Keep a lock and key on and deliver daily beatings to" like in some of those cultures.

 

[dantech]

Oy...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

If one were to actually take the OP seriously ...

There is something rather interesting about this verse. The dominion of man over woman is portrayed as an unfortunate consequence of the expulsion from a garden of Eden to an existence of harsh labor and problematic survival. It is not viewed as the reflection of man's innate superiority over woman. On the contrary, Judaism provocatively asserts that man and woman are each made in the image of God.​

But that's probably not the kind of response the OP hoped for.

 

[hindupridemn]

I'm seeking any response at all that helps me understand the Bible. I want to understand it so I can decide if it's of God or not.

 

[dantech]

I'm seeking any response at all that helps me understand the Bible. I want to understand it so I can decide if it's of God or not.

And so, if the Torah is/was what is today considered sexist, than it cannot be of God?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I want to understand it so I can decide if it's of God or not.

I do not believe you.

 

[Dinner123]

Adam came first. Eve came from Adam. God didn't take Eve from Adam's head; He made her from his rib. Adam kept the head; so he is the head. I'm not implying women are stupid. I'm saying God ordained it to be that the man was the head over the woman in the marriage. One of them must be in charge because they are proclaimed to be one "flesh". So a body normally doesn't have two heads. (No offence to those who do have two heads ...) This was all a type of marriage. And God made clear from the beginning the structure that a marriage takes so there was no confusion.

This was a type of God's divine plan to come. Which is that God would marry His people as a man marries a wife. And God would be the head of that marriage as a man is the head of his marriage.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

God didn't take Eve from Adam's head; He made her from his rib. Adam kept the head; so he is the head. I'm not implying women are stupid.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

By the way ...

One of the creation stories in Genesis may be an explanatory myth wherein the Bible attempts to find a cause for why human males lack this particular bone. Any ancient Israelite would be expected to know that there is an equal (and even) number of ribs in both men and women. Moreover, ribs lack any intrinsic generative capacity. Authors think it is far more probable that it was Adam’s baculum that was "removed" in order to make Eve. The Hebrew noun translated as “rib,” tzela (tzade, lamed, ayin), can indeed mean a costal rib. It can also mean the rib of a hill (2 Samuel 16:13), the side chambers (enclosing the temple like ribs, as in 1 Kings 6:5,6), or the supporting columns of trees, like cedars or firs, or the planks in buildings and doors (1 Kings 6:15,16). So the word could be used to indicate a structural support beam. Interestingly, Biblical Hebrew, unlike later rabbinic Hebrew, had no technical term for the penis and referred to it through many circumlocutions. When rendered into Greek, sometime in the second century BCE, the translators used the word pleura, which means “side,” and would connote a body rib (as the medical term pleura still does). This translation, enshrined in the Septuagint, the Greek Bible of the early church, fixed the meaning for most of western civilization, even though the Hebrew was not so specific.

In addition, Genesis 2:21 contains another etiological detail: “The Lord God closed up the flesh.” This detail would explain the peculiar visible sign on the penis and scrotum of human males—the raphé . In the human penis and scrotum, the edges of the urogenital folds come together over the urogenital sinus (urethral groove) to form a seam, the perineal raphe. If this seam does not form, hypospadias of the glans, penis, and scrotum can result. The origin of this seam on the external genitalia was “explained” by the story of the closing of Adam’s flesh. Again, the wound associated with the generation of Eve is connected to Adam’s penis and not his rib.

A rib has no particular potency nor is it associated mythologically or symbolically with any human generative act. Needless to say, the penis has always been associated with generation, in practice, in mythology, and in the popular imagination. Therefore, the literal, metaphorical, and euphemistic use of the word tzela make the baculum a good candidate for the singular bone taken from Adam to generate Eve.” [source]

But this is far too sensibly for the 'literalist' ... :yes:

 

[roger1440]

Man to rule over woman. How is this not sexist?

In the beginning it was not like that. Eve is actually Adam's second wife, Lilith being his first wife.

 

[Pegg]

In the beginning it was not like that. Eve is actually Adam's second wife, Lilith being his first wife.

do you have a scriptural reference for that???

 

[roger1440]

do you have a scriptural reference for that???

The story of Lilith is part of Jewish folklore. It actually predates the Genesis account. There are a few variations of the story. She is mentioned only once in the Bible.
“And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and goat-demons will call out to each other. There also Liliths will settle, and find for themselves a resting place.” (Isa 34:14) International Standard Version
The following is from The Jewish Study Bible with foot notes.
“Wildcats shall meet hyenas,
Goat-demons shall greet each other;
There too the lilith shall repose
And find herself a resting place.”
Lilith:
“In ancient Semitic folklore contemporaneous with the Bible (and also in rabbinic literature), this term referred to a group of female demons. They seduced and then killed single men, and they were especially dangerous to nursing mothers and infants. In later rabbinic and kabbalistic folklore, a character with this name was said to be the first wife of Adam. Their parting was not amicable; he later married Eve, and she embarked on a career killing young children. These legends about Adam and Lilith are postbiblical, however, and have no bearing on the term used here.”
I'll post some links tonight. I have to go to work now.

 

[Pegg]

The story of Lilith is part of Jewish folklore. It actually predates the Genesis account. There are a few variations of the story. She is mentioned only once in the Bible.
“And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and goat-demons will call out to each other. There also Liliths will settle, and find for themselves a resting place.” (Isa 34:14) International Standard Version
The following is from The Jewish Study Bible with foot notes.
“Wildcats shall meet hyenas,
Goat-demons shall greet each other;
There too the lilith shall repose
And find herself a resting place.”
Lilith:
“In ancient Semitic folklore contemporaneous with the Bible (and also in rabbinic literature), this term referred to a group of female demons. They seduced and then killed single men, and they were especially dangerous to nursing mothers and infants. In later rabbinic and kabbalistic folklore, a character with this name was said to be the first wife of Adam. Their parting was not amicable; he later married Eve, and she embarked on a career killing young children. These legends about Adam and Lilith are postbiblical, however, and have no bearing on the term used here.”
I'll post some links tonight. I have to go to work now.

Ah, i see.

I'll take this advice and leave it at that then,


Titus 1:13*This witness is true. For this very cause keep on reproving them with severity, that they may be healthy in the faith, 14*paying no attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn themselves away from the truth

 

[CMike]

It means that men lead the household.

That said women are supposed to manage the home:

 

[CMike]

The story of Lilith is part of Jewish folklore. It actually predates the Genesis account. There are a few variations of the story. She is mentioned only once in the Bible.
“And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and goat-demons will call out to each other. There also Liliths will settle, and find for themselves a resting place.” (Isa 34:14) International Standard Version
The following is from The Jewish Study Bible with foot notes.
“Wildcats shall meet hyenas,
Goat-demons shall greet each other;
There too the lilith shall repose
And find herself a resting place.”
Lilith:
“In ancient Semitic folklore contemporaneous with the Bible (and also in rabbinic literature), this term referred to a group of female demons. They seduced and then killed single men, and they were especially dangerous to nursing mothers and infants. In later rabbinic and kabbalistic folklore, a character with this name was said to be the first wife of Adam. Their parting was not amicable; he later married Eve, and she embarked on a career killing young children. These legends about Adam and Lilith are postbiblical, however, and have no bearing on the term used here.”
I'll post some links tonight. I have to go to work now.

According to Judaism, there was Adam and Eve.

Adam didn't have a previous wife.

Wherever you are getting this from isn't from Judaism.

 

[Levite]

According to Judaism, there was Adam and Eve.

Adam didn't have a previous wife.

Wherever you are getting this from isn't from Judaism.

Right, not from Judaism. Except for Niddah 24b, where certain kinds of miscarriages are compared to Lilit, according to Rav Yehudah. Or a baraita in Eruvin 100b, where a woman's long hair is likened to that of Lilit. Or Shabbat 151b, where Rabbi Chanina warns about the danger of sleeping in a house alone being that one is vulnerable to Lilit. Or Bava Batra 73ab, where Rabbah speaks about seeing Hormin son of Lilit. Or in the midrash Alef-Bet d'Ben Sirach, which discusses Lilit a lot, and associates her explicitly with the first wife of Adam mentioned in Bere**** Rabbah. Or in the Zohar, where it likens her to a succubus. Or any of a hundred more minor Kabbalistic sefarim.

But, you know, it's not from Judaism....