Sinners, Slaves, or Saints?- Women In the Bible

Just in time for Mother's Day!  The Bible is a fruitful source of references to and stories about women.  But, are women treated as second class citizens in the pages of the Bible, and do these instances provide a real or tacit approval of such treatment of women by our God?   Were women as depicted by the Bible only slaves and sinners, or were they some of the more noble characters of Scriptures?

 

Just in time for Mother's Day!  The Bible is very much a character study of human beings, revealing the lust, greed, impetuous, selfish, sexual, and impatient sides of God's people.   At first glance, women may seem to be treated as second class citizens in the pages of Scripture, from the laws of Moses and the other laws of the Bible, to their treatment as a whole by society and their husbands and families.  Eve is often blamed for the woes of mankind when she brought sin into the world with her bite of the forbidden fruit.   The Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Jacob, and others fathered children with both their wives and their concubines, resulting in women being treated like sexual playthings.   Property rights went to the male children of the family and not the female children.  Bad things seemed to happen to heroes of the Bible when they encountered such scheming females as Potiphar's wife, and the lusty and diabolical Delilah.  But, for every Potiphar's wife, Jezebel, and Delilah there are also noble distaff residents of the Bible- Ruth, Esther, the Queen of Sheba, the Virgin Mary, and Biblical sisters Mary and Martha.  Were the female residents of the Bible only sinners and slaves, or were they really saints and people of noble character and behavior?  This work explores all of the Women of the Bible in depth, and provides a fresh view of the female denizens of Scripture.