24 April 2024
The next seven chapters of Bailey's book are about Jesus and women. This chapter is the introduction to the wider subject.
He rightly notes that the Hebrew culture was a clear departure from the broader Ancient Near Eastern view of women. Yet he offers very little beyond that. The Law of Moses is the first mention of women having property rights in their husbands, in a manner of speaking. A wife is portrayed as a man's greatest treasure. It was the first time a woman was not killed outright for displeasing her husband, but was to be divorced alive and eligible for remarriage.
On the one hand, the Bible refers to several women as downright heroic. Bailey notes that, sadly, during the Intertestamental Period, things went really downhill. The birth of rabbinical traditions during the Exile bore a radical shift in attitude, so that women became property. He references Ben Sirach, who ended up saying that women were more trouble than they were worth. The writer of this apocryphal book describes wives and daughters as internal enemies in the household, always requiring a man to watch them like a hawk.
To begin the task of gauging how Jesus viewed women, Bailey starts with the Song of Mary (AKA The Magnificat) in Luke 1:46-55. There are two stanzas; the first six lines dealing with Mary herself (ABCCBA), and the second stanza -- lines 7-12 in the same format, but doubled lines (one missing) -- dealing with the community implications. Bailey's rhetorical analysis seems almost contrived this time. He points out the what's obviously missing is some kind of nationalistic statement about vanquishing Gentiles, but she leaves that out and so does Jesus.
Thus, Mary is portrayed as an extraordinary mother who raised Jesus with a sensitivity for the oppressed. The Magnificat is an example of "prophetic past tense", pointing to future events as if already done. Of course, the logic behind this is that God had decreed it from Eternity, and the implications play out for us in time.
Bailey makes much of Jesus having female disciples. First, he refers to Tabitha (Dorcas) with the feminine of "disciple". Second, Jesus gestures to His disciples and refers to some of them as "mother" (Matthew 12:48-50), contrary to custom (usually men only). Third, during His preaching tour in Galilee, Luke 8:1-3 mentions there were women traveling with them, apparently widows of means supporting the ministry. The whole scene is so contrary to custom that it would shock most Jews, with women hanging out with men who weren't relatives. Fourth, the scene with Martha managing dinner while her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet -- this customary phrase marks Mary as His disciple. This is also contrary to custom.
Keep in mind here that Jesus does nothing to overturn the relationship of husband and wife. Rather, He begins to restore women to roles of importance, raising them above the level of livestock in the society at large.
Comments
Jay DiNitto
Women are livestock today, but in a much different manner. Most men, too, are still slaves, but the walls and rules are different.
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