Women in The Bible 2
A number of Women are mentioned by name but are through some trail of begats, and gifts as maidservants to their mother or sisters. Even as marriage partners between households; Start though at Genesis 29, where in all the confusion of the story of Jacob and his uncle Laban, Leah conceived and bare a son … surely the Lord has looked upon my affliction, now therefore my husband will love me. All seems a bit conditional that. Judges 5, brings Deborah, singing. Full of blood and fighting, full of smoting of heads. In Judges 16 we find a classic tale, much used by the cinema. First rule, if you are on the powerful side, expect a little attention.; if you have ever watched a western, the fast shooter attracts young idiots like flies on a sticky paper. But Samson had a good heart, and it was more for those other attractions that he became the subject of the Philistines subterfuge through Delilah; which all ‘demonstrates’ the power of persuasion that women possess, the strange naivety in men, the foolishness of apparently strong partnerships and their ultimate demise. Regrettable Samson perishes at his own hands – which proves if you have a powerful secret … keep it.
A story little celebrated is that of Elisabeth, in Luke Ch1:5. descended from Aaron, and married to Zacharias, high priest of Herod. A lovely story precedes the Annunciation, both Zacharias and Elisabeth were ‘stricken in years’. Not without just cause, Zacharias feared for all when he saw Gabriel standing before him; yet he was told that Elisabeth would no longer be barren and she would bear him a child. Zacharias did the wrong thing and voiced his doubts, and so he was struck dumb by Gabriel, until the right time. Came the day when Elisabeth had her child; on the naming day, everyone thought that the father’s name would be given to the son; however, Elisabeth decided that John would be her choice, which caused a bit of a stir. Zacharias looked up and wrote ‘his name is John’. In that moment his voice returned. Here is a cousin of Mary, naming John (the Baptist), Zacharias had learned to accept the inevitable, Elisabeth had made the choice. Another woman has drawn unfairly the description of seductress and the nemesis of John the Baptist, Salome. She is not named in The Bible, but is described as the daughter of Herodias, who had become the wife of her brother in law, to the open disgust of John the Baptist. The daughter is named in records however as Salome. She danced so well for Herod and Herodias, that Herod said he would give her as she wished (up to half his kingdom). Salome then asked Herodias as to what should she ask and got the reply that it should be the head of John the Baptist. Dutiful as the daughter she was, she passed on that suggestion. Not quite the same story. It was after all just what Herod and Herodias would have wanted. It also has to be said the other two persons involved were hardly likely to disagree with the story.
Mary Magdalene; given this specific title to distinguish her from others named Mary. Whether she was from Magdala (place), or maybe she was ‘Elevated’ or ‘raised up’ (Hebrew word), it really does not matter. She was special enough to have made an impression on the apostles, she was special enough to have been recorded as having been the first to have seen Jesus after the stone had been rolled away, she was special enough to have been privy to words with Jesus; and there is that fact that she was one of those who had been lifted from dark times. Not unusually for a person who had been saved from a bad life, or from some other terrible fate, a degree of gratitude can wash over the person. Not only that but therein lies if allowed the overwhelming fact of acceptance of the Spirit, and so the Need to know more. I can believe that a young lady saved from such a life would act in Love and form an incredible attachment. This was a different relationship than the Twelve. In the Pistis Sophia Ch2, her feelings and ‘enthusiasm’ are very clear – she actually called it ‘the world of men’; she is also very direct in her speech, somewhat as she is in the Gospel of Mary. Her line of questioning is very motivated and follows points of great detail. One of the reasons for not including this important discourse in the Holy Bible is that it was written from 150AD onwards, there being no continuance from the fourth decade or so AD. Unfortunately I have it in the back of my mind (not being a language scholar or follower of the Hebrew Faith) that the Bible Texts date from 70AD, well after the Torah was set in terms of Time. Not only that but there are other texts describing Genesis in slightly differing terms. However, I do find it curious that a document of such a form could end up in the British Museum [MS Add 5114] with no prior direct history, yet has been in the Collection since before 1785; on 346 vellum sheets written in Greek uncial Thebadic; dated by Woide (who was a great language scholar) at the latter half of the fourth century, it being a copy of a translation from Greek into Coptic (Egyptian Greek Christian); from the structure and grammar he surmises it was originally written in the 2nd century. I believe it warrants reading.
