Sunday 16 June 2013

Mums are important too

Its easy to read the Old Testament as purely patriarchal: its about the blokes, who perform most of the action, and take just about all the key roles. I've even heard people cite the female leaders as 'unexplained exceptions' to an otherwise male-only rule.

Yes, there is lots of 'son of X', 'father of Y' kind of language throughout. The genealogies are basically male-lineage based - though look carefully and various women are mentioned even in these listings.

Read 2 Chronicles. From Rehoboam onwards just about each king has his mother's name specifically mentioned - in most cases part of the introductory formula used to usher in the next part of the story.

In other words the mums are important too. Yes Jewish reckoning goes by the male line, but for the dynasty of king David the female lineage must also be factored in.

God created male and female. Paul recognised the inter-dependence (see 1 Cor 11:11-12). The Old Testament bears this out.

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