Women’s Rights

(Proverbs 25:24 KJV)  It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.

We live in an age of expanding civil rights.  Women were given the vote by the 19th Amendment in 1920.  We hear about how women are still held down and treated like second class citizens.  If that is the case, why did Solomon, a king, need to be concerned about a woman who was “contentious” (4066)?  Surely he would have had the power to deal with anyone who made him unhappy and if men had so much power, so could any peasant farmer. 

Yet the alternative is to live in a corner.  This doesn’t make sense unless you understand that the Jews, and by extension Christians, had this idea that we are made in the image of God and that each individual is special. 

(Genesis 1:27 KJV)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Mistreatment of women was not acceptable.  Of course the same was true of slaves and animals.  You need to understand that the basic American ideal that we have of all men being created equal is Biblical.  Almost every other culture in history would reject this.

So?  Be aware of the Biblical roots of our thinking.  Revel in the fact that our book can change not only us as individuals, but also our culture.