First Person: Misogyny in the Bible
Christopher Rollston's look at Biblical misogyny
Hershel Shanks
Christopher Rollston is one of the world’s leading paleographers of ancient Near Eastern inscriptions. I have been harshly critical of some of his views, principally regarding unprovenanced inscriptions—inscriptions that have surfaced only from the antiquities market, not from a professional archaeological excavation. They may be forgeries, he argues. Although my criticism of Chris’s position is intense,1 we remain good friends and regularly share a meal. Chris is also a master carpenter. Above my office door hangs a beautiful polished wooden plaque expertly carved with my name in paleo-Hebrew script—the kind of Hebrew letters used before the Babylonian destruction of the Solomonic (First) Temple in 586 B.C.E.
Several years ago, when Chris was teaching at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, a Tennessee seminary affiliated with the Restoration Movement, he wrote an article about the Bible’s sometimes “unfair” or unequal treatment of women.2 He recently published a revised and augmented version of this controversial article.3
Here are some examples from his article:
Noah and his wife had three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth—Genesis 5:32) who were each married. All eight were on the ark. We know the names of all the men, but none of the women (Genesis 8:18), not even Noah’s wife.
Rollston finds the marginalization of women obvious and “clear” in the Ten Commandments: “The wife is classified as her husband’s property, and she’s listed with the slaves and work animals. There is also a striking omission in this commandment: Never does it say, ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s husband.’”
FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.
Rollston continues with other examples:
An unmarried woman could be compelled to marry her rapist, as long as the rapist could pay the standard bride price and the woman’s father was comfortable with the marriage (Deuteronomy 22:28–29). Polygyny (a man having multiple wives at the same time) was not condemned, but was an accepted and legal custom (Deuteronomy 21:15–17; Genesis 4:19–24; and 2 Samuel 3:2–5). A woman’s religious vow could be nullified by her father or her husband (Numbers 30:3–15). And the assumption of the text is that the priesthood is all male (Leviticus 21). In short, within the legal literature of the Bible, women were not accorded the same status as men.
Other examples come from the New Testament; here is one of Rollston’s examples:
[1 Timothy 2] begins by stating that “men should pray” (and the word used here for men is andras, a gendered word that refers only to males) and then says “women should dress themselves modestly and decently” (vv. 8–9). So men are to pray, and women are to dress modestly. That’s quite a contrast. But there’s more: “Let a woman learn in silence and full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to be silent” (vv. 11–12). The author’s rationale: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (vv. 13–14). According to this text, women were to be silent in worship gatherings (and men were certainly not told to be silent), and the rationale for this mandate is that woman (Eve) was created second and sinned first. And the final blow is this: A woman “will be saved” (the future tense of the standard word for “be saved,” “be given salvation”) “through childbirth if she remains in faith and love and sanctification with modesty” (1 Timothy 2:15).
Learn about Biblical women with slighted traditions in the Bible History Daily feature Scandalous Women in the Bible, which includes articles on Lilith, Mary Magdalene and Jezebel.
Rollston recently told us in writing what we already knew. This criticism of the Bible led to his “forced ouster” from Emmanuel Christian Seminary.
Not long after his “forced ouster,” I saw Chris and told him that this could be the best thing that ever happened to him. And so it turned out. Eventually he obtained a tenured position at the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. Soon thereafter the prestigious position of editor of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) opened up, and Chris and his distinguished colleague Eric Cline at GWU were appointed as coeditors to fill the position. Seldom do we write stories with such happy endings.
Notes
1. See Hershel Shanks, “Predilections—Is the ‘Brother of Jesus’ Inscription a Forgery?” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2015.
2. Christopher Rollston, “The Marginalization of Women: A Biblical Value We Don’t Like to Talk About,” Huffington Post, August 31, 2012.
3. Christopher A. Rollston, “Women, the Bible, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” in Frances Flannery and Rodney Alan Werline, eds., The Bible in Political Debate (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016).
“First Person: Misogyny in the Bible” by Hershel Shanks originally appeared in Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2017.
The Bible History Daily feature, Misogyny in the Bible, was originally published in 2017.
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LOL! THe Bible isn’t “misogynstic” — it’s very obvious that men simply have the authority, and that’s because both men AND WOMEN live in a more moral society if this is what occurs.
Men are not superior so should not have authority over their equals, women .
The OT stories were cosmic myths and reflected the views of the constellations. They were written at a time when the goddess was being dissed. A correct reading of the original OT would also exclude the name of Eve who cosmically was Ishtar/Ashera. Adam had 2 wives, one in Eden, one afterwards. Only the man was expelled if you read the text. It was believed the perverse worship of the goddess caused two meteors to destroy two Babylonian cities, according to ancient texts. Ishum who pleaded with Irra not to destroy anymore cities became Abraham in the OT as did many Akkadian kings and gods. Noah’s wife didn’t have a name because there are no stars in Argo or Orion that represent women. Sarah is represented in Hercules, Rebecca in Cancer, Jacob’s wives in Auriga, Moses’ wife in the Pleiades (one of seven sisters, not hard to figure out), Bathsheba in Sagittarius and oddly she was also Ishtar. Tamar- Northern Crown etc.
Now I don’t disagree that the majority of the bible is misogynistic, in an anachronistic way to look at the text, but I disagree with some of the reasoning.
Misogynistic is an over used word in these modern times. Yes, there is misogyny in the world, always has been and as long as we live in a sinful world, always will be. Misogyny means “hate for women”. God’s word doesn’t show hate for women, even if the treatment of women does not seem equal to men, but that does not equate to hate.
Saying the Bible is misogynistic is the same thing as saying that Jesus-God is misogynistic, that is, if you believe that the Bible is the Word of God. That attitude becomes a very slippery slope that leads to unbelief. A proper understanding shows that the Bible is correct about the relationship of men and women in a Godly society such as the church. When its teachings about men and women are called into question and disregarded, the kind of secular society we are becoming is the result.
Men wrote the Bible for men, that is a fact. Paul, or whoever claimed to be Paul, wanted women on their knees with few human rights.
Dan you are right, except that we’ve already become that kind of “secular society”.
In case somebody had not noticed, women are different from men. That is why they have different roles in life. Is a chair less “equal” than a table?
So what are those roles Mervyn?? Owner and ownee. Obey your owner and do as he commands?
You could also say that women are already perfect and so have no need to pray for guidance, while men need help. Just accept things as they are!
Genesis 1: 26-28
I, read and interpret these as God creating “man” (both Adam and Eve being referred to as “man kind”). God gave instructions for both Adam and Eve to rule and subdue and to be fruitful and multiply. 🙂
Different does not mean inferior.
Different does mean inferior if women are to obey their male owners?
Michael F. lives in a world of make believe. The Hebrew Bible is a history as well as a moral guide, There are women leaders, strong women and bad women. There are also strong men leaders, and many bad men recorded. Eve may have sought knowledge between good and evil but she was stronger-willed than Adam otherwise she would not have persuaded him to eat the pomegranate. There is no women versus men . Each have different roles just as Cain was a hunter while Abel was a farmer. They are all individuals.